566 
fHE RURAL «EW-YORKER, 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
ANatlonal Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Conducted by 
K. S. CARMAN, 
J. S. WOODWARD, 
Editor. 
Associate. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 22 1885. 
On another page will be found a call 
from C. Delano, President of the National 
Wool Growers’ Association. We very 
gladly give it a place in our columns, and 
desire to call the attention of every wool 
grower of America to it, and to urge them 
to take such measures as will best advance 
the movement contemplated. We sug¬ 
gest that each one should send bis own 
name as therein requested, and notify 
President Delano of his readiness to 
assist in protecting the interests of our 
greatly crippled sheep and wool industry. 
So long as we recognize the necessity of 
protecting any industry, even though in¬ 
cidentally, we insist that no one deserves 
“protection” more than the farmer and 
wool grower. 
•» » « 
We are comparing blackberries very 
carefully this season. There are many 
new candidates in the field. If a new 
variety does not prove to be better in some 
important resppet than older kinds, why 
introduce it ? Just at this writing, we 
are much inclined to the opinion that the 
Kittatinny, Snyder and Taylor’s Prolific 
are the best. The Early Harvest is not 
hardy at the Rural Grounds, though very 
early where it is hardy. The Early Clus¬ 
ter is not very early and has nothing else 
to commend it. Wilson Jr. is large and 
prolific—but neither hardier nor more 
prolific than the Kittatinny. Stone’s 
Hardy is hardy enough perhaps, but that 
is all to be said of it. But we Bhall tell 
the whole story later. 
-♦ * » 
Wk wish once more to call attention to 
the grand old American Poraological So¬ 
ciety, that for 37 year? has been laboring 
so bard in the interests ot advanced pom¬ 
ology. We are more than gratified at 
the announcement that its venerable aDd 
much loved President, Hon. Marshal P. 
Wilder, is expected to be present. We 
devoutly hope that he may be strong 
enough,and feel able to endure the journey, 
because we know that thousands of 
Western horticulturists would feel deeply 
gratified and honored by his presence, and 
we believe it would do him immense good 
to see what a wide-awake lot of Western 
boys he has in charge. With Grand 
Rapids as the place of meeting and with 
such men as Michigan has placed in 
charge of the arrangements, we predict 
a most enjoyable meeting, and that those 
who can go and neglect to do so will 
sincerely regret it. 
Some of the ranchmen at the great West 
are now turning their attention to the 
breeding and rearing of tame buffaloes, 
the same as they do cattle, and think it 
will prove the more profitable of the two, 
as the robes are now worth SI5 to §20 
each, and the steaks are good eating, 
while the hunch is a great delicacy, and 
can probably be sold to gourmands at a 
high figure. There is a herd of about 
4,000 now kept in what is called the 
Neutral Strip. One company is paying 
$50 each for buffalo calves. Buffaloes 
are much hardier than cattle, and we 
should suppose that in consequence of 
this, and their being better able to “rus¬ 
tle” through a severe Winter, it may be 
easier and cheaper to breed and raise 
them. Owing to the greed of the hide- 
hunters and pot-hunters of America, and 
the brutality of British sportsmen, buffa¬ 
loes are becoming scarce even as far north 
as Dakota and Montana, and whatever is 
good, and at the same time scarce, acquires 
enhanced value. If the herds of wild 
buffaloes are replaced by herds of domes¬ 
tic cattle on the plains, no utilitarian w r dl 
regret the change: but if the herds of 
wild buffaloes are succeeded by herds of 
tame buffaloes, no one, utilitarian or sen¬ 
timentalist, will deny the improvement. 
-• 
DEEP OR SHALLOW. 
It is a very erroneous, though quite 
prevalent notion, that a seed deeply plant¬ 
ed will produce a plant with a much bet¬ 
ter developed root, and one that will 
therefore better withstand drought and 
the killing effects of Winter. The fact 
is, all growth, whether of stem or roots, > 
made by any plant previous to its reach¬ 
ing the surface, air and sunshine, is at 
the expense of nutriment stored in the 
seed lobes; therefore the deeper the seed 
is placed in the soil, the more completely 
is this stored nutriment exhausted before 
the plant reaches the surface, and the more 
feeble will be its first growth, and the 
longer time must elapse before it can be¬ 
come strong and vigorous. In fact, many 
seeds are planted so deep that the food 
contained in them is not sufficient to sus¬ 
tain growth until the plants reach day¬ 
light, and they pprish, or, in common 
terms, “fail to come up.” 
Aside from the nutriment contained 
within the seed, air, water, heat and light 
are needed to incite and develop healthy 
growth, and these are all most perfectly 
supplied at the shallowest depth at which 
water can be depended upon, should it 
be only just below the surface. At what¬ 
ever depth planted, if not below the ability 
of the plant to reach the surface, the true 
feeding roots of cereal plants arc formed 
very near the surface, aud in many of them 
that portion of stem forced to be devel¬ 
oped to come above the ground, with the 
system of roots at its bottom, sooner or 
later perishes, and the plant relies alone 
on the upper development of roots for 
sustenance. 
The sensible lesson to draw from these 
facts is, to fit the ground thoroughly, place 
the manure in the surface soil, and to 
plant as shallow as possible to secure 
moisture for germination and for sustain¬ 
ing its first formation of stem and leaves. 
It will be profitable to remember this 
lesson and ponder over it while fitting the 
ground and sowing the wheat by and by. 
fhere’s money in it. 
TEST OF DAIRY COWS. 
The Illinois State Board of Agriculture 
has done a very sensible thiug in provid¬ 
ing for an exhibition of dairy breeds of 
cattle in connection with the Fat Stock 
Show to be held at Chicago, from Nov. 
10 to 18 next. It offers the very liberal 
premiums of §125 for the best bull, and 
$100, §50, and $25. respectively, for the 
best, second, and third best cows of each 
of the breeds, Holland,Ayrshire, and Jer¬ 
sey; also a first premium of $50 for the 
best bull and the best cow of “any other 
dairy” breed. These animals are to be 
then and there exhibited, and are to be 
three or more years old. 
We hope judges will be appointed who 
will command the confidence of the whole 
people, and that they will be given full 
control of the feeding, caring for and 
milking of these cows, aud that the tests 
will he made so carefully iu all respects, 
that we shall know whether it is milk or 
water that is weighed in the milk pails, 
and also whether it is butter, cheese, or a 
mixture of both with water, that is weigh¬ 
ed in the butter bowl. And, above all, 
let us know whether the products obtain¬ 
ed bear such a ratio to the food consumed 
as to make their production profitable; 
as otherwise no one would care to follow 
the same line of feeding. Let this test 
be in the interest of the farmer as 
well as of the breeder. But, gentlemen, 
pray tell us, why if some cow of “other 
dairy breeds” should happen to excel any 
of those of the three breeds men¬ 
tioned, should she he turned off with only 
a paltry $50 ? And, again, is there no 
use trying to improve the “scrubs” that 
you make no offers for them ? Is it not a 
fact that they are the butter-producers of 
this country? And sometimes they do even 
“get away” with the best of the breeds. 
Is there not room for a grain more of 
liberality in these offers ? It strikes us so. 
THE FARMER’S HOLIDAY. 
The fair season is rapidly approaching. 
In a few short weeks the “fanner’s holiday” 
will open. Tt would be a good thing if 
more of the features of the old-fashioned 
cattle show could be retained in our 
modern exhipition. In too many instan¬ 
ces, the fair managers, in their great de¬ 
sire to keep up with these rushing times, 
have run a little ahead of the class of 
farmers they ought to benefit most. It is 
to be regretted that many of the more 
prominent features of the modern fair 
are introduced solely to attract an element 
that is of very little use to our agricul¬ 
ture. We attended a fair last year that 
seemed like a great family gathering. 
Theie were no racing and betting, no 
drunkenness and gambling. Everybody 
had a good time except a few discon¬ 
tented spirits who did not find “excite¬ 
ment” enough. We believe such a fair 
could be made financially successful, and 
that it would be worth, to the ordinary 
farmer, twice >as much as the modern 
exhibition. Fair managers should pay 
the greatest attention to the comfort of 
their farmer patrons. Farmers are, as a 
rule, men of simple tastes and habits; but 
they have a keen appreciation of their 
comfort when out for a holiday. Plenty 
of good driuking water should always be 
supplied, not in a single place only, but 
scattered all about the grounds. The Ohio 
State Fair last year was a model in that 
respect. A small outlay for rude seats 
and awnings will pay well in added satis¬ 
faction. Farmers are, as a rule, strong 
temperance men, aud they object decided¬ 
ly to the sale of liquors of any kind on 
the iair grounds. The ordinary “side¬ 
show” is of no possible good, except to 
pay a small revenue; to offset this, it 
takes twenty times a9 much out of the 
pockets of the farm boys, and leaves no¬ 
thing in their beadB except the very things 
they should not learn. The committees 
on reception and entertainment of guests 
are generally too small. Why not enlarge 
them and strive to make the social feature 
of the meeting more prominent ? Why 
not make everybody feel at home aud 
happy on the fair ground? Why not 
make the moral atmosphere as pure as 
that of the home circle? Farmers take 
their wives and children there, and surely 
they do not wish to have them contamin¬ 
ated by evil influences. It is a fearful 
responsibility which the managers assume 
when for a few dollars they license, and 
thus directly countenance, the many dis¬ 
reputable tilings that arc so often allowed 
to pollute many a fair ground. We never 
could quite understand how deceut, moral, 
Christian men could so stultify their man¬ 
hood. We hope the fairs of this year will 
not be so cursed. There is great room for 
reform. Why not begin this year? 
LAND GRANTS TO CANADIAN VOLUN¬ 
TEERS. 
Just as Texas, after her trouble with 
Mexico in 1835, rewarded her “citizen 
soldiers” with a land grant of a “league 
and a labour” apiece, so Canada, after 
her trouble with Riel and his malcontents 
in the Northwest, offers to each volun¬ 
teer soldier who served in the recent cam¬ 
paign, a grant of 320 acres. This the 
men can accept for their own use, free of 
all charges; or they can turn it. over to a 
substitute—in other words, sell it; or, if 
they have no desire to settle in the North¬ 
west, and no opportunity to sell, each can 
take, instead of the land, government 
scrip to the value of $80. There is con¬ 
siderable discontent, however, because 
this scrip cannot be disposed of at 
private Bale for its “face value,” as the 
speculators who buy it, expect to make 
a profit from the discount on it. The Gov¬ 
ernment, however, will accept the scrip 
at par from anyone in payment of any 
Dominion laud open for sale, or iu pay¬ 
ment of preemptions or of rents for Do¬ 
minion lauds leased for grazing or hay cut¬ 
ting purposes. The commanding officers 
must certify that the volunteer claimants 
are entitled to the grants; warrants will 
then be issued in their favor by the Mil¬ 
itia Department, whereupon the Depart¬ 
ment of the Interior will issue the 
land allotments and the Ecrip. The 
volunteers will have until August 
1, 1886, to decide w'hether they will take 
up the land and settle on it; or sell it to 
a substitute, or take the $80 in scrip. 
All claim to the grant ceases after that 
date. Those who elect to settle on their 
grant, must select it before August 1, 
1886, and settle on it within six months 
from that date, aud they will have to 
conform to the ordinary homestead pro¬ 
visions of the Dominion Lands Act, but 
no charge will be made either for making 
entry or for their patents. Many stal¬ 
wart clerks from the older settled parts 
of the Dominion, especially Ontario, are 
reported to have already abandoned the 
salesman’s yard-stick for the pioneer’s 
ax; and many o'hers from the st ire, the 
workshop and other city vocations, who 
traveled through the Northwest Territory 
as soldiers, are expected to settle there 
as farmers. There is little doubt that 
manly men, in addition to independence 
impossible further east, will find better 
health and fortune in the first and most 
important of all callings, than nine out 
of ten of them could have ever attained 
in their old pursuits. 
ANOTHER CHECK TO THE CATTLE 
KINGS. 
In ordering the cattle baron9 from 
their illegal occupancy of the Cheyenne 
and Arapahoe reservations a few weeks 
ago, President Cleveland did well; but 
he did better last Monday when he issued 
a proclamation ordering the removal of 
all fences from the public domain. That 
foreign and domestic syndicates and 
“kings” had illegally appropriated and 
fenced in millions of acres of the public land 
has long been notorious. Land Commis¬ 
sioner McFarland,under tlie last Adminis¬ 
tration, frequently called the attention 
of Congress and the country to the out¬ 
rage. “These stock ranges,” paid he, 
“sometimes cover several hundred thous- 
sand acres. Special agents report that 
they have ridden many miles through 
single iDclosures, and that the same often 
contain much fine farming land.” Re¬ 
ports laid before the Committee on Pub¬ 
lic Lands of the last Congress, show that 
two foreign companies had more than a 
million acres each in Colorado alone. In the 
same State, according to the report of 
Secretary Teller, H. H. Metcalf aud J W. 
Powers had fenced in 200,000 acres each; 
the Lewsey Brothers had 150,000 acres; 
McDaniel & Davis, 75,000; E. C. Jane, 
Yrootnan A MeTife, and the Reynolds 
Cattle Company, 50,000 each; j. W. 
Frank, Routchler A Lamb and Beatty 
Brothers, 40,000 each; Garnett A Lang¬ 
ford, and Chick, Brown A Co., 30,000 
each, while less wealthy or less rapacious 
land-grabbers held smaller slices. In Ne¬ 
braska the Brighton Ranch had seized 
upon 126,000 acres; and the Kennebec 
50,000; while Coe A Carter had 50 miles 
of fence; J. W. Wilson 40. aud J. W. 
Bosler 20. In Kansas also vast tracts 
were illegally inclosed It is in the Ter¬ 
ritories, however, that the unscrupulous 
greed and tyranny of the land-grabbers 
are most flagrant. In Wyoming over 100 
cattle “kings” and companies have fenced 
great slices of the public domain. In 
Dakota the appropriation has been simply 
outrageous. In Nevada W. Humphrey 
has over 30 miles of fence, and Nelson A 
Son 22—simply specimen land-grabliers. 
The amount of illegal fencing in Montana 
is known to be enormous; while in New 
Mexico the Dubuqe, Cimarron, Renello 
and other large companies have fenced 
in entire counties, one of the illegal in- 
C-losures being SO miles square, according 
to sworn testimony before the last Con¬ 
gress. Tho total amount of the public 
domain illegally fenced in by the cattle¬ 
men is estimated to be considerably over 
10,000,000 acres. 
The domain illegally inclosed by these 
land-grabbers, the most greedy and arro¬ 
gant, of whom are English and Scotch 
noblemen and syndicates, is held by arm¬ 
ed cowboys against the entrance of genu¬ 
ine settlers. The preemption and home¬ 
stead laws, designed to aid our own citi¬ 
zens, are openly defied by these cattle 
“powers” and their reckless agents. Not 
only is settlement prevented, but m many 
cases homesteaders have been fenced iD, 
aud threatened and sometimes murdered 
for complaining, or cutting their way out. 
through the wires. Even the United 
State’s mail carrier has frequently 
had to go miles away from his ac¬ 
customed route, on fiuding barbed-wire 
fence stretched across his way. 
In addition to the public domain they 
have wrongfully fenced in, these monop¬ 
olists have also fraudulently acquired long 
stretches along streams and rivers aud in 
other choice localities, through the per¬ 
jury of their agents and the bribed col¬ 
lusion of many of the public land officers 
along the frontier. 
♦ » * 
BREVITIES. 
This is the time when plowing for the 
wheat must be done; no matter if the mer¬ 
cury is nearing the upper nineties, the teams 
must go. 
When you go to the fields don’t forget to 
provide for watering the horses in the man¬ 
ner wo have so often mentioned; it, will take 
hut a minute then, to give them a sup of water 
two or three times in a half day. 
A sun of water now and then, when the 
teams are obliged to endure this scorching 
heat, will pay; ’twill pay in feed; ’twill pay 
in the larger amount of work that will be 
done, and ’twill pay in the satisfaction of 
knowing you have been kind even to an ani¬ 
mal. 
The providing for the comfort of the team 
is a dollar-aud-cents proposition, as well as a 
humane one, aud the shrewd man will as 
quickly heed it, as the kind one. 
An immense amount of needless suffering 
is ouch year caused to the over-faithful, 
patient horse by the pure carelessness or 
cussednass of his driver in neglecting to keep 
the collars free from all dirt and sufficiently 
softened so that the sweat of the shoulders 
should be quickly absorbed. 
At least once each day all sweat and all ac¬ 
cumulations of dust should be carefully 
cleaned from the collar, and it should be 
beaten up soft with a round, smooth stick, 
about 1 inch in diameter. To do all this 
will not take more than two minutes each 
day, and will often save the horses much 
pain, and the owners the loss of several days’ 
service. 
Mb. J. J. H. Gregory says that our sense 
of indebtedness to such men as Professor 
Johnson. Atwater, Goessman, Dabney, Cald¬ 
well, etc., will be measured by the growth of 
our| intelligence.” He) refers to their work in 
agricultural chemistry. 
