THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
worn 
man, as he had lifted himself half way out of 
bis old hut, so I urged him to follow my rule, 
and turn bis cows out of the stable just long 
enough to drink and then put them right back. 
This rule, after a test of many years, works 
well. Humping themselves up and shivering 
in one corner of the barnyard is not exercise. 
Topermit it is stupidity and thriftlessness. 
I am pleased to note that so good a thinker 
as Dr. Hoskins has also joined my little army 
of lean-meat recruits. It is evidence of his 
sagacity and independence. 1 like men who 
think for themselves and act on their own 
judgment. _ 
If our stock could tell their story, they would 
testify, after a Winter’s trial, in favor of the 
wind-mill and plenty of water. Water every¬ 
where helps also with the chores wonderfully. 
Societies, etc. 
THE NATIONAL CATTLE-GROWERS’ 
ASSOCIATION. 
(RURAL. SPECIAL REPORT.) 
Through the action of its executive com¬ 
mittee, at a meeting held in Chicago, March 
4, the National Cattle Growers' Association 
pledged itself to the support of several meas¬ 
ures of great importance to the live-stock in¬ 
terests of this country, and to consumers as 
well as to producers of live-stock. One of 
these measures is the securing of such changes 
as the welfare of stock owners, and of con¬ 
sumers of live-stock produce requires, aud as 
shall be beneficial and equitable in rates aud 
modes of transportation. Doubtless, due at¬ 
tention will be given by the Committee on 
Transportation to some of the questions that 
have so long vexed shippers of stock t© mar¬ 
kets iu which abuses of various kinds have for 
years defied all efforts for their suppression. 
If the association uamed shall succeed in se¬ 
curing more favorable rates for the carrying, 
by express or otherwise, of animals to be used 
for improviog live-stock, it will have deserved 
all it asks of stockmen. Heretofore the charges 
for carrying single animals, or small lots, are 
almost prohibitory,particularly where the haul 
is long. A few railroad managers have been 
clear-headed enough to see their profit in en¬ 
couraging by low rates the improvement of 
the live-stock in the regions tributary to their 
lines, but the number who have done this is 
small. The Committee on Transportation 
consists of Chas. M. Culbertson, of Chicago; 
G. W. Simpson, of Boston, and Col. Granville 
Stuart, of Helena, Mont. 
One of the first acts of the National Cattle- 
Growers’ Association after its organization in 
Chicago, in November last, was the appoint¬ 
ment of a Committee on Legislation. This 
committee reported last week that it had suc¬ 
ceeded in obtaining some concessions from 
Congress, but stated that t he session was to be 
so short that they saw that no hope was to be 
entertained of securing many or any import¬ 
ant changes iu the laws relating to live-stock. 
To this committee, it must be remembered, 
was referred the resolution favoring the leas¬ 
ing of Government lands to stockmen. The 
committee correctly indicated the feeling of 
the association by suffering the resolution to 
remain unnoticed. The new Committee on 
National and State Legislation is composed of 
Judge J. M. Carey, of Wyoming, D. W. Smith, 
of Uhnoii, and T. C. Anderson, of Kentucky. 
Matters relating to dairy interests are en¬ 
trusted to a committee of three: Tbos. B. 
Wales, Jr., of Iowa, Secretary of the Holstein 
Breeders’ Association of America, Gen. N. M. 
Curtis, of New York, and J. C. Sibley, of 
Pennsylvania. That there is enough work in 
eight to keep the committee from being idle 
tbe bogus butter agitation iu itself is enough 
to sl ow. That is but one of the questions de¬ 
manding the attention of friends of the dairy 
interest. 
Ex-Governor Geo. W. Glick, of Kansas, C. 
F. Palmer, of Virginia, and Edwin Phelps, of 
Michigan, are a committee having in charge 
the collection of statistics and general useful 
information concerning live stock. On dis¬ 
eases of stock, the committee includes Thos. 
Sturgis, Secretary of the Wyoming Stock 
Growers’ Association, Mr. Warfield, of Ten¬ 
nessee, aDd Adams Earl, of Indiana. 
John Clay, Jr., of Chicago, L. N, Bonham, 
of Ohio, and Maj. W. A. Towers, of Colorado, 
form a Commit tea upon Foreign Relations of 
tbe American live stock industry. The pur¬ 
pose of the committee is to ascertain what 
measures should be adopted to secure the re¬ 
moval, or at least a modification, of the re¬ 
strictions now imposed upon the live stock 
traffic of the United States, by foreign gov¬ 
ernments. Of the great importance to Amer¬ 
ican stock owners of the work assigned to this 
committee, the public is already quite well in¬ 
formed. The committee will deserve great 
credit if it succeeds in accomplishing any thiug 
in this matter, made all tbe more difficult by 
secret opposition at home, from those whose 
interests are served by everything that tends 
to lessen exportation of live cattle. 
The course taken by the National Cattle 
Growers’ Association, in formiug working 
committees to attend to matters of importance 
to stockmen of all classes in thiB country, will 
win for it the approval of all such men who 
care more for the general good than for the 
promotion of purely sectional schemes. The 
association has not contented itself with pass¬ 
ing a series of resolutions that are of no value 
unless the measures they suggest be carried 
out. Good resolutions, it has long been said, 
have formed paving where the material 
should be fire-proof. If tbe several associa¬ 
tions cooperate earnestly through the Nation¬ 
al Association they will do what that body 
was formed to enable them to accomplish. 
They will make their force felt everywhere, 
aud be no longer at the mercy of everybody, 
corporate or incorporate, that sees fit to over- 
Fig. 126. See page 225. 
ride them. It was by cooperation that all the 
abuses now burdening the live stock business 
got their hold, and it is by cooperation they 
are perpetuated. What reason is there why 
stock owners should not use for their protec¬ 
tion the means their oppressors have used to 
gain the power they have. E. w p. 
^rborintllural. 
HARDY SPECIES OF TAMAR1X. 
Eastern propagators should give more 
attention to the propagation of ornamental 
trees and shrubs which will maintain life and 
beauty on the great plains west of Lake 
Michigan. As an instauce, I have just ex 
amiued the wood of different species of the 
Tamarix, The T. Africana, T. Indica, and 
T. tetaudra of the Eastern lawns show wood 
dead and dry. On the other hand, the equally 
beautiful species from North-eastern Europe 
aud Central Asia are perfect in wood and 
buds. Tamarix Amureuse is specially worthy 
of attention, and should be widely dissemina¬ 
ted. In foliage and flower it is prettier than 
our common forms, and its juniper-like foliage 
bears our dry, hot Summers os perfectly as the 
German form does the air of the seasiue. 
Tamarix Dahurica is a smaller - growing 
species, with short, acute, dark-green leaves 
like those of the Japan Yew. it luxuriates in 
our Western air and seems perfectly hardy. 
Ames, la. J. L. B. 
- ♦ » » 
One Cent a Cup.— W. Baker & Co.’s 
Brkakkast Cocoa, while it is tbe most health¬ 
ful, strengthening, aud invigorating drink, is 
also the most economical, costing loss than 
one cent a cup. It is warranted absolutely 
pure, and is recommended by eminent physi¬ 
cians for its highly nutritive qualities, and is 
unsurpassed as a delicious beverage. Baker’s 
Chocolate and Cocoa preparations have been 
the standard of purity and excellence for 
4 more than one hundred year*.— Adv. 
THE LATEST AND BRIEFE iT. 
The overpraise of poor things certainly blunts 
the interest iu really good things. . . It seems 
to me horticulture, agriculture and floricul¬ 
ture will and must attract the attention of 
humanity in the future a buudred fold more 
than in the past. . . . Ten years ago a 
man would farm 50 acres and get but half as 
much as be now gets from 25 So Mr. V. H. 
Hallock writes us ... 
Referring to the praise given to the Wor¬ 
den Grape by the Rural New-Yorker, Mr. 
A. M. Purdy of the Fruit Recorder, says 
that he was the first “to bring this grape ont 
and recommend it in a general way,” for 
which he was “bitterly denounced” because 
it was thought to be tbe Concord. 
The Rural, from a long aud observant 
experience, prefers the Spring for transplant¬ 
ing all sorts of trees and shrubs, for this 
latitude and further north... . 
There is no better time than now and dur¬ 
ing early May to cut back evergreen trees to 
induce a more compact growth.. 
You should not prune such shrubs as 
Lilacs, Welgelas, Mock Oranges, Deutzias or 
Forsythias this Spring. They bloom on the 
wood of the last year’s growth. Prune them 
in the Snmmer. 
The Druggist’s Circular says that the es¬ 
sentials of a healthy home are dryness , plenty 
of sunlight, an abundance of pure water, 
pure air, and cleanliness everywhere. “These 
things cost money;” but are not funeral ex¬ 
pensive, The wise man foreseetb the evil and 
hideth himself, but the careless passeth on 
and is punished. 
There is another point to which the Cir¬ 
cular calls attention: Every city or town 
dweller should aim, so soon as practical, to 
secure a country home. When good facilities 
for railroad travel exist, this can be done at 
once iu a great many cases. The lowness of 
cost, of rents, of car fare, the purity of the 
air, of the water, the freshness and beauty of 
the fruits and vegetables, make a home in 
the country worth more to a city man than 
almost anything else he can acquire in this 
world. To most persons, the country home 
would add much of comfort, and probably, 
additional years of life.. 
The Farmers’ Review doesn't believe in 
high-toned junketing at inauguration cere¬ 
monies. With 500,000 men out of employment, 
it thinks the $00,000 spent for the inauguration 
ball could have been put to a better use. 
Under such conditious such ostentatious tom¬ 
foolery at a national capitol is a disgrace to 
us as a nation. The fuct is that the customs, 
ideas aud usages of European capitals and 
courts are getting too strong a hold at our 
national capital for a country whose theory 
of government is that it is “a government of 
the people, by the people and for the people.” 
Now plant out your cabbage stumps. Plant 
them four to six inches deep according to 
their length. The green shoots are to be used 
for early greens... 
The Mark Lane Express publishes an art¬ 
icle under the heading: “America no place 
for idle farmers.” When we find a land that 
is a place tor idle farmers we wonder whether 
the farm papers will still discuss the question: 
“Does Farming Pay?”. 
Sir J. B. Lawes, iu the London Agricul¬ 
tural Gazette, says that the ahsenoe of the 
accustomed milker of his herd of Short horn 
cows from illness or any other cause, is fol¬ 
lowed by a slight decline in the yield of milk, 
while neglect in thoroughly milking a cow, 
even for one day, appears to permanently 
affect the yield... 
Our Country Home asks: “Why not this 
season try all the varieties you can get of the 
special crop you deem best adapted to your 
soil, climate aud market?” The suggestion is 
a good one. But to carry it out to the letter 
it would cost a good deal, if, for instance, po¬ 
tatoes were a special crop to be tested. 
Readers will remember our exposure of 
the wonderful Bessarabia Corn, which, for the 
most part, was gathered of New York feed 
bouses. Other jouruals now ulludo to the 
Cuban Mammoth Corn as another swindle. 
It is said that sellers promise to buy the crop 
at five dollara the peck! It is hard to believe 
that any farmer—even a silly farmer could 
be cheated in this way. This fraud, it will 
be remembered, was fully exposed aud fittingly 
deuounced in the Rural of February 28, 
last, page 140.... 
Green’s Fruit Grower says that the time 
is coming, when animals will not be slaught¬ 
ered cruelly with knives, but by a painless 
method. What torture is now endured, that 
we may enjoy our steaks aud roasts! Would 
it not be Christian like to put the poor creat¬ 
ures to death by some of the many known 
painless methods?....... 
A YELLOW, hardy clematis is described in 
Gardening Illustrated. It is not a showy 
flower, but many find a charm in its graceful 
habit both when in flower and in fruit. Being 
remarkably vigorous in growth, it should not 
be planted where it may be likely to encroach 
on more delicate climbers, and it seems to 
succeed perfectly with any aspect aud in auy 
soil. Tbe greenish-yellow flowers are suc¬ 
ceeded by beautiful tufted seed vessels, with 
white, feathery awus, which are exceedingly 
well adapted for use hi Christmas church 
decorations... 
No doubt that not only all the cabbages— 
white, Savoy and red—but kale, Brussels 
sprouts, broccoli, etc., owe their origin to 
Brassica oleracea, the wild cabbage of Eu¬ 
rope... 
Mr. J. J. H. Gregory remarks tbat split 
or bursted cabbages are a source of great loss 
to the farmer. This should be guarded 
against by going frequently over the piece 
when the heads are setting, and starting every 
cabbage tbat appears to be about to mature. 
A stout pronged potato-hoe applied j ust under 
the leaves, and a pull given sufficient to start 
the roots on one side, will accomplish what is 
needed. If still iucliued to burst, start the 
roots on the other side. Instead of a pronged 
hoe, they may be pushed over with the boot 
or with the hand. Often heads that are thus 
started will grow to double the size they had 
attained when about to burst... 
Remember that the cabbage is a rank 
grower, and consequently a gross feeder. We 
must supply tbe food. This given, we have 
only to keep the soil mellow. Here is a chap¬ 
ter in a few words. 
Shall we apply manure or fertilizer broad¬ 
cast or in the hill for cabbages? If you have 
enough, broadcast by all means; if you have 
only half enough or less, in the hill. 
An ounce of cabbage seeds contains from 
8, IXH) to 10,000 seeds. These ma y be rel ied upon 
to produce one-quarter tbat number of plants. 
The cabbage may be defined as a plant of a 
single bud....... 
It is a mistake to suppose that cabbages 
will not do well on uplauds. We never fail 
to produce splendid cabbages on the high, 
dry, sandy-loam of the Rural Farm. Hun¬ 
dreds of fields within five miles of us with 
similar soils, yield bountifully and help to 
supply the New York market.... 
Mr. J. J. H. Gregory says that if the soil 
be very sandy, he would advise farmers to 
plant the Wmningetadt which, he thinks, is 
unexcelled for making a bard head under al¬ 
most any conditions, however unpropitious... 
A farmer attempts to raise a half dozen 
calves. Now, whether these calves are cared 
for or neglected decides the question of profit 
or loss. So reasons the Breeder’s Gazette.... 
We want all of our readers who can afford 
to do so to plant roses in t heir door yards this 
Spring. The daughters of tbe house and their 
beaux will appreciate them if nobody else 
does... 
As a protection against the cabbage-flea, 
plaster, coal-ashes, sulphur or dust may be 
applied. Slaked lime or wood-ashes are ex¬ 
cellent. These or any one of them should he 
applied after every rain. There is no surer 
or better protection against the cut-worm tban 
wrapping a piece of paper about each plant, 
poshing the lower end in the soil aud covering 
it with soil to keep it in place. When infested 
with lice (aphidoe) spray them with the kero¬ 
sene emulsion. Bubnck powder blown on 
through a bellows, or a solution of it sprayed 
on through a pump will kill the cabbage 
(tv enjtu Ijm. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Dakota 
Milltown, Hutchison Co., March 2 — 
Crops were good here the past season, except 
late flax aud potatoes; but prices are low aud 
farmers are generally pushed to meet their 
expenses. We have had a very cold Winter, 
but no bad storms and not to exceed eight 
inches of snow at one time. The snow is all 
gone aud farmers are harrowing to-day, but 
we think it will freeze up agaiu soon. Wheat 
is 50 cents, oats, 25; corn, 35; potatoes, 50 to 
80; flax, $1.15; pork, light, $3 25; heavy, 
$3.75. e. f. H. 
nilaaourl. 
Carthage, Jasper Co., March 19.—This has 
been a very bad, stormy Wiuter for South¬ 
western Missouri. I came here from Kalama¬ 
zoo County, Michigan, iu 1878, and it has been 
