THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
tms of tf|e Wuk, 
HOME HEWS. 
Saturday, December 27. 
Special Agent Sandorn of the Interior 
Department says that in obedience to the 
order of the Department the cattle men all 
over Wyoming Territory are taking down 
their fences on the public domain. He thinks 
the matter will be speedily sett Jed.... Dakota 
promises to be another Vermont in politics. 
The official count shows that at the recent 
election of the 85,484 votes cast, the Demo¬ 
crats had only 15,075—less than one in five. 
The Democrats carried only one county...... 
The Atlantic has grown several hours nar¬ 
rower by the trip of the Cuuarder, Oregon, 
which arrived off Fastnet on the Irish coast, 
at 7 o’clock Tuesday evening, in six days, six 
hours and 52 minutes from New York. 
A terrible cyclone passed over the vicinity of 
Macon, Ga , Monday afternoon, demolishing 
everything in its path.The Dominion 
Parliament will meet January 29.Con¬ 
gress has adjourned from December 23 to 
January 5. Another circular in regard 
to the importation of rags is being prepared 
at the Treasury Department, which, it is un¬ 
derstood, provides in general terms for the 
admission of rage properly disinfected, pro¬ 
viding the process of disinfection is satisfac¬ 
tory to the Health Officers at the port of en¬ 
try, as well as to the officers of the Treasury 
Department.A bill is pending before 
the Alabama Legislature compelling peraons 
carrying concealed deadly weapons to desig¬ 
nate the fact on their persons by wearing a 
badge inscribed, “I am armed.”.It is 
long since the necessaries of life wereso cheap 
in the United States as now. Fair baker’s 
flour now sells at $4 per barrel, choice sugar 
at less than seven cents a pounds, and codfish 
at less than three cents a pound, and mackerel 
No. 3, at less than two cents per pound. 
Woolens and clothing are lower than ever 
before.Pratt’s Astral Oil works, in 
Williamsburg, were almost entirely destroyed 
by fire last Sunday. Tbe explosion of the 
oil tanks caused great excitement in the neigh¬ 
borhood. The loss is about $500,000........... 
It is rumored in England that the Rev. 
Henry Ward Beecher is to succeed Minister 
Lowell at the Court of St. James. Others say 
Hurl hurt, ex-editor of the New York World, is 
sure of the place.Three Cabinet port¬ 
folios are said to have been already decided 
upon. Senator Bayard is to be Becrtary of 
the Treasury, Senator Garland, Attorney- 
General, and G6 d. McClellan Secretary of the 
Navy.At a meeting of Democratic 
Congressmen from Indiana in Washington, 
Sunday, it was agreed that Indiana ought to 
be given a place in Mr. Cleveland’s Cabinet, 
and that ex-Senator McDonald was a suitable 
person to represent the State...Congress 
has been recommended hy tbe Controller of 
the Currency to appropriate the $950,000 
necessary to liquidate the claims of the de¬ 
positors against tbe Freedmen's Bank. It 
is estimated that not more than one-tenth 
of the claims against tbe bank are still 
held by the original depositors. 
.Two bills have been introduced into 
Congress by Mr. VanWyckto fix railroad 
and telegraph charges west of the Missouri 
River at a point not to exceed the average 
rates east of tbe Missouri........ An effort is 
to be made to secure the passage of a bill 
through Congress requiring the cattle trails 
of the West and South west to be kept open. 
Cattle-raisers complain that, the fencing in of 
large tracts of land has blocked the trails over 
which cattle are driven on their way to East¬ 
ern markets . A commercial reciprocity 
treaty with the British West Indies is thought 
to be on its way to the Senate, through the 
President’s hands..The Cuba-Porto- 
Rico treaty meets with much opposition; but 
farmers should tell their Congressmen loudly 
of their opposition to it. A compilation 
completed by the Bureau of .Statistics at 
Washington, Monday, shows that the United 
States would lose $30,000,000 annually in 
duties if tbe treaty were ratified.... . 
.... It has been decided by the House Com¬ 
mittee on Post Offices and Post Roads to rec¬ 
ommend the extension of tbe free delivery 
system to all cities of 10,000 inhabitants, and 
to all post-offices where receipts exceed $10- 
000 per annumCommaudel* Winfield 
Scott Schley of the Greely expedition has 
been nominmated by the President for the 
post of Chief of the Bureau of Equipmentand 
Recruiting with the rank of Commodore. 
Dissensions which threatened to wreck the 
New Orleans Exposition have been satisfac¬ 
torily settled. There is still some difficulty 
with the Customs officials in regard to the 
Mexican exhibits. The doors will be open 
Sunday, in accordance with the desire of a 
majority of the exhibitors. The exhibition 
is rapidly filling with new exhibits; and the 
attendance is greatly increasing. About the 
middle of next month will be an execellent 
time for Northern visitors,... 
A Catholic Orphan asylum across the river in 
Brooklyn, was burnt on Saturday last, and 27 
of the little inmates together with one of the 
nun teachers and a visitor, were burnt to 
death.The Colored exodus from the 
South that flowed into Kansas a few years 
ago, is reported to be flowing out again to 
Western Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. 
The exodusters say they fared badly in Kan¬ 
sas.Mr. Eaton, who has just been 
chosen Governor of Colorado, has an income 
of $50,000 a year from his farming opera¬ 
tions.Secretary Frelingbuysen accepts 
the presidency of the American Bible society, 
with the understanding that he is not to un¬ 
dertake active work until his Washington 
duties end. 
-- 
The Coming Fodder Plant. Thus we 
hope the Southern Johnson Grass may prove 
to he in the North. We have found it hardy. 
The fleshy, stoloniferous roots take possession 
of the soil. Hogs are excessively fond of 
them. They will root over every particle of 
soil in search of them, as if they were sweet 
potatoes. The eulms and leaves are very nu¬ 
tritious, and, if exit at the right time, make a 
most, valuable hay. With many stems and a 
profusion of leaves, the plants grow seven 
feet high in good soil. They may be cut to 
the ground when Jive feet high, and they will 
still make a growth of five feet, and mature a 
large crop of seeds. 
We send to every subscriber a liberal pack¬ 
age of the seeds of this Johnson Grass, that 
all may test it—North, South, East and West 
The Rural’s discovery that it is hardy in the 
NoHh, and perennial as well, may be worth 
millions to the country, 
FOREIGN NEWS. 
Across the Atlantic, Ireland is still kept 
pleasantly excited by “agrarian outrages,” 
including an occasional shot at an objection¬ 
able landlord or land agent or at some care¬ 
taker or tenant occupying holdings from 
which others had been evicted, and by the 
maiming of live-stock and the burning of 
buildings and stacks of grain or hay belong¬ 
ing to such social outlaws. Tbe Parnellite 
party is acquiring fresh political strength 
dailv, and will be more influential in the next 
Parliament than ever before. Ireland retains 
her present number of members of Parliament 
under the new Franchise Law, although the 
apportionment of them among tbe constitu¬ 
encies will be considerably altered in accord¬ 
ance with the population of tbe various dis¬ 
tricts. The number of members for Ireland 
ought to have decreased iu view of the de¬ 
crease in population ; but in that case there 
would have been fewer than the number 
named in the “Act of Union,” and the govern¬ 
ment was afraid of an agitation against the 
“Union,” should the number be cut down.... 
A week ago all Eugland was startled by a 
dynamite explosion under London Bridge, 
which it was meant to destroy; but which it 
it did not seriously injure. It was attributed, 
of course, to Fenians; but the Irish papers 
say it was a job “put up” by English detec¬ 
tives or Irish “traitors” in their pay, for the 
purpose of keeping up an anti-Irish excite¬ 
ment. Anyhow several hundred Irish work¬ 
men were thrown out of employment along 
the Thames, and others met the same fate 
elsewhere, because their employers became 
distrustful of them . The Franchise Bill 
has, after all the hubbub, passed quietly, caus¬ 
ing a revolution in the English form of 
Government, as it adds between two and three 
millions to tbe voting population, thus trans¬ 
ferring power from the middle to the work¬ 
ing classes......The Distribution Bill, 
apportioning the constituencies, will be peace¬ 
ably passed when Parliament reconvenes. 
England’s troubles are great in Egypt, as all 
the Powers, except Italy, seem resolved to 
oppose her financial policy there. Bismarck 
is the prime mover in this opposition: it is 
said he thoroughly dislikes Gladstone, and 
wishes to embarrass his foreign policy so as 
to bring about a change of Ministers in Eng¬ 
land. Englishmen, however, are not likely to 
yield to foreigners in matters of British policy. 
Wolseley is still pushing slowly south to the 
relief of Gordon at Khartoum. It is now 
thought he will not reach that point before 
March, if he does not meet the fate of Hicks 
Pasha on the way. The stories of the sickness, 
death, defeat, etc., of El Mahdi are said to 
have been spread abroad by a Frenchman 
with tbe False Prophet, who wanted to lure 
to destruction a detachment of Wolseley’s for¬ 
ces, or the General himself, by inducing an 
unsupported advance of an inadequate force. 
The latest report is that England wants Italy 
to join her in the expedition to the Soudan. 
France is making no advance in her war 
with China. Negotiations have been “finally” 
broken off once more, and hostilities are like¬ 
ly soon to re commence, as China has concen¬ 
trated 85,000 men to attack the French in 
Tonquin, and tbe French have secured rein- 
forcementsand intend to attack the Chinese. 
Tfie amount of lying about the Franco-Chi- 
uese operations in Formosa, Hainan, Tonquin 
and China is nearly as large as that about the 
doings of Gordon, Wolseley, and El Mahdi in 
the Soudan. Frauce, however, has gained in 
Cambodia a “glorious victory’ 1 —as French 
victories go of late—for she has “induced’’ 
King Nordom to sign a treaty placing bis 
Kingdom under French “protection.” The in¬ 
ducement offered was the pointing of cocked 
rifles at his crowned head, coupled with a threat 
to investigate whether It held any brains. 
....In Germany, Bismarck has lately met 
with several rebuffs in the Reichstag, where 
he has been twice defeated, tbe last, time iu a 
request, earnestly pressed, for an assistant in 
the foreign office, so as to lighten his oppres¬ 
sive label's. The refusal of his petition has 
excited a great deal of sympathy among ad¬ 
mirers of the “Man of Blood and Iron” 
everywhere. There is a world of disagree¬ 
ment in the Congo Conference in Berlin, as 
each Power wants to get the belter of all the 
othei’s. Tbe creation of a new nation in 
Central Africa by the agreement of the Euro¬ 
peon Powers is still doubtful, owing to the 
jealousies of the latter. All seem extraordin¬ 
arily anxious to acquire fresh territory. 
Germany has already seized upon two long 
strips on the African Coast, and the Admiralty 
Islands, and the Islands of New Britain and 
New Ireland and a large portion of New 
Guinea in the Pacific Ocean. Italy has appro¬ 
priated some of the African Coast, and so have 
Spain and Portugal. France is pushing her 
way south from Algiers and gobbling up 
Madagascar, Cambodia, Tonquin, etc., etc. 
England having already appropriated a great 
deal of the world, is growling at the other 
greedy appropriator*. and would at once de¬ 
clare Egypt a part of her Empire, were it not 
that she fears Turkey and all Western Asia 
would at once be partitioned among Russia, 
Austria. Italy, France, etc., etc. Oh, the 
European Great Powers are a hungry family 
just now...... 
. . .Meanwhile all the political secret societies 
are extraordinarily active. Arrests of An¬ 
archists are announced by tbe cable every 
day regularly. A batch of them have just 
been condemned to death or impiisonment in 
Berlin for an attempt to blow up the old Em¬ 
peror some months ago when unveiling the 
great allegorical statue, commemorative of 
Tentonic triumph at Neiderwald on the Rhine. 
A number of others have been expelled from 
France and several lots incarcerated in Aus¬ 
tria. The “people” everywhere are sufferiug 
greatly. Bread is unusually cheap, but owing 
to enforced idleness, hundreds of thousands 
haven’t enough to buy a loaf. Society, how¬ 
ever, is ever so gay . .. 
-» ♦-»- ■ 
We can assure ou r readers that the illus¬ 
tration of Carter's Stratagem Pea, presented 
in our Supplement of Nov. 8, is in no way 
exaggerated. The Rural illustrations are all 
within the truth. This Stratagem Pea is, ac¬ 
cording to ovr tests—and we ha ve tried nearly 
every known variety-the best intermediate 
pea in cultivation. Our seeds are from the 
originator in England. The Prince of 
Wales Pea, we are confident, will also be 
found a most valuable acquisition. A packet 
of each will be found in the RuraVs present 
Free Seed Distribution, 
-- 
Appetite and Digestion. 
With few exceptions, the first effect of the 
new Vitalizing Treatment of Drs. Starkey & 
Palen, 1109 Girard St. , Philadelphia, is an im¬ 
provement in appetite and digestion. A 
change in the whole personal appearance soon 
follows. Tbe skin grows clearer, the eyes 
brighter, the movements more elastic. There 
is a sense of lightness and comfort. 'J he chest 
begins to expand and the weight to increase. 
All the depressed or sluggish (unctions of tbe 
body take on a better action, and there is a 
gradual return to a more healthy condition. 
1 f the Treatment is continued, and the laws of 
health carefullv observed, restoration, unless 
the physical system is too far broken down, 
will follow in nearly every ease. All desired 
information in regard to this remarkable Treat¬ 
ment will be furnished by Drs. Starkey & 
Palen. Write to them, and your communica¬ 
tion will get a prompt response — Adv, 
-- 
AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
Saturdat, December 27. 
The cost of raising a bushel of wheat in 
Michigan and delivering it ou the Detroit 
market is placed by the Secretary of the 
Board of Trade of that city at 79% cents. 
. . On one day last weeit in Chicago the re¬ 
ceipts of hogs were (57,000, the largest number 
ever recorded.The Northern Pacific 
has brought 80,000 cuttle to market from Mon¬ 
tana aud Western Dakota this year, and the 
growth of the business meets all reasonable 
expectations.Squatters have had to be 
forcibly ejected from the Yellowstone Nation¬ 
al Park.. Cranberry culture is coming 
into prominence along the western coast of 
Washington Territory.Fifty million 
dollars’ worth of hay are annually cured and 
sold or used in Kansas .There are 610 
silos in Great Britain of a total capacity of 
1,861,744 cubic feet. The Florida orange 
crop this season is reported to be so much 
larger than the packing-box manufacturers 
anticipated, that the shippers now find it diffi¬ 
cult to buy boxes for their fruit. Tbe fruit is 
so cheap that it hardly pays to ship it to North- 
era markets, and owners of orange groves are 
greatly discouraged.New York raises 
annually five bushels of Indian corn for each 
of her inhabitants, 6% bushels of potatoes, 
over two bushels of wheat, a half bushel of 
rye, 7% bushels of oats, and a ton of hay She 
supplies each person with nearly two pounds 
of cheese and 22 pounds of butter auunally, 
and a pint of milk every day from her dairy 
herds.The statistician of the New York 
Produce Exchange states that tbe canals of 
the State during the last season brought to 
tide-water 8,000,000 more bushels of graiu 
than the six trunk lines of railroads brought to 
this city’ during the same time. Suit has 
been brought against a Chicago live stock com¬ 
pany for the alleged introduction of the Texas 
fever among the cattle of Western Nebi’aska... 
.Tbe grain trade at Duluth has assumed 
such large proportions that two more elevators, 
with a capacity of over a million bushels each, 
will be erected .Chickens hatched by 
electricity are among thenovelties of the pres- 
entyear.The Scottish Cbamberof Ag¬ 
riculture has issued an address to the landlords 
and people,demanding an immediate reduction 
of rents, on the ground that the depression in 
the agricultural industry appears to be perma¬ 
nent. It is proposed that a Ro.yal Commission 
be appointed to take measures to alleviate the 
present urgent distress. The trouble with 
the crofters in the Hebrides still continues. 
They refuse to pay any’ rent, and the Govern¬ 
ment has sent troops aud a war ship to force 
their eviction....Returns show that the “to¬ 
mato pack” in the United States for the year 
1884 has been 2,021,177 oases containing 48,- 
508,248 eaus. This is enough to supply every 
man, woman and child iu Great Britian and 
Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Holland and 
Switzerland with a cau of tomatoes and 
have 17,567 cans left over. Nevertheless, it 
has been a poor year for tomato packiug. Iu 
1883 there were packed 2,943,579 cases, con¬ 
taining 70,545,896 cans..The Bennett- 
Maekey Commercial Cable Company, having 
completed two lines across the Atlantic, has 
reduced the rates 20 percent; and the other 
cable companies have been compelled to do 
likewise.We import every year, 6.000,- 
000 bushels of barley, 2U, 1)00,000 dollars’ worth 
of flax, and $90,000,000 of sugar; yet we have 
an overplus of many agricultural products... 
... .The average price received for 56 cars of 
wheat lately received at Kausas City was 
49% cents per bushel. Freight amounted to 
12 cents, leaving the fanners 30% cents. 
.Texas has, by assessments, completed 
(Nov. 21), a total tangible value of all kinds of 
property amounting to $603,000,000, an in¬ 
crease of $114,000,000 over last year. Land, 
$106,000,000; horses, $1,154,000; cattle, $6,- 
517,800; sheep, $4,091; hogs, $1,103,000. Total 
value of live stock, $93,000,000. The increase 
of the taxable value of property iu Texas for 
the year 1883 over the year 1882 was $100,- 
000,000.. The extremely low price of 
wheat has caused a falling off of receipts in 
tbe Northwest of fully 80 per cent, compared 
with 15 days ago. It is rumored that big mil¬ 
lers have got hold of nearly all the good wheat 
in Dakota and Red River Valley, and are 
holding it until Spring. ..The exports of 
butter from the United States during Novem¬ 
ber were 1,158,846 pounds, against 2,016,321 
pounds for the corresponding month last year. 
The exports of cheese (or tbe same mouth 
were 5,101,195 pounds, against 5,754 004 in 
November, 1883. For the seven months ended 
November 30 the total exports of butter from 
the United States were, in round numbers, 
16,100,000 pounds, against 15,500.000 pounds 
in 1883, an increase of 600,000 pounds. The 
total exports of cheese for tbe seven months 
were 91,817.090 pounds, agaiust 94,400,000 
pounds lor the same time in 18811.., .Over 5,000 
patents on churns have already been granted 
by the Government.A cablegram from 
London says:—The opposition to the tax on 
foreigu cereals and live stock continues to grow 
in France. The extraordinary success which 
the organizatiou of branches of the anti-corn 
duty league is making in every part of the 
Republic, indicates an overwhelming popular 
opposition to the duty.Heavy’ rains 
during the past week all over California from 
Shasta to San Diego, have washed the lines of 
care out of the farmers' faces and poured joy’ 
into their hearts.A telegram from Canton, 
Ohio, tbismormDg, tolls us thutabout midnight 
on Christmas, Cornelius Aultman, millionaire 
manufacturer of that town, died suddenly, 
