THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
AUG 44 
THE 
RURAL NEW'YORKER. 
Conducted by 
ELBERT 8. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row. New York. 
SATURDAY. AUGUST 11. 1888. 
A gentleman makes the absurd state¬ 
ment, in a respected contemporary, that to 
his “ certain knowledge perfect grains of 
wheat and oats have been found growing 
out of the. same wheat head.” We are 
sorry that such statements are deemed 
worthy of publication without comment. 
For this climate there are few shrubs 
that are more desirable than the Rose of 
Sharon. It is especially to he prized for 
its late-flowering habit, giving, as it does, 
its profusion of flowers when there are few 
others. But what we wished to allude to 
was the fact that these shrubs are very 
easily grown from seeds, blooming the 
second or third year thereafter, and vary¬ 
ing as much as seedling Gladiolus or Iris 
flowers in their color aud markings. The 
seeds may be gathered after frosts and 
sown at once for house culture or lelt un¬ 
til Spring to be sown in garden borders. 
Complaints have recently been made 
to the Treasury Department that there are 
not sufficient accommodations at the cattle 
quarantine station at Waltham, near Bos¬ 
ton. Assistant Secretary French, who has 
had the whole cattle quarantine in charge, 
while acknowledging the shortcoming, 
says the Treasury Department is in no 
way responsible for it. To properly ac¬ 
comodate 40 head of full-grown cattle, he 
says, requires a building 80 feet long by 
20 wide, and sheds were erected for 300 
head—all that were expected to need 
shelter at one time. Now, however, there 
are more than 1,000 head in quarantine. 
On June 16 a cablegram announced that 
“ 45 ” cattle would be shipped from Scot¬ 
land to Boston, but “450” should have 
been read instead of “45,” Previous to 
July 1, the entire appropriation for 
quarantining cattle, including the purchase 
of land, erection of buildings, etc,, amount¬ 
ed to only $50,000, all of which was ex¬ 
pended before that date in establishing 
statinnsat Portland, Boston,New York and 
Baltimore. Now that the new appropria¬ 
tions are available, improvements will be 
made in the stations. The importations 
of foreign cattle this year are transcend¬ 
ing all expectations. 
During the couple of weeks of the tele¬ 
graphers’ strike frequent complaints have 
been made by the speculators in our Stock 
and Produce Exchanges that their busi¬ 
ness has been greatly injured by the in¬ 
terruption in telegraphic communications. 
Armour & Plankington. the great “pro¬ 
vision ” speculators'of Chicago, and David 
Dows & Co., the great grain speculators 
of that city and this, say their trade has 
been cut down one-half by the strike. 
The legitimate business of these and other 
like firms is, of course, enormous, but it 
isn’t their legitimate business that has 
suffered the most, hut their illegitimate, 
their speculative business, which is regu¬ 
lated chiefly by watching the telegraphed 
quotations in various markets every few 
minutes and swapping back and forth 
lard, pork and bacon, which might just as 
well be “counters,” dice and chequers for 
anything the dealers care about them. 
’Tie the gambler’s “trade” not the busi¬ 
ness-man’s trade that has suffered. Grain 
aud “provisions” have not lost their 
value; railroad trains have run and ships 
have sailed full of these and other sub¬ 
stantial commodities, so that legitimate 
trade has been “booming” right along. 
Thousands and thousands of country 
orders, we are told, have been cut off. 
Yes, and thank God for that. Thousands 
and thousands of dollars that would 
otherwise have gone into the pockets of 
city speculators will now be laid out in 
paying off debts, building fences, getting 
needed household conveniencies, adding 
to the stock and “ improving ” farms and 
homsteads. 
Complaints reach us of some curious 
mutilations in a pamphlet of 68 pages en¬ 
titled “Investigations of Sorghum as a 
Sugar-producing Plant, Season of 1882, 
Peter Collier, Chemist,” 5,000 of which 
have just been printed by the Department 
of Agriculture, and which will probably 
soon reach the hands of those whom they 
are intended to benefit. For his experi¬ 
ments Dr. Collier had last year only the 
product of two-ninths of an acre upon 
which 64 different varieties of sorghum 
were grown. Several of these,entirely new 
to the united States, were especially val¬ 
uable because brought from countries 
where sorghum has been for generations 
raised both for sugar and seed. For in¬ 
stance, six varieties were from Northern 
China, thirteen from Natal and two from 
India. Of the new varieties 22 “were cut 
down” on October 20 without the consent 
of Dr. Collier, hut experiments with the 
rest down to December 8 showed that, 
in spite of thirteen frosts the amount 
of sugar in the several varieties had 
suffered no diminution. Further ex¬ 
periments, we are told, were “unfortu¬ 
nately” prevented by the clearing away of 
the entire field at the above date. In the 
pamphlet the results of Dr. Collier’s nu¬ 
merous analyses of the new varieties at 
different stages of their growth, are, “by 
a strange oversight,” entirely omitted, al¬ 
though special reference is made to them 
in another part of the work. He also 
made 78 experiments in the important 
process of defecation, using as re-agents 
hydrate of lime, calcium sulphite and a 
mixture of these two, but although it is 
stated in the pamphlet that, the results of 
these experiments are given in detail in 
tables A, B, C. no tables A, B, C can be 
found in the “special report.” Of course, 
in a hard-working Government Depart¬ 
ment like that under Commissioner Bor¬ 
ing, overtaxed, especially in the torrid 
Summer season, by too much business, a 
few slips now and then are to be expect¬ 
ed, still it would be fortunate if these 
slips occurred in a work less important 
than that treating of the new and promis¬ 
ing industry of sorghum sugar making. 
THE SOUTHERN EXPOSITION. 
Upon Wednesday, August 1, the South¬ 
ern Exposition opened at Louisville. Ky., 
under the most favorable circumstances, 
with good promise of future success. Ex¬ 
tra interest was added to the occasion by 
the presence of President Arthur, to whom 
fell the honor of being the first President 
of the United States to open a Southern 
Exposition. After listening to a short 
address by the Mayor of Louisville, Presi¬ 
dent Arthur, who was introduced by Gov¬ 
ernor Blackburn, made a short address, 
closing by declaring the Southern Expo¬ 
sition opened. After making this decla¬ 
ration, he seized a silken cord dangling 
near-by, which being pulled, opened the 
throttle of the Reynolds-Corliss engine 
and put into operation all of the engines 
in the machinery department. At the 
same moment, a chorus of 500 voices 
joined in singing “America,” Some dis¬ 
appointment is caused by dilatory exhib¬ 
itors, but, the majority of the exhibits will 
be in place by August 15, although a few 
tardy ones may he delayed until September 
1. This exposition has assumed a magnitude 
of national importance, as it brings before 
a great section of the country the latest 
improvements in industrial implements, 
and demonstrates, as could be shown in 
no other wa) T , the capability of the South 
in the production of native products, ar¬ 
raying them before the masses so that 
they can be seen under the most favorable 
conditions. 
From August 28 to September 1, a fruit 
show will occur in connection with the 
Exposition, in which an aggregate jium of 
$2,097 will he offered as premiums. No 
entry fee will be required, but all entries 
must be made by 1 p.m. of August 28. 
The chief prize is $500 for the best dis¬ 
play of a local or county horticultural so¬ 
ciety, while the second and third prizes of 
$200 and $100 each are offered for exhib¬ 
its having relative rank in merit. Seven¬ 
ty-five dollars are offered for the best dis¬ 
play of apples, and also of peaches and of 
grapes. The pear prizes ran ire from $50 
to $5, the latter sum being offered for the 
best plate of each variety. Plum aud 
melon prizes range from $20 to $5. 
BAD OUTLOOK FOR LANDLORDS IN 
THE UNITED KINGDOM. 
A London cablegram on August 1, tells 
us that'a statement signed by Lords Dun- 
raven, Monteagle, Lifford, Gough, Castle¬ 
town, Fortescue and other landlords in 
Ireland has been sent, to Mr. Gladstone 
pointing out. the losses of rent and the 
depreciation in the value of land that have 
taken place in consequence of the passage 
of the Land Act, and suggesting State aid 
in the shape of a loan for the relief of 
land-owners, which in this instance simply 
means landlords, for land-owners who 
farm their own lands have been affected 
by the operation of the Land Act only 
to the extent of paying, in some cases, a 
trifle higher wages to farm laborers. 
Why should the Government come to the 
relief of these extortioners ? The fact 
that, the rents were cut down by the 
Land Courts is ample proof that they 
had been exorbitant; that for years.and in 
some cases for generations, the wretched 
tenants had been overcharged for the use 
of their miserable holdings. Now that 
the Law sternly forbids these aristocratic 
plunderers to wrest every cent from their 
tenants, what just Teason have they to 
appeal to the Nation for compensation for 
the miserable pittance they are forced to 
leave their victims ? 
Landlords in England also have already 
learnt to fear that rents must he lowered 
and better terms as to the managemement 
of their farms he allowed to tenants. With 
the prospect before them of a considerable 
abatement of rent, a large number of them 
are throwing their estates on the market 
with the intention of seeking incomes in 
other investments. The fact that the 
Agricultural IToldings Act passed its third 
reading last Wednesday in the Commons, 
and went at once to the House of Lords, 
where it is pretty sure to pass : n spite of 
the objections of that land-holding body, 
is sure to increase this movement. In a 
late London Times estates aggregating 50. - 
000 acres were advertised, and it was edi- 
itorially stated that at least five times that 
amount of land was in the hands of Lon¬ 
don agents for immediate sale. Tn a 
single issue of the paper, land is often 
offered for sale worth at least $10,000,000. 
The advertising columns of other papers 
too, agricultural and political, all over 
the country contain numerous notices of 
the same kind. These sales must gradu¬ 
ally lead to the breaking up of the im¬ 
mense landed estates into wbi di most of 
the island is divided. Tenant farmers 
will be displaced by a body of small pro¬ 
prietors, -who by close work and rigid 
economy will be able to “keep their heads 
above water,” even under the stress of 
such wretched harvests as have been the 
rule since 1876. 
NO FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE AMONG 
AMERICAN CATTLE. 
Although Mr. Gladstone declared in 
Parliament, on July 16, that the Govern¬ 
ment did not intend at the present session 
to enter upon any legislation re¬ 
lating to cattle disease, as demanded 
by Mr. Chapin’s motion passed by a 
mn jority of the House of Commons on 
July 10, still there is an evident dispo¬ 
sition on the part of the Conservative 
Party to press for legislation in this direc¬ 
tion, partly to embarrass the Liberal Min¬ 
istry and partly to agitate for “protection” 
for tlie British cattle owners against com¬ 
petition in cheap meats from this country. 
As England is par exreUenne the apostle of 
Free Trade among the nations, this “pro¬ 
tection” is disingenuously sought on the 
false plea that it is protection from dis¬ 
ease not “protection” from competition 
that is desired, and that the object of the 
proposed legislation is to guard the live 
stock of England from foot-and-mouth 
disease presumed to be prevalent among 
the live stock of the United States. 
The existence of this disease among our 
cattle has been emphatically denied over 
and over again by the Rural New-York¬ 
er after careful inquiry and observation, 
and the Treasury Cattle Commission has 
just fully confirmed this opinion. In a 
report, made to the Treasury a couple ot 
days ago and telegraphed from Washing¬ 
ton yesterday, the Commissioners say that 
after a most extended and almost exhaust¬ 
ive inquiry not a trace of foot-and-mouth 
disease could be found apart from herds 
just landed from Great Britain which have 
been always segregated until the infection 
has entirely disappeared. Beginning with 
the great rendezvous of cattle at Kansas 
City, Council Bluffs and Omaha, the Oom- 
missionershave made careful investigations 
along all the lines of cattle traffic as far as 
the Eastern seaboard, including all the 
great stock-yards, all the great feeding 
stables connected with distilleries, starch, 
glucose and other factories, all the city 
dairies where stock-yards exist, and to a 
large extent the great dairy districts into 
which cows are drawn from the above- 
named stock-yards and lines of travel, as 
well as the stock-yards at the seaboard to 
which all infection in exportable stock 
must gravitate, yet not a single case of 
foot-and-mouth disease could they dis¬ 
cover among American cattle. 
That the disease could be concealed or 
unobserved is quite impossible, in view of 
the fact that it, is perhaps the most con¬ 
tagious malady known, rarely entering a 
herd without striking down all its mem¬ 
bers simultaneously or nearly so. More¬ 
over. all warm-blooded animals are liable 
to it, but all cloven-footed animals are es¬ 
pecially predisposed to it. so that sheep, 
goats, and swim- coming within therangcof 
infection, are as susceptible to it and mani¬ 
fest symptoms of it as markedly as do 
cattle. It would therefore be impossible to 
conceal a disease which affects so many 
classes of animals. Neither enn it be lat¬ 
ent in the animals, for the period of its in¬ 
cubation is very short, the eruption often 
appearing in 36 hours and rarely being 
delayed, even in cold weather, beyond six 
days. Nor is it possible to overlook its 
presence, for not only does it affect the 
entire herd, but no one could iirnore for a 
moment tlie swollen digits; the lameness, 
blisters, or ulcers between the hoofs; the 
beat, tenderness, swelling, blisters, or raw 
sores on the udder and teats; the abun¬ 
dant frothing or slobbering at the mouth; 
the frequent loud smacking noise made 
with the tongue and palate; and the large 
round, red, angry sores on the mucous 
membrane of the mouth. 
Were foot-and-mouth disease among 
our stock in any part of the country there 
would be among farmers such a panic as 
prevailed in Northern New York and New 
England in 1871, when the disease swept 
over that region from Canada. Fortunate¬ 
ly the invasion occurred in Autumn, and 
as the disease had not spread bovnml herds 
in inclosed pastures and buildings, the 
long seclusion of the animals during the 
following Winter stamped it out. Of the 
two latest importations of foot-and-mouth 
disease from England the first was made 
in 1881 in a diseased herd of Ohannel Is¬ 
land Cattle landed in New' York by the 
steamship France; and the second occurred 
in March 1883. when the steamship Ness- 
more landed in Baltimore another herd of 
Channel Island cattle suffering from the 
malady. In each case the infected herds 
were quarantined by tlie State authorities 
and tlie disease was utterly stamped out. 
Tn both eases cargoes of American fat 
cattle were shipped on the vessels for the 
return voyage, and in both cases these on 
their arrival in England were condemned 
as being infected with foot-and-mouth 
disease. 
This last infection, undoubtedly con¬ 
tracted on board the ship, like the first, 
appears to have boon the chief, if not the 
only, cause of the recent action of Mr. 
Chapin and his supporters in the British 
Parliament. A few other eargoes of Amer¬ 
ican cattle may have been found suffering 
from the disease on their arrival in Eng¬ 
land, but this is readily accounted for bv 
the use for these cattle of bead ropes and 
other appliances that had previously been 
used for infected European cattle. We 
reiterate, therefore, what we have fre¬ 
quently said before—there is absolutely 
no foot-and-mouth disease among Ameri¬ 
can cattle. 
BREVITIES. 
Water and ronsk-melons like a rich soil it 
is true, but a light, soil and a warm situation 
are of vet greater importance. Tn the gar¬ 
den of the Rural Grounds, the soil of which 
is rich hut moist and cold, the vines start late, 
grow fast and mature their fruit late. The 
melons are therefore never of the first quality. 
Tn the poorer blit warmer soil of the fields, 
the vines sat fruit 10 dnvs earlier, and the 
quality of the melons is often of the. best. 
Professor C. O. Georoescvv. lately of the 
Texas State Agricultural I'ollege. and for¬ 
mer! v of the Rural Editorial staff, writes 
us: “I read the Rural regularly, and 1 think 
it is even better than of old, and mv wife 
declares that the Domestic Eeonomv Depart¬ 
ment is far ahead of similar departments in 
other capers.” The Professor resigned his 
po>-’lion at the College, having purchased a 
farm at Melissa. Golins r n.. about 80 miles 
south of the Red River. There be intends to 
grow farm and garden seeds of all kinds which 
thrive in'that section. We heartily wish him 
success ! 
The Agricultural Department, or rather. 
Mr. Dodge, the Statistician thereof, estimates 
onr home consumption of wheat at 250,000.- 
000 bushels for bread and 50,000.000 bushels 
for seed, so that of the wheat crop ef 1Ks;i 
there will be an exportable surplus nf 89,550.- 
000 husliels, according to the Millers’ National 
Association: 125,000.000 husliels according to 
the Department of Agriculture: 140.000,000 
according tn the Cincinnati Price Current, and 
148,000,01*0 according to Bmdstreet’s, To the 
exportable surplus from this vearVeron should 
lie addj'd nt least 50.000.000 bushels nf former 
crons still constituting the “visible supply” or 
in tlie hands of the producers Bread enough 
for ourselves in anv ease and some to spare for 
poor old hungry Europe! 
The Order of “Agricultural Merit” is a new 
order the creation of which has been proposed 
to President. Gn 5 w by M Mdline. the French 
Minister of Agriculture, and the President has 
approved the proposal, The decoration con¬ 
sists of a star with five points and surrounded 
with a crown of laurel. It is to tie worn with 
a green ribbon trimmed wit h red. and is to be 
awarded to those who ha ve specially distin¬ 
guished themselves in affairs agricultural. 
Has there ever before been in any country 
anv special means nf honoring those who bn ve 
distinguished themselves in (he p ost useful of 
all vocations—agriculture> If so. we do not 
know of a case. Judging from numerous cir 
Clirnsta ncet—a mow which may he mentioned 
the consideration in which agricultural stu 
dents are held even in most of our agricultural 
colleges - if the new Order is to he strictly 
confined to agriculturist*, the world will ho con¬ 
siderably older and wiser before it will be held 
in high esteem by the rest, of the community. 
