THE RURAL fiEW-YORSCER. 
JULY 24 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Conducted by 
EGBERT 6. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
No. 84 Park Row. New York. 
SATURDAY, JULY 21. 1883. 
Too much rain for corn hereabouts. 
Oats have been badly lodged by the 
late heavy showers. 
A ship from Dundee, Scotland, has 
taken on board a large number of cats 
bound.for Calcutta. They are in great 
request in the East Indies, as they are 
found very serviceable in ridding the 
places where they are kept of various sorts 
of vermin. It is supposed these cats will 
pay a profit to the importer of about $5 
each. We should be delighted if he would 
come to our goodly city of New York for 
a cargo. If we could be rid of a few thou¬ 
sands we should have much less mewing 
and equaling at night, which would be a 
great relief to our citizens who require a 
peaceful rest and unbroken slumbers. 
SEVERAL NEW RASPBERRIES. 
The variety of raspberry introduced 
under the name of Lost Rubies has proven 
thus far, as we have said, perfectly hardy. 
But the berries, though occasionally large 
and fine, are generally imperfect. They 
also drop from the receptacle when ripe. 
The Han sell surprises us as to the size of 
the berries. Those sent to the office last 
year were rather small. The berries which 
have ripened at the Rural Grounds are 
fully as large as the Cuthbert. 
Regarding the new Marlboro it may be 
said that the berries ripening last week 
are the largest we have ever raised. Some 
are fully one inch in diameter, whether 
measured through the base or from the 
base to the tip, being of n deeply conical 
form. They are of a bright red color and 
hang on well even when perfectly ripe; 
are linn, tender and good. We cannot 
speak of its hardiness, since nearly all of 
our raspberries endured the past Winter 
with little harm. Nor should we speak 
of it at all in the sense that a single season’s 
trial establishes its qualities. Judged in 
this way, we should say that the berry 
combines in a remarkable manner, size, 
quality and firmness, while the plant is 
vigorous and productive, ^halier’s Colos¬ 
sal, as has been stated, suffered consider¬ 
ably during the Winter. The berries 
when ripe are purple, nearly round, of 
large size but too acid to suit most tastes. 
The plants are extremely vigorous, the 
new canes having already grown to the 
bight of nine feet. 
AMERICAN MERINOS FOR AUSTRAL¬ 
ASIA. 
The other day a steamer sailing from 
San Francisco to New South Wales, took 
out 172 American Merino sheep which 
were insured for upwards of $25,000. A 
large and growing trade in these sheep 
has sprung up between this country and 
Australia and New Zealand, so that the 
deck space of the. mail steamers has been 
engaged for the traffic for a twelvemonth in 
advance. Some of our best clothing 
wools come from Australasia, hut the 
native Merino there has gone towards the 
production <tf a very fine kind of wool, 
while the American Merino’s wool, if not so 
fine, is more dense and heavy, so that the 
difference is stated to be equal to three 
pounds of scoured wool per fleece 
in favor of the American Merino. 
By crossing the American and o ustra- 
lian Merinos the offspring is found to be 
more profitable than either of the parents, 
yielding a fleece equal to that of the Aus¬ 
tralian in fineness and to that of the 
American in weight and density. If the 
cross is found so excellent in Australia, 
why shouldn’t it prove equally beneficial 
here? 
The advantage of careful attention to 
pedigree in pure-bred stock is well illus¬ 
trated in the course of this trade. In 
California very little attention is paid to 
the preservation of the pedigree of full- 
blood Merinos, and hence though there 
are some excellent flocks in the State, they 
are not marketable for breeding purposes 
in Australia. Accordingly the buyers 
come all the way to Vermont, and Western 
New York for their sheep, and as selected 
rams often cost about $2,000 and selected 
sheep about. $400, the loss to California 
flock-masters is not inconsiderable. 
HERD ROOK FOR LARGE WHITE 
SWINE. 
We notice that a correspondent of the 
London Live Stock Journal proposes get¬ 
ting up a herd hook for the Large White 
Swine of England. The suggestion strikes 
us favorably, for there is now' an endless 
multiplication and confusion in the rear¬ 
ing of them. They are all essentially the 
same as to size, shape, quality of flesh and 
points; yet the rule in England is to call 
them by the names of the different coun¬ 
ties where they happen to he reared, and 
sometimes from the name of the estate 
where they are kept, or that, of the breed¬ 
er. Hence we have Yorkshire, Lanca¬ 
shire, Leicestershire, and wc do not know 
how many other shires by the names of 
which they are known. There arc the 
same multiplication and confusion of 
names in the Middle-sized and Small 
White sorts. If breeders were compelled 
now to record the different-sized swine in 
three different herd books, they would es¬ 
tablish a scale of points for the breeding 
of each sort, and thus insure uniformity 
in breeding as well as in name. Every 
one, then, in purchasing would know ex¬ 
actly what he got. and, above all. there 
would be a positively settled name for 
each sort, recognized whenever the sw ine 
hereafter might be kept. Several years 
since a herd book was gotten up for Berk¬ 
shire swine hv their breeders in the United 
States and Canada. Several volumes of 
this have already been published, giving 
much satisfaction and assisting to estab¬ 
lish a uniformity of shape, color, mark¬ 
ings, and, in fact, a regular scale of points. 
Now one, in ordering a Berkshire pig, 
knows exactly what he wfill get, and can¬ 
not be deceived in it, unless the breeder 
has caused a false entry to he made in the 
herd book, which lie is little likely to do 
as he could be so easily detected. 
SORGHUM SUGAR. 
The long-looked for report of the Na¬ 
tional Academy of Sciences on the subject 
of sorghum sugar has just been printed. 
The delay has enabled the Commissioners 
to add to their report the results of the crop 
of 1882, and also some matters of histori¬ 
cal interest relating to sorghum. That 
sorghum may be widely and economically 
grown and yield a satisfactory amount of 
sugar is sufficiently proven, in the opin¬ 
ion of these scientists. The follow ing are 
the facts developed by laboratory and 
field work:—that the plants develop at 
maturity, and when the seed is ripe, a 
maximum of cane sugar and a minimum of 
glucose; that the maximum of cane sugar 
in sorghum juices is found associated with 
about one-tenth of glucose and about one- 
fifth of its w-eight in solids; that after 
maturity the relative proportions of the 
chief factors vary hut little even for a 
period of three months or more, provided 
the season does nor change: that all varie¬ 
ties resemble each other in developing at 
maturity, under the same conditions, 
nearly the same maximum percentage. 
The soil best adapted appears to he a 
sandy loam. The successful production 
of a crystallized sugar on a commercial 
scale appears to demand the skill and ap¬ 
pliances of a sugar house conducted m a 
systematic manner and with ample 
capital. The best results in sugar are ob¬ 
tained only when the ripe cane is manu¬ 
factured on the same day on which it is cut. 
The seed of ripe sorghum is a valuable 
feed crop for fattening animals with 
maize, and in percentage is equal to from 
two-aud-a-half to four bushels per ton of 
cane. About 40 per cent, of the juice is 
lost in the begasse, more than half of 
which loss may he saved by processes un¬ 
der investigation. The begasse, when 
treated by a pulping machine, gives a val¬ 
uable paper stock. In regions where fuel 
is dear the bagasse can be used with ad¬ 
vantage as fuel. 
PROPOSED ABSOLUTE ENGLISH EM¬ 
BARGO ON AMERICAN CATTLE. 
It will be remembered that since I lie 
imposition of restrictions on the importa¬ 
tion of American cattle into the United 
Kingdom in March, 1879, cattle from 
this country have been always slaughtered 
at the port of landing within ten days af¬ 
ter debarkation. A few weeks ago the Duke 
of Richmond and Gordon headed a dep¬ 
utation of agriculturists and cattle own¬ 
ers who presented a petition to Lord Car- 
lingford, Minister of Agriculture and Com¬ 
merce, praying that the Government 
would entirely exclude live cattle from 
this country on the plea that foot-and- 
mouth disease is prevalent among our 
herds, and consequently that English cat¬ 
tle would be exposed to contagion from 
imported American stock. Lora Curling- 
ford did not favor the proposed measure, 
and at first it was thought, the subject 
would be dropped by our trans-Atlantic 
cousins, especially as the plea on which it 
was urged—the existence of foot-and- 
mouth disease among cattle n the United 
States—is notoriously false. 
On the night of last Tuesday, July 10, 
however, Mr, nenrv Chaplin, the well- 
known agricultural Tory Member of Par¬ 
liament for Lincolnshire, in the House of 
Commons “moved that.in view of the prev¬ 
alence of foot-and-mouth disease, the im¬ 
portation ot live cattle should not in future 
be permitted from countries whose preven¬ 
tive laws or the sanitary condition of whose 
cattle did not afford reasonable security 
against the extension of the disease.” 
He claimed that British North America 
and the Scandanavian countries were the 
only ones free from the disease, and 
that these afforded a large supply of meat, 
while only four per cent, of the total 
meat supply was imported. One of the 
best means of insuring a meat supply is 
according to him, to encourage home pro¬ 
duction; and, moreover. Great Britain 
could not long rely on America for meat, 
as the rapid increase of population here is 
causing the exportable surplus to become 
daily less. Mr. Mundella maintained that 
one-sixth of the British meat supply is im¬ 
ported and that the proposed embargo 
would “cause enormous loss to the con¬ 
sumers.” The Ministry offered to consent 
to the appointment of an investigating 
committee, but the House rejected an 
amendment to this effect, and by a vote of 
200 to 192 adopted Mr. Chapin’s motion, 
the Ministry voting with the minority. 
The measure is directed especially 
against this country—to protect British 
cattle owners from American competition. 
It was pressed on grounds notoriously 
false. It is a clear departure from that 
acme of British statesmanship, free trade, 
especially in food. The right of Great 
Britain to pass such a measure we do not 
question, hut the friendliness of exercis¬ 
ing the right we emphatically deny. 
Should the Government submit to this 
defeat, as it has lately submitted to two 
others on the Brndlaugh question, the in¬ 
jury to American commerce wilbnot be so 
reat as it would have been before the 
evelopment of our dead meat trade. In 
the ten months ending April 30, qyr ex¬ 
ports of live cattle and dead fresh beef 
were as follows: 
1883. 1882. 
Honied cattle, live.$5,283,423 $6,658,035 
Fresh beef. ti, 929,880 fi.204,901 
Thus it will be seen that the value of 
our exports of dead meat already exceeds 
that of our live cattle, and should our 
cattle be entirely imbargoed in the United 
Kingdom, the imports of our dead beef 
would increase enormously. 
-- 
THE CROPS. 
The Department of Agriculture’s July 
crop report says there has been some im¬ 
provement in Winter wheat in Connecti¬ 
cut, New York, Virginia. South Carolina, 
Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, 
Missouri, Kansas and California, which 
advances the general uverage condition 
from 75 to 79. The Spring wheat aver¬ 
age also has advanced from 98 to 100. 
The July indications point, to a Winter 
wheat crop of fully 800.000,000 bushels, 
and a product of about 125,000,000 
bushels of Spring wheat, or an aggregate 
wheat crop of 425,000,000 bushels. 
“Bradst rent's” claims to surpass the 
Agricultural Department in the accuracy 
of its estimates, and the last Bradstreet's 
—that of July 7—puts the Winter wheat 
crop at 816,920,000 bushels, against an 
actual yield of 380,300.150 bushels last 
year, a decrease of (58.446,150 bushels, or 
over 18 per cent. 7'his estimate gives 
California, Oregon and Washington Terri¬ 
tory 65,000,000 bushels against 50,525,900 
bushels last year, besides a gain of 4.5C0,- 
000 bushels in twelve Southern States. 
The heaviest estimated losses are Illinois 
51, Ohio 40, tmd Indiana and Missouri 30 
per cent. Of Spring wheat the estimated 
yield is put at 120.440,000 bushels, against 
an actual yield of 117,856,320 bushels last 
year—an increase of 8,583,680 bushels, or 
over seven per cent. The total crop is 
estimated at 443,800,000 bushels against 
504,222,470 bushels last year—a decrease 
of 60,806,470 bushels, or over 12 per cent. 
The Cincinnati Price Current, another 
rival of the Agricultural Department in 
crop estimates, as mentioned in our 
Agricultural News last week estimates 
the total wheat crop at 440,000,000 
bushels, and between its estimates and 
those of Bradstreet’s there is a marvelous 
similarity. Other reports from all sec¬ 
tions leave no doubt that the aggregate 
yield will be heavier than was anticipated 
earlier in the season. 
The Agricultural Department estimates 
the area under corn to he 2,500,000 acres 
greater than last, year, which would give 
a total area of 68,000,000 acres. Nearly 
every State shares in the increase, though 
the proportion of increase is greatest in 
the Northwest and Southwest. There 
has been too much rain in the Western 
corn fields and replanting owing to the 
failure of stands from poor seed, made the 
crop late and the growth small; hut of 
late great and rapid improvement is re¬ 
ported from nearly everywhere. Taking 
all the States together, the average for 
corn is 88 against 85 last July, 90 in July 
1881 and 100 in 1880. The average of 
the principal States is put as follows: New 
York. 84; Pennsylvania, 89; Ohio, 83; 
Michigan. 73; Indiana, 90; Illinois, 82; 
Iowa, 80; Missouri, 82; Kansas, 98; 
Nebraska, 87, and Dakota Territory, 78. 
In the South the average ranges from 90 
in Tennessee to 103 in Louisiana. 
In the condition of cotton there has 
been a general improvement, especially 
since June 20. The general average con¬ 
dition has advanced from 80 to 90. The 
onlyietrograde movement has been in Ar¬ 
kansas where a loss of three points was 
caused by cold nights and injuries from 
chinch hugs, red ants and rust. The State 
averages are as follows:—Virginia, 83; 
North Carolina, 91; South Carolina, 91; 
Georgia, 93; Florida. 95; Alabama, 87; 
Mississippi. 89; Louisiana, 91; Texas, 93; 
Arkansas. 84; Tennessee, 88. Worms 
have wrought but little injury as yet. The 
caterpillar has appeared at a few points 
from South Carolina to Texas. There 
have been complaints of drought in Cen¬ 
tral and Southwestern Texas and in a few 
counties of South Carolina and Georgia. 
Picking will begin in Southwestern Texas 
about July 20. and thence move steadily 
northward. 
The outlook for oats is nearly as good 
as last vear, the average being 99 against 
103. The condition of barley is 97 against 
90 last July. The average is 103 in New 
York; 91 in Pennsylvania, 102 in Wis¬ 
consin, and 90 m California. There has 
been an increase of five per cent, in the 
area of Irish potatoes, and their condition 
is excellent, averaging 101. The area of 
tobacco has fallen off seven per cent, and 
its condition is 95. 
Last Tuesday. July 10, the London 
agent of the Department of Agriculture, 
cabled:—“The weather the first ten days 
of July was hot and forcing. Wheat es¬ 
timates increasing generally throughout 
Europe.” The daily official English 
weather reports up to the first of the 
month show that, with the exception of 
a few storms, the season was quite favor¬ 
able to the chief crops. 
BREVITIES. 
We learn with deep regret that Dr. John A. 
Warder’s health is not improving. 
Remember this: if during dry weather 
you begin to water plants, the watering 
must be continued until rain comes. Imme¬ 
diately thereafter, as soou as the soil about 
the plants is dry enough, it should bo broken 
up and mellowed. 
Mr. Orange Junn, of the American 
Agriculturist. (N. Y.) made an assignment 
for his creditors on Thursday, the “pre¬ 
ferences" amounting to $11,804. The 
amount of his usscsts and liabilities is not yet 
known. For some years bis connection with 
the Orauge Judd Publishing Company is said 
to have been only nominal. 
Cabbage plants may still be set.. If fine 
crops of celery are to be assured, the plants 
must not suffer for want of moisture. Checked 
plants make hollow stalks. If “potted” straw¬ 
berry plants are desired, sink pots filled 
with soil, under the joints of the runners, and 
hold them there by pegs or stone* until rooted. 
As soon as well established in the pots, they 
may be raised and thumped out iuto new 
beds, where they will yield nearly a full crop 
in the Spring, 
We present to our renders the new change 
made in the cost of sending money-orders, the 
new rates having gone into effect on July 2d. 
Sums not exceeding $10. 8c.; over $10 and not 
exceeding $15, 10c. ; over $15 and not exceed¬ 
ing $30. 15c.; over $00 and not exceeding $40, 
20c.; over $40 uud not exceeding $50, 25c.; 
over $50 and not. exceeding $60, 30o.; over $00 
and not exceeding $70. 35c.: over $70 and not 
exceeding $80, 40c.; over $80 and not exceed¬ 
ing $100. 45c. Outlie 1st of September next, 
the new postal nnle for sending sums of $5, 
and under for t hree cents, goes into effect. 
The last Massachusetts Legislature appro¬ 
priated $1(1,000 for 80 free scholarships at the 
Agricultural College at Amherst, and the Trus¬ 
tees have just decided that these shnll lie 
awarded by competitive examinations, each 
senatorial "district being entitled to two. 
Last year the number of students was 110, all 
of whom studied agriculture. The attendance 
should be larger the coming year, as many are 
sure to be coaxed by this largess. Professor 
James C Groeuough, Principal of the Rhode 
Island Normal School, has accepter! the Presi¬ 
dency of the College, as we foreshadowed some 
weeks ago. Lie is a native of Deerfield, and 
ft graduate of Williams College of thu Class of 
I860. He lias studied and taught law and the¬ 
ology, uud is therefore fully as well fitted for 
the presidency of an exclusively agricultural 
college as are most of the presidents of our 
other State agricultural colleges. 
