THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
National Journal lor the Country and Suburban Home, 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
Conducted by 
KLB£BT S. CARMAH. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1883. 
As a protection to ourselves, our collec¬ 
tion of seeds will be sent only to subscrib¬ 
ers whose names are upon our lists. No 
others ueed apply. The Rural New- 
Yorkeu sells neither seeds, plants, books 
nor anything whatever. 
The Home Evaporator is the invention 
of Mr. E. S. Goff, of the N. Y. Experi¬ 
ment Station, a patentable idea, made 
public property through the Fair Number 
of the Rural New-Yorker as the best 
means of placing it before the largest num¬ 
ber of people. 
We sent Dr. Lawes a head of the Black- 
bearded Centennial Wheat. He replied 
as follows : -‘I like your wheat very well, 
but I have a strong objection to grow 
wheat which has been accustomed to hot¬ 
ter Summers than our own. It generally 
becomes diseased.” 
The Rural would have occasion to feel 
obliged if subscribers would test Mr. Cleve¬ 
land's Rural New-Yorker Pea beside other 
strains which are claimed to be the earliest 
in cultivation. As we never sell seeds or 
plants, we desire that the simple truth 
should be made known. Enough seed 
will be sent to each applicant for a row 
ten feet long. 
Rural subscribers will please not make 
application lor our seeds before December 1, 
and then they must grant our request to 
inclose a three-cent -Stamp. We have nev¬ 
er insisted upon this for the purpose of 
lessening the great expense of these distri¬ 
butions, but simply to insure that only 
those apply, who are really interested in 
the farm or garden sufficiently to give 
them a careful test. 
Six years ago the Rural distributed 
Clawson wheat arnoog its subscribers. 
Since, it has distributed Shumaker, Fultzo- 
Clawson, Defiance, Champlain and Black- 
bearded Centennial. Now it offers the 
Cross-bred Diehl-Mediterranean, which, 
judged by our own tests, will prove the 
hardiest and most productive of any. Our 
engraving is true to nature, showing the 
average head as grown in plots at the Rural 
Experiment Grounds the present year. 
Several years ago we drilled in upon 
a dozen different plots all the way from a 
peck to three bushels of seed wheat. 
Upon one of the plots (Shumaker) the 
wheat was cross-drilled at the rate of two 
bushels to the acre. Those plots upon 
which from one-and-a-quarter to one-and- 
three-quarter bushels of seed was used yield¬ 
ed the best. In our field tests we have 
used from oue to two bushels of seed, 
and we have settled upon one-and-a-half 
as giving the best returns. Our soil is a 
sandy loam, naturally well-drained, and 
liable to suffer from droughts in June 
and July. 
We know of a rich farmer that had 
rather pay a loud-mouthed, boastful, 
showy, eye-serving, rascally, ingenious, sly 
farm hand twenty dollars a month, than 
a true, steady-going, trustworthy man 
twenty-five dollars. Three of his men 
have already been obliged to leave his 
place or the State, haying been detected 
in various thefts and other misdemeanors. 
We have no patience with farmers who 
are mean enough to economize in tliis way, 
and we believe that they are no more to 
lie trusted than the jail-birds they employ. 
Don’t confide in any one who has no ap¬ 
preciation of faithful services. 
-♦ » ♦ — 
When we see a farmer who rails against 
farming as an occupation of unremunera- 
tive toil, and also is impatient to engage 
in some other—any other—business, the 
words of Jefferson are recalled: “Let the 
farmer forevermore be honored in his call¬ 
ing, for they who labor in the earth are 
the chosen people of God; ” and of Wash¬ 
ington : “Agriculture is the most health¬ 
ful, most useful and most noble employ¬ 
ment of man. ” Strong hands and earnest 
hearts may fail to make the poor, worn-out 
soil pay. But those who, having had a 
fertile soil and a fair start, have yet failed 
to live in comfort and to pay their debts, 
are unfit to succeed in any other employ¬ 
ment whatever. 
Whenever bushes of suckers are seen 
growing about apple or pear trees, you 
may know that the Orchard doesn’t pay and 
that the proprietor is a shiftless owner. 
Whenever a tree is covered with scale-* 
bark lice it is wiser to ask what will re¬ 
store health to the tree than what will kill 
the lice. A pear tree whose roots are in a 
damp, undrained soil is the favorite home 
of these lice, and destroy them as we may 
by liquid applications or by rubbing and 
crushing them, others will appear the next 
season. You may ward off an attack of 
malaria with quinine, but if you would 
escape the disease, change your home and 
get away from the cause. 
It will be seen by reference to page 571 
that we again club with the good old 
Inter-Ocean and Detroit Free Press. The 
N. Y. World has been omitted in favor of 
the N. Y. Weekly Times, which change 
our readers will kindly note. Those who 
subscribe through us for the Rural and 
either or all of the above journals, will be 
entitled to our Seed Distribution without 
application. By employing more hands on 
our mailing lists during the subscription 
season than ever before, we promise our 
friends the best attention that it is possible 
for us to give with a view to avoiding mis¬ 
takes and to securing prompt returns. We 
beg our readers, however, to assist us by 
writing their names and addresses plainly, 
giving names of jmst-ofice and State. 
-- 
One dollar a pound for a good new 
seedling potato. Is it. absurdly high, as 
many complain ? Let those who think so 
set about to produce a superior new 
variety from the seed-ball, and wbeu they 
have succeeded let them then state what 
the price should be. They may produce 
thousands of seedlings and not one of 
them he essentially better than the named 
kinds in the market. Again there must 
be several years of selection and propaga¬ 
tion ere the new potato can be placed 
upon the market. The stock must then 
be sold to the merchant or introduced by 
the originator. In either case it must he 
extensively advertised, or the public will 
never know of the new seedling, be it 
offered at $1.00 the pound or at 25 cents. 
Originators of superior plants are entitled 
to a generous compensation for their labor 
which benefits every class of society, and 
we are among those who hold that such 
labor is but poorly appreciated and 
rarely overpaid. 
WHEAT AND GRAPE HYBRIDS (?) 
We know of certain grape “hybrid¬ 
izers ” that cross grapes only a fter t he cap 
has fallen, and wheats not until the. heads 
are “in bloom”—and they really think 
that their seedlings are “hybrids ” or cross¬ 
breeds. As, however, the anthers of the 
wheat fiower burst and shed their pollen 
upon the stigmas before the plants are ••in 
bloom,” and as the same may be said of 
many grape blossoms before the “cap” 
falls, it will appear that in the wheat no 
cross-fertilization has occurred,and that in 
the grapes it is doubtful at least. Iu cross¬ 
ing grapes the present season, we found the 
anthers ripe or burst in every case in which 
the “cap” (petals of the flower) had fallen 
or was ready to fall. We see that Prof. 
Beal says that “grapes fertilize before the 
flowers open,” and that therefore “the 
stamens must be carefully cut away and a 
paper bag be put over the flowers to pre¬ 
vent any outside pollen reaching them.” 
Grapes vary remarkably from seeds—a 
fact winch some of our grape “hybridists” 
attribute, to their futile manipulation. 
Wheat rarely varies so that it is hard to 
understand how variations should occur 
in those plants which have been raised 
from seeds whieh were erroneously thought 
to have been crossed. We have raised over 
250 wheats with different names, and 
many of them have been found to be the 
same. Of these, several kinds which of 
late have been offered as new hybrids have 
been found to be merely old varieties re¬ 
christened. 
-- 
OPPOSITION TO BRITISH CATTLE 
RANCHES ON THE PLAINS. 
The American National League is the 
name under which an attempt is being 
made, in the frontier States to get up an 
excitement against English and Scotch in¬ 
vestors in Western cattle ranches. While 
we in the East are protesting against 
pauper immigration from Europe which 
threatens to occupy our alms-houses at the 
expense of the native tax-payer, the deni¬ 
zens of the Far West are protesting against 
plutocratic immigration from Europe 
which threatens to occupy our public land- 
at the expense of the native settler and 
stock-raiser. The high price of cattle here 
for several years, and the depreciation of 
real estate in the United Kingdom have 
of late led to the investment of a great 
deal of British capital in the raising of 
live stock on the Plains, chiefly by joints 
stock associations and the younger sons 
of wealthy families, and the arrogant en¬ 
croachments of those on the arable border¬ 
land, together with their reckless disre¬ 
gard of the rights of smaller, poorer and 
weaker competitors, has very naturally 
aroused a world of discontent and resent¬ 
ment among those injured or menaced by 
their monopolizing action. The oppress¬ 
ive power of vast wealth, associated or in¬ 
dividual, over the earnings of labor is felt 
in every part of the country, and the bold, 
adventurous spirits of the Far West are 
more restive under it, especially when ex¬ 
ercised by aliens, thau the dwellers in older- 
settled sectious where custom and a more 
thoroughly organized law-enforcing ma¬ 
chinery have begot a more patient disposi¬ 
tion under legalized hardships, and a more 
sober disposition to seek for relief by the 
slow routine of legislation. 
The grievances which our Western 
friends complain of, however, are likely 
to be only temporary, and their fears are 
not likely to be realized. “The present 
extraordinary exodus of English aristo¬ 
crats to the United States is a rush of the 
vanguard of a great army who are panting 
for locations for transfers of estates,” says 
the League. With the probable fall in 
the price of live-stock, however, as the 
numbers increase, the inducements to in¬ 
vestment in that line will diminish, and 
the British “aristocrats” who have sunk 
their millions in the purchase of cattle, 
sheep and pastures at high prices from 
Americans, will probably sell them again 
to Americans at considerably lov r er fig¬ 
ures. If they remain here, they will iu 
most cases do so as Americans, and it 
is against aliens, not. against citizens, 
that the present movement is directed. 
The land will remain and will not be de¬ 
preciated in value, and this country will 
ultimately be the gainer by the production 
of cheaper beef, mutton and wool as well 
as by the profits of transportation, and the 
use of the money invested. 
True, it is not easy for the individual 
sufferer from hardships to find consolation 
and patience in the contemplation of the 
general good that may accrue in the future 
from the grievances uuder which he at 
present groans. This is a selfish, impetu¬ 
ous age when each person seeks liis own 
welfare all the time, and grasps all he can 
of the certain good of to-day, confident 
that he will bo equally able to grasp his 
share of the uncertain good of to-morrow, 
This is the example set by the most “suc¬ 
cessful ” men, the millionaires of the na¬ 
tion, seeking simply the accumulation of 
superabundant wealth, and it is hardly to 
be expected that the frontier settler, 
struggling for a precarious livelihood, 
will be less selfish or more public-spirited. 
-- 
MAXIMUM SPEED OF THE TROTTER. 
The marvelous increase of speed devel¬ 
oped in the American trotter since Boston 
Blue, in 1818, performed the feat, then 
thought impossible, of trotting a mile in¬ 
side three minutes, has naturally led to 
tlic inquiry what is the highest speed of 
which the trotting horse is capable over 
a distance of one mile. Two scientific 
gentleman of national reputation, Profes¬ 
sor William H. Brewer of Connecticut, 
and Mr. Francis E. Niphcr of Missouri, 
have lately ventured to answer this 
question. Last April Professor Brewer, 
in an article contributed to the American 
Journal of Science, published a list of 
trotting horses which have reached or sur¬ 
passed various rates of speed ranging 
from 8.80 to 2.11 for a series of years ex¬ 
tending from 1843 to 1882. In 1848 it 
seems only one horse trotted a mile in 2.80 
or better, while the number bad Increased 
to 14. in 1858; to 59 in 1863; to 87(1 in 
1878, and to 1,684 in 1882. Moreover, 
according to the table, down to 1882, 495 
horses had trotted a mile in 2,25 or bet¬ 
ter ; 275, in 2.23 or better; 156, iu 2.21 
or better; 60 in 2.19 or better; 18 iu 2.17 
or better; and 8 in 2.16 or better. Of 
the list the Professor said, “ T leave it to 
mathematicians to plot the curves which 
immediately suggest themselves to deter¬ 
mine how fast horses will ultimately trot 
and when this maximum will be attained.” 
The task thus suggested Mr. Nipher 
lias undertaken to accomplish in a couple 
of articles contributed to the above per¬ 
iodical. In the first of these, which ap¬ 
peared last month, he states it. as his con¬ 
clusion that the maximum speed to which 
the trotter will constantly approximate, 
but never attain, is one mile in 1.82 
end that the time of the trotter will be 
reduced to within a single second of this 
figure within 360 years after 1860—or in 
A. D. 2220. This conclusion obtained 
by graphical process, he does not vouch 
for as absolutely correct. Indeed, he says 
the maximum speed may possibly be as 
low as 1.40; but is of opinion that the pre¬ 
cise limit can be fixed within the next ten 
years, and that ultimately, there will bo 
a difference of only a few seconds between 
the speed of trott ing and running horses. 
In his second article, in the Journal for 
the current mouth, Mr. Nipher says 
that by a new calculation by the 
mathematical method he has conclud¬ 
ed that 1.31 rather than 1.82, will be 
the maximum speed of which, the trotting 
horse is capable for a mile. The probable 
error in this value is not, he declares, 
over four seconds, and ns the best run¬ 
ning horse record now is 1.40, and it is not 
probable this can be lowered by five sec¬ 
onds, it is likely, he thinks, the trotter 
will ultimately outstrip the racer. 
The movement, of the trottiug gait is 
considered more regular than that of the 
running, and therefore less fatiguing and 
exhausting. There is not so much waste 
of power in lifting the body from the 
earth, and although running is natural to 
t he horse while fast, trotting is not, it is 
argued that the latter gait will finally be 
thefastcr. It is a well known fact stated 
by Mr. Nipher that some herds of wild 
horses on the Plains are natural pacers, 
so steady and fast that they preserve this 
gait even when pursued by running horses, 
and the case is mentioned of a large, 
white Texan pacer that could not be over¬ 
taken even by the fastest running horse. 
-»-»■♦- 
BREVITIES. 
Thirty-fourth year of tliis journal and 
the seventh of its present management. 
With educated farmers and gardeners the 
Rural Nkw-Yokker is indispensable. They 
can appreciate the amount of practical know l¬ 
edge required to publish such a journal. 
All who receive this Fair Number of the 
Rural New-Yorker may apply (by postal 
card) for n regular number. It w ill be for¬ 
warded gratuitously. 
The Rural Rew-Yorker writes from ex¬ 
perience almost entirely. When it cannot do 
so it engages those who can. it is for this 
reason, perhaps, more than for any other, that 
it is prized by practical, intelligent farmers. 
The Rural is pleased to know that many of 
its readers, acting upon It* advice to grow 
seedling potatoes and strawberries and grapes 
according to its illustrated directions, have 
found much pleasure and instruction in doing 
so. Wo hope also that they may in due time 
be profited thereby. 
If j*ou go to town too often or remain too 
long—longer thau your business requires— 
time enough to cultivate the garden thor¬ 
oughly will be wasted, and the wife will be 
told uext day that you “have no time to waste 
iu the garden.” and that she “must attend 
to that” hoi self. 
Believing that tho Salome Apple, though 
not of the highest quality us a Winter apple, 
is at least, equal in quality to any other in 
June, we have presented an engraving of the 
fruit and originul tree. Mr. Hathaway re¬ 
marks that there is no other apple that carries 
such a heavy crop without running the fruit 
into little worthless culls or destroying tie 
tree. He behoves it to be us hardy as the 
wild crab. 
Referring to the manure-water and sand 
potato culture under Notes from the Rural 
Grounds, it will be seen that had the pieces 
been planted iu lulls three by three feet apart, 
the yield at the same rate would have doou 
nearly 280 bushels per ac re.. The set of experi¬ 
ments is useful us showing that, all things 
equal, a mellow, loose medium will produce a 
larger yield of potatoes than a more compact 
medium, .nd they wall be of better form. It 
is the opposition which tho soil makes which 
causes irregularities iu shape. 
Complaint is mu le of paltry, contemptible 
frauds by shippers of cattle from this country 
to England, by Lorin A. Lathron, American 
Consul at Bristol, lie charges that base ad 
vantage is continually being taken in New 
York and Montreal of the ignorance and pov¬ 
erty of the men who are induced by cuttle 
shippers to accompany their consignments 
across tho Atlantic. Tho men are promised 
from $5 to #15 and a pass back. Impelled by 
poverty and hunger, the poor wretches eagerly 
accept the positions without asking who on 
the other side will pay them for their services, 
and on their arrival in Eugland they can lind 
no oue to pay them a cent or provide for their 
return. The most fortunate of them get n 
pass and no pay, or pay and no pass, but often¬ 
times uuither is given. Surely aft the shippers 
are wealthy men—but isn't a wealty man us 
likely as another to bo guilty of a really mean 
action, and less likely to fool ashamed of it 1 
