534 
fHE RURAL MEW-YORKER, 
THE 
RURAU NEW-YORKER, 
ANational Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
E. S. CARMAN, 
Editor. 
J. S. WOODWARD, 
Associate. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 1885. 
Among the new varieties of potatoes 
under test at present, the following seem 
to be the earliest: Charles Downing, 
White Lily, Electric, Lake George and 
Stray Beauty. Judging from the vines 
they will mature at about the same time. 
Very hot, dry weather continues at the 
Rural Grounds, and we have relinquished 
all hopes of a large yield from the mulch- 
trench plan of raising potatoes on our 
half acre of poor soil. Of course, we re¬ 
gret this, as will many of our readers. 
Still, valuable lessons may be learned 
from the experiment. 
For three years past we have tried our 
best to raise fine watermelons and musk- 
melons in poor, light soil, by the use of 
concentrated fertilizers alone. All sorts 
have been used. Large holes have been 
dug and the fertilizers carefully mixed 
with the soil iu small, medium and large 
quantities. But the seeds start late, the 
vines grow indifferently as if something 
were needed. We have never yet succeed ¬ 
ed in raising large melons or fair crops of 
small ones in poor 6oil so treated. Now 
in the same soil, splendid crops have been 
raised every season during these three 
years by the aid of a shovelful of farm 
manure in the hill. 
Here are a few lines from a subscriber, 
W. R. Morley, of Farmer City, Ill.: 
“I am trying the Rural's trench sys¬ 
tem with potatoes, and from present ap¬ 
pearances it is the ‘boss.’ I have the best 
field of corn in this neighborhood. Flat 
cultivation—plowing deep the first time; 
shallow the second, and merely scratch¬ 
ing the ground the third. Our farmers 
nearly all plow deep to lay-by corn. 1 ’ 
It would add not a little to the value 
of the notes on the trench-mulch system 
of raising potatoes, and also to those on 
flat cultivation of corn, if our friends 
would mention the character of the soil 
in which the experiments were made, 
and also the kind of weather prevalent 
during the trial; for what would be ben¬ 
eficial under some conditions, might be 
injurious under others. 
AN APOLOGY. 
On page 519, of last week’s Rural, an 
engraving of a Scotch CoDie dog, re-en¬ 
graved from the Live Stock Journal of 
London, England, was presented without 
credit. It was an oversight for which 
we apologize to our respected contempor¬ 
ary. 
BARBED WIRE FENCE EXTORTION. 
Ever since the Wolf’s complaint against 
the Lamb, some marvelous justifications 
of tyranny and extortion have been offered 
by those who have held and exercised 
the power of oppressing others, and not 
the least curious example of the kind is 
the excuse just put forth by the manu¬ 
facturers of barbed wire for making a 
considerable increase in the price of the 
article. Last Tuesday, representatives of 
50 manufacturers, nearly three-fourths of 
those in the United States, held a secret 
meeting at Chicago, formed a pool and 
advanced the price of barbed wire 15 per 
cent. It was alleged that the present 
selling price—$3.35 per 100 pounds— 
was 10 cents below' the actual cost of pro¬ 
duction; but the cause assigned for the 
advance was not this loss, but the fear 
that the combination just formed between 
the Vanderbilt and Pennsylvania railroad 
systems, would raise freight rates, and it 
was desirable to anticipate such a contin¬ 
gency by raising t he price of their product! 
Thus the fear of a slight possible advance 
in freight on the crude material is made 
an excuse for a heavy actual advance in 
the price of the finished product! For 
years this barbed-wire fence monopoly 
has been a grievous oppressor of the farm¬ 
ers and stockmen of the country from 
whom it has wrested millions of dollars 
beyond the legitimate profits of trade. 
The Washburn & Moen Company alone 
the arch-monopolist, is reported to have 
pocketed for many years over $4,000,000 
annually from royalties on the multitude 
of patents it has held for the manufacture 
of the product. There is certainly need 
of amendment of our patent, system. 
A FUTURE FOR THE HUCKLEBERRY 
What a wonderful improvement there 
has been in the various sorts of fiuits, 
large and small! The catalogues are fill¬ 
ed with glowing descriptions of new 
apples, pears, plums, peaches, grapes, 
currants, raspberries, etc., etc. Of straw¬ 
berries there is no end to the new sorts, 
and even the lowly cranberry boasts of a 
dozen or more varieties; but who has 
ever given a thought to the improvement 
of the whortleberry, the billberry of 
some, and the huckleberry of everybody, 
and yet more bushels of it are annually 
consumed than of almost any other one 
fruit? Who so lost to all that is tooth¬ 
some that he cannot be coaxed into a 
good humor with a generous piece of 
huckleberry pie? Will not some of our 
enterprising horticulturists please try the 
possibilities of the humble huckleberry? 
It has been neglected for centuries, and 
allowed to grow wild on its mountain 
sides or pine plains, annually robbed of 
its load of fruit, which it never fails to 
produce. Let us now see what selection, 
cultivation and the judicious raising of 
seedlings may do for it! Is there any 
reason why it should not be as good in 
flavor as now, and as large as the largest 
cherries? Our word for it, there are fame 
and a fortune to him who discovers and 
develops the possibilities of the huckle- 
beny! Who will be first? 
GRAPE NOTES. 
Some of our friends may be interested 
in the following grape notes, taken July 
29 at the Rural Grounds: 
Jefferson.—Leaves yellowish and 6raall; 
grapes falling off. Vergennts.—Leaves 
also yellowish; bunches few and loose. 
El Dorado.—Vine vigorous, berries rot¬ 
ting as usual. This is among the earliest 
of white grapes. The quality seems to 
the writer perfect. Gajrtuer rotting some. 
Concord also rotting. Miner’s Rocking¬ 
ham, Carlotta, and Victoria are again 
loaded with fine clusters without rot. 
Miner’s other varieties were discarded last 
Fall. Lady is bearing a full crop of 
grapes free from rot. Cottage has a most 
rampant growing vine. Bunches many 
and well filled. Lady Washington.— 
Bunches very large and shouldered—often 
double-shouldered. It is bearing a large 
crop; berries rotting considerably. Hayes 
(F. B.) is making a thrift}' growth. 
Brighton rotting considerably. Cayuga 
(Marvin) is growing well. Moore’s Early 
bears a large crop nearly free from rot. 
Early Dawn rotting, buchess rotting 
badly. Jessica is growing thriftily— 
too young to fruit. Tuberous rooted 
grape-vine (from John Saul) started 
late, but is now growing finely. The 
stems are hairy; the leaves glossy. Bcrck- 
mans grows well. Rural New-Yorker is 
making a fair growth. It is a peculiar¬ 
looking vine. Poughkeepsie Red is rot¬ 
ting badly. Woodruff Red is making a 
strong growth. Lindleyis rotting badly. 
Amber Queen is very vigorous—a few 
berries rotting. Herbert is rotting some. 
Wilder, Early Victor, Pocklington, John 
Burr’s No. 1, Ulster Co. Frolific, and 
Niagara are growing well, and their ber¬ 
ries are free from rot. Thus far we have 
had no mildew this season. 
SHOULD THE NATIONAL SEED BU¬ 
REAU BE ABOLISHED? 
The Rural New-Yorker has never 
favored the indiscriminate distribution 
of seeds by the Department of Agriculture, 
and the abuses of the system have fre¬ 
quently been denounced in these columns. 
The desire of Congressmen to “curry 
favor” with their agricultural constituents 
at no expense to themselves, has been 
the chief cause of the prodigality of the 
distribution, and will, doubtless* be the 
principal obstacle to the reformation of the 
scandal, but those in charge of the Agri¬ 
culture Department under the last Ad¬ 
ministration were culpably careless, or 
shamefully criminal in the purchase of 
seeds. The complaint has been common 
for years that most of the seeds were, at 
best, such as could be obtained at any 
ordinary seed-store; while many of them 
were either too old to germinate, or so 
mixed with foul Bceds as to be an injury 
rather than a benefit to those who planted 
them. 
Never before buve such complaints been 
so numerous as at present. At the De¬ 
partment it is freely alleged that the pre¬ 
vious Commissioner, or whoever made 
purchases under his direction, “accepted 
from a favored seed contractor seed that 
was so old that sale for it could, not be 
secured in the regular way.” Complaints 
are specially loud with regard to the sorgh¬ 
um seed sent out, and the present Com¬ 
missioner having directed that samples 
should be tested in the preparatory gar¬ 
dens of the Department, Superintend¬ 
ent Saunders reports: 
‘ After several tests of the sorghum seed received 
from you for trial, as regards Its vegetative quali¬ 
ties, I And that about 10 per cent, of it will grow. 
Decidedly It Is unfit for distribution " 
Is reform possible, or rather probable, 
in the Seed Bureau, and if so, would it. 
be advisable to attempt to enforce it? In 
view of the danger of a speedy return to 
the present mismanagement and abuses, 
would it not be better to abolish the Bu¬ 
reau entirely, or, at most, to limit its 
functions to the collection of choice and 
valuable seeds and plants, and their dis¬ 
tribution among those able and willing to 
go to the trouble nud expense of testing 
their merits for economic purposes, with 
a view to the general cultivation of the 
most valuable kinds in the ordinary rou¬ 
tine of the farm, garden or orchard? 
-- 
THE CATTLE BARONS AND THE GOV¬ 
ERNMENT. 
The President and Cabinet are subject¬ 
ed just now to very great pressure to se¬ 
cure a modification of the late proclamation 
oreering the cattle barons and syndicates 
to vacate the Cheyenne and Arapahoe res¬ 
ervations within 40 days. The lessees no 
longer pretend that they have any vested 
rights in the “contracts” with the Indians; 
their sole claim is, that it would cause 
them great and unnecessary loss to remove 
their herds within the specified period. 
They say that from 300,000 to 400,000 
cattle are scattered over an area as large 
as some of the States, and that with even 
2,000 cowboys it would be impossible to 
“round them up” and drive them off in six 
weeks. Moreover, all the adjacent ranges 
in Kansas and Colorado are already stock¬ 
ed, and it is doubtlul whether these States 
would admit the herds, as a part of the 
territory cm winch they range is within 
the northern limit of the region in which 
the mysterious sources of Texas fever are 
constantly present, so that apparently 
sound cattle pastured there, take with them 
to other sections the germs of the disas¬ 
trous malady for the infection of more 
northern herds. Tne cattle kings of New 
Mexico also strongly object to such a large 
addition to the herds on the ranges, most 
of which are said to be already nearly fully 
stocked. 
St. Louis is said to have $5,000,000 in 
the enterprise, and the rest of Missouri 
S3,000,000 more; while the capital of 
Kansas and of distant cities, like New 
York, Philadelphia and Chicago, will,it is 
said, bring up the aggregate to $25,000,000 
or $30,000,000. There is doubtless a good 
deal of exaggeration in this estimate; but 
whatever the amount of the investment, 
it was made in an illegal venture at an 
extremely low' rate of rent for the land. 
There is no shadow of question that the 
laws expressly declare that no purchase, 
grant, lease or other conveyance of lands, 
or of any title or claim thereto, from any 
Indian nation or tribe of Indians, except 
to the Government, is of any validity in 
law' or equity. 
The law even provides for the impo¬ 
sition of a fine on any one attempting to 
make such a conveyance, except to the 
Government. The lease-holders, there¬ 
fore, have all along risked summary ex¬ 
pulsion whenever the government officials 
should do their duty and execute the 
laws. As compensation for this risk, they 
have occupied land for a merely nominal 
rent; they have avoided bll taxation, and 
within the dominion of the United States 
they have established a government where 
their own whims and wishes have been 
the paramount law'?. Not c ntent with 
securing certain lands from ignorant In¬ 
dians “for a song,” they have appropri¬ 
ated and inclosed within w ire Luces ntarly 
as much more, for which they have never 
paid a cent, thus over running the land 
needed for the Indians, and defeating the 
primary object of making reservations— 
the preservation of ample room for the 
red men and their herds. 
Moreover, though one of the grounds 
for low rent was the danger of depreda¬ 
tions on the herds by .Indians, yet the 
evidence shows that large sums have been 
paid out of the annuities of the Cheyennes 
and Arapahoe# as indemnity for cattle, 
whose disappearance was charged against 
the Indians—in one case an alleged loss 
of 2,000 head having been made good out 
of the Treasury balance, though it took 
every dollar due at the time to both 
tribes. Thus the Indians, finding them¬ 
selves hampered and hemmed in without 
the expected increase of income, have be¬ 
come restless and ready for outbreak and 
outrage, greatly to the injury and peril 
of the neighboring settlers. 
The Government has already been put to 
great expense to prevent the late threaten¬ 
ed outbreak among the Indians, due to the 
greed of the lessees;these knowingly ran 
the risk of summary expulsion, and, like 
“high-toned” gamblers, should not com¬ 
plain now that the event has been against 
them; their losses will not in the 
least affect the wealth of the country at 
large, as what, they may lose, others will 
gain; Genera! Shor’d an on the spot, says 
“the cattle can be readily removed in 
that time” * * * and that the syndicates 
need “no more than six weeks to care for 
all their interests.” They are urging the 
President to extend the time till next 
April; he has peremptorily declined to 
modify his proclamation. The cattle, 
should be removed at most within three 
months from the date of the proclamation. 
If it can be done in 40 days, even at a 
very heavy expense, the Government should 
not yield a single step to pressure; any¬ 
how three months should be the utmost 
limit. 
BREVITIES. 
For the third year the Snyder has proven 
our most trustworthy blackberry. 
Will M. V. B. Adams kindlv give us the 
history of the Beaver-dam Corn? We have 
lost his address. 
Don't flatter yourself that there is no loss 
from the manure when left in a pile or scat¬ 
tered about the yard, Every atom of air, 
like so many little sprites, is picking up and 
bearing away as much as it can carry of the 
rich gases, which will go to feed some other 
man's crops, leaving your own to starve. 
The exhalations from the manure pile if 
breathed by your children, wili surely destroy 
the roses in their cheeks, while those’from the 
same manure mixed in the soil iu which the 
bushes are growing, will paint deeper the 
beautiful color of the roses in the garden. 
Manure, then, properly treated, is life to 
the plants, but, improperly treated, is death to 
the children 1 
The heat of these terrible “dog days” is suf¬ 
ficiently trying to the health of those about 
you without the aid of the poison arisiug from 
a mass of decaying manure. 
The wise farmer, if he has not already done 
so, will lose no time iu thoroughly clear¬ 
ing up every particle of manure, and put¬ 
ting it about some growing plant. 
Neglect of this matter may cause an empty 
chair in the family circle I 
Agricultural papers that are lively, 
readable and instructive this burning weather 
certainly merit well of their readers. 
Things are literally burning up at the 
Rural Grounds and Rural Farm. The way of 
the experimenter is hard. Still the Western 
Rural Farm is green, which shows there is a 
gilt lining to every cloud. 
Perhaps you will be interested in the Carp 
aiticle on the next page. We placed 32 carp 
in the Rural Lake nearly two years ago. We 
are not sure that they are there now, as but 
one has been seen since. 
Friends, do not let the warm weather pre¬ 
vent you from reading the Rural Don’t lay 
the paper aside for a cooler day. We don't 
like our readers to put us off. " We are too 
much in earnest. Put off the other man. 
Now, farmers, let us, while the work of the 
farm is less pressing, take an occasional holi¬ 
day; let us visit oue another and talk over 
our successes and failures. Let those who live 
in low countries visit highlands and vice 
versa. 
The New- York Agricultural Experiment 
Stuliou did a good piece of work when it ex¬ 
posed the worthlessness of Mason’s High- 
Urane Potash Fertilizer, manufactured iu 
Binghamton, N. Y. The retail selling price 
is $30 u ton. The uual.vsis made by Bab¬ 
cock, tlie chemist of the New York Experi¬ 
ment Station, finds it to be worth only $1.52 a 
ton. Another analysis made by Dr. F. A. 
Genth for the Pennsylvania Board of Agri¬ 
culture showed a commercial value of $5.99 a 
ton. 
Wk have a Vergennes and a Jefferson 
grape-vine growing nenr each other in good 
soil and in a favorable exposure. The first 
ye»r they fruited we were greatly impressed 
with their value. Since then the vlues have 
grown feeble; the leavus are small and yellow¬ 
ish, the fruit imperfect, whut little has been 
borne. W@ should like to hear from others 
um to those two grapes. There is uo vuriety 
superior to the .Jefferson as to quality; few 
others that will keep longer than the Vergen- 
nea. The Rural praised these two varieties 
heartily after thoir first season of fruiting, 
and we should like to know If we were wrong 
or it their failure at the R. G. isdue to strictly 
local causes. 
Have you settled upou the variety of wheat 
to sow- next Fall? The Rural has tested 
nearly every kind and distributed many dif¬ 
ferent kinds, as, for example, Clawson, Defi¬ 
ance, Champlain, Shumaker, Black bearded 
Centennial, Diehl Mediterranean, Surprise, 
Silver Chaff and Fultzo Clawson. For our¬ 
selves we should select either Hurprise, Arm¬ 
strong (now Lundreth) or Fultzo-Clawson 
The Diehl Mediterranean may bo the best of 
ajl. The reports of Rubai, readers should 
soon settle this question. But, have patience, 
gcod friends, uutil the Rural sends out some 
of ^its.crofea breeds and hybrids. 
