4885 
THE BUBAL HfWYOBKIB, 
407 
Various. 
WESTERN NEW YORK NOTES. 
(EDITORIAL corhkspondknce.) 
In coming up to look over the farm, to be 
at the raising of the new barn, and to attend 
the wedding of the Holstein and Dutch- 
Friesian Associations, we decided to take anew 
route, and so came over the New York, West 
Shore & Buffalo R. R., up the west bank of the 
noble Hudson, through the vineyards,orcbards 
and berry fields of Orange, Ulster and Greene 
Counties.audthen west through an undulating 
and picturesque portion of the State. We were 
surprised to find so new a road in such tiue 
order. A road bed well leveled, flue new cars, 
and engines burning anthracite coal, make a 
combination that insures much comfort to the 
passenger. Really the entire traveling public 
owe to the West Shoi e a debt of gratitude for 
the inaguration of au era of cheap fares, that 
has already lasted about a year, and which 
this road is determined to continue. Our 
friends everywhere in going to or coming from 
the West, should certainly remember this fact, 
and should not fail to patronize their friend. 
In passing through the State, we were par¬ 
ticularly impressed with the extreme back¬ 
wardness of vegetation, compared with 
other Springs. This is seen not only in the 
trees, both fruit and forest, and in the growth 
of grass and grain, but in the preparation of 
the ground, and the sowing of spring grains 
and the planting of spring crops. Grass, though 
late everywhere, looks fine. It has wintered 
well, and with the abundance of rain and the 
warm weather, there never was a promise of a 
better bay crop of both clover and the grasses. 
Wheat has been injured more or less by the 
Winter in all parts of the State, though, of 
course, it is a main crop only in the Central 
and Western portions of the State, and in these 
even, not in the Southern tier of counties. 
The injury was caused by a singular combina¬ 
tion of circumstances, against which even the 
best judgment and the practices of the wisest 
farmers were powerless. The severe cold had 
f rozen the ground deep and had thus rendered 
it entirely impervious to water, and during 
slight thaws the water and slush of the melt¬ 
ing snow, unable to descend into the soil, set¬ 
tled into every little depression and there 
froze solid, thus smothering the wheat in 
those places. Light sandy soil and laud thor¬ 
oughly underdrained suffered as badly as the 
heaviest clays, and even much worse than the 
mucky hollows. Wheat that looked green 
and nice when the snow went off, was found 
later to be dead, and on examination the roots 
were found to have been the first to suffer. 
Land that was bedded up well, and drilled 
across the beds, bas suffered least, the drill 
marks affording an outlet for the water to 
the open furrows, and the injury was largly 
confined to these. The injury in the worst 
places is not more than one-third and in others 
from that to scarcely any thing, and the showery 
growing weather, while retarding the spring 
work, is doing wonders for the wheat crop, 
and every spear that is left will report at 
harvest time for all it is worth. 
Earley was sowed extremely late, but is up 
and looking well, aud uuless hurt by the large 
amount of rain, will yet make a good crop. 
No corn and but very few potatoes have beeu 
planted, and very little ground has as yet been 
plowed for these crops, and with the abun¬ 
dance of rain, much of the land iutonded for 
corn is not iu condition to plow, and will 
not be for several days. But though get¬ 
ting late, there will be a large amount of 
corn planted, if the weather is such that it 
can be got Into the ground by the 20th of 
•Tune, as it is very certain to ripen if planted 
as soon as that date, and the later plantings 
very often are the moat productive. Or¬ 
chards of all kinds look healthy, aro 
full of bloom and with the abundance 
of moisture they are now getting, should 
yield a bountiful crop which will he 
very thankfully received by every orchard- 
ist of the State. We hear discouraging re¬ 
ports of the condition of the peach trees and 
grape-vines. Many trees are dead and the 
fruit buds are reported killed, and no one is 
expecting any peaches for this year. Grape¬ 
vines are reported to have suffered much in 
their surface roots, aud the injury is particu¬ 
larly severo in the recently planted vineyards. 
The damage seems to he general as to varie¬ 
ties, aud to be much worse in those vineyards 
which were not banked around the vines. Of 
old vineyards, somo have suffered by a loss 
of fruit huds, uud this injury seems much 
worse In Oatawbas than in anv others. 
On the Rural Western N. Y. Farm we raised 
the new barn May 20, having an old-fashion¬ 
ed country raising. This mode of doingthe 
work is much more expeditious, and. withal, 
much more friendly than when it is done with 
tackle aud horses. Of all people, none are so 
neighborly or have such warm hearts as farm¬ 
ers. We notice the immense difference be¬ 
tween the selfish, every-one-for himself feeling 
of the big city, and the generous desire to aid 
each other that is so characteristic of the 
country, and we must say we like the country 
trait the best. In a short time we will give an 
illustration and description of the barn. Our 
stock has now all been sold, and mostly all 
delivered. Though prices of meats are low, 
our Winter’s feeding will afford ns a fair pro¬ 
fit and a very large amount of manure, which 
will insure fine crops. The most profitable 
part of our feeding operations bas, as usual, 
been in the growing of winter lambs for an 
early market. Of these we have delivered 
the last, the total being a little over 200, and 
the net price, after deducting freight, com¬ 
missions, and all other expenses, has been an 
average of $6 47 per head. Of the field wheat 
the Cross-bred Diehl-Mediterranean looks fine; 
the new Canadian wheat (as yet unnamed), of 
which we obtained last Fall and sowed two 
bushels, looks the best of all. It is of a pecul¬ 
iar light-green color, grows strong, aud has a 
broad leaf and stools heavily, so far we are 
very much pleased with it. Of the field wheats 
and also of the experimental plantings we 
shall report further at a later date. The or¬ 
chards never looked better; pears, plums and 
apples are filled with a promise of abundant 
crops, and the large supply of moisture now 
in the ground goes far to insure a fulfillment 
of the promise. Even a young Augouleme 
orchard, planted only three years, bids fair to 
produce a good crop; but of these most will^ 
be picked off. 
Vftmaan). 
STOCKMAN’S MISTAKES. 
D. E. SALBION, D, V. M. 
In the communication which was kindly 
published in the Rural of April 11, I endeav¬ 
ored to show either that Stockman was grossly 
ignorant of the points in regard to conta¬ 
gious diseases, which he has written about, or 
that he is prejudiced to such an extent as to 
make his statements utterly unreliable. It is 
not a pleasant thing for me to write in such 
terms of any one, but there is so much at 
stake in this matter of contagions disease, 
and it is so imperatively necessary to have fur¬ 
ther legislation at the earliest moment in 
order to prevent the extension of pleuro-pneu- 
monia beyond control, that it has become a 
duty to use plain words and put a stop to the 
misrepresentations and insinuations by which 
certain writers for the press have succeeded 
iu deceiving a large part of our people as to 
the actual condition of affairs in this country. 
It is fortunate that my former letter has 
settled some points. The misrepresentations 
in regard to what the Department nf Agri¬ 
culture bas said about hog cholera; the insin¬ 
uations that, official veterinarians were re¬ 
sponsible for the report of rinderpest at Pough¬ 
keepsie and the foot and-mouth disease scare 
in Kansas; charge that a blunder had 
been made as to the existence of pleuro pueu- 
monia in Ohio; and the statement intended to 
convey the impression that none of the cases 
recently reported as contagious pleuro-pneu- 
monia really showed evidences of that dis¬ 
ease. have all been dropped and the discussion 
has been shifted by Stockman to a new set of 
charges equally without foundation. This 
change of base is accepted with satisfaction, 
however, since it only gives a further oppor¬ 
tunity to demonstrate the remarkahle reck¬ 
lessness and disregard of facts which charac¬ 
terize all of his writings on the subject. 
He seemed very indiguaut that I should 
write, “We may indulge ourselves in some 
doubts as to Stockman’s ability to sit in his 
office and give judgment iu cases of disease 
which he has never seen," and he replies in 
effect: "It is not true, I do not sit in an office.” 
Now, it makes very little difference where he 
sits to do his writing, whether in an office or 
under an apple tree. He must be very obtuse 
if b« canuot see that the reproach brought 
against him was, not that he sits in bis office, 
but that he has the supreme egotism to think 
that he can diagnose diseases which he has 
never seen, and that his opinion, formed lo 
this way. is worth more than that of the skill¬ 
ed veterinarians who have seen aud investi¬ 
gated the outbreaks. His conclusions muv 
have been right in regard to Kansas, but it 
was as certainly wrong in regard to Ohio. I 
have no hesitation in repeating that the best 
veterinarian iu the country cannot be trusted 
in an opinion on doubtful cases formed from 
mere newspaper accounts. Prof. Law gave 
such an opinion in regard to the Kansas 
trouble, aud concluded it was foot-aud-month 
disease, using, no doubt, the same accounts 
from which Stockman reached such au infal¬ 
lible discision that It was not. Both were 
guesses from imperfect information, and just 
as liable ] to be wrong as right. I have at¬ 
tempted to show, however, that Stockman’s 
faith in his own infallibility.arises, not from a 
suberabundance of knowledge but from igno¬ 
rance, and a continuation of the evidence on 
this point will be found below. 
“The only person engaged in these investi¬ 
gations,” he says, “who has decided that the 
universal slaughter of infected animals is the 
only method of preventing the disease, is Dr. 
Salmon.” Again, “I refer to him only for 
the reason that he takes the strange view of 
the subject, that contagious pleuro-pneumonia 
can be prevented only by the slaughter of 
every sick and infected animal,” I must con¬ 
fess I read these passages with astonishment. I 
had no idea that any person interested in 
cattle matters, and a reader of the current ag¬ 
ricultural literature, even if veterinary works 
were never seen, could be so ignorant. If 
8tockman will refer to the history of pleuro¬ 
pneumonia in Massachusetts, he will find that 
it was stamped out only by slaughtering every 
infected animal, and that so long as they tem¬ 
porized with it aud failed to rigidly enforce 
slaughter, just so long they had the disease. 
If he will consult the records, as to Prof. 
Law’s attempt to stamp out pleuro-pneu- 
monia in New York in 1879, be will flad that 
every infected animal was slaughtered, and 
that the work failed only because the slaught¬ 
ering was not kept up a sufficient time. If he 
will turn to the last report (1884) of the profes¬ 
sional officer of the Agricultural Department 
of the Privy' Council, he will find it stated 
that pleuro-pneumonia might be stamped out 
in England if the local authorities would 
slaughter all the auimals in the herd as soon 
as the disease appears (p. 14) By a little 
further investigation, he will find out that 
this disease wa* stamped out of Sweden. Den¬ 
mark. and Alsace-Lorraine by the prompt 
slaughter of all exposed animals; and also that 
the laws of Great Britain. Prussia, Holland, 
Belgium, Switzerland and the Kingdom of 
Saxony provide for the slaughter of all in¬ 
fected animals If he goes one step further, 
and consults the records of the last Interna¬ 
tional Veterinary Congress, held in Brussels 
in September. 1883, which was composed of 
the leading veterinarians from all parts of the 
world, he will find that the following resolu¬ 
tion was agreed to: 
“Recognizing that from the point of view 
of sanitary police, epizootic pleuro-pneumonia 
propagates itself only by contagion, and is 
usually incurable and fatal, this Congress de¬ 
clares that animals affected by the malady or 
suspected of it should be sacrificed as quickly 
as possible.” 
This is the carefnlly-worded opinion of the 
veterinary profession of the world, in congress 
assembled. Now how in the name of sense 
can Stockman, who pretends to be well in¬ 
formed on veterinary questions, charge me 
with being the only person who takes the 
strange view of the subject that all animals 
affected with this disease should be slaughter¬ 
ed? 
His next point is in regard to the propaga¬ 
tion of contagious diseases. He refers to rae 
because I take “the strange view of the sub¬ 
ject. that contagions diseases cannot originate 
spontaneously ” He goes on to sav, “ He dif¬ 
fers from all his associates, and is the only 
man I know of who insists upon the impossible 
theory that contagious diseases never had a 
source or beginning excepting contagion.” 
Iu a former number (April tl! he refers to 
my statement that hog and fowl cholera are 
produced by contagion alone, and that no 
amount of filth and had feeding can produce 
them, aud he asks me to explain how the first 
cases of these diseases occurred when it was 
impossible that there could have been any 
contagion, "aud if the first cases originated 
frMm some cause besides contagion, why can’t 
that same cause operate now; ?” 
In the first place. I would remark that I 
have not insisted upon the theory that conta¬ 
gious diseases never had a source excepting 
contagion. The original source of contagious 
diseases I have never professed to know any¬ 
thing about, and I would suggest that anv 
extended discussion of it is simply a waste of 
space because no oue knows anything about it. 
We may have our opinions—our theories—but 
it is not mv purpose to discuss metaphysical 
questions now. I am simply inslstiug upon the 
facts being placed before the renders of the 
Rukal without distortion or Inversion. What 
1 hold is, that the contagious diseases lu which 
we are most interested only occur, at the pres¬ 
ent time, by contagion from other cases of the 
same disease. And this is not a question of 
opinion or theory, it is simply a question of 
fact, Surelv, it is not necessary, before we 
can accept a fact, that everything in connection 
with it can be explained. If such a require¬ 
ment. as this were made, it would become 
necessary to reject the most ordinary phe¬ 
nomena of nature. It is a matter of fact that 
all horses at the present dav are descended 
from previous generations of horses. Surely 
Stockman will uot dispute that fact. Suppose, 
1 now, we apply.his^reasoning to horses, and ask 
how the first horses came into existence, since 
there could have been no preceding generation 
for them to descend from? We might then 
conclude about horses, as he does about con¬ 
tagious diseases, anil with the same reason, 
that whereas the first horses could have had 
no ancestors they must have originated spon¬ 
taneously, and if they originated spontane- 
ously.then “why can’t the same cause operate 
now?” To this reasoning it is sufficient to 
reply that horses do not originate spontane¬ 
ously now. and if this reasoning makes it ap¬ 
pear that theyshoulddo so, that shows that 
there is something wrong with the logic. 
If Stockman will turn to the records of the 
Veterinary Congress above referred to. as 
furnished by Prof. Law (First Anunal Report 
of the Bureau of Animal Industry, p. 325), he 
will find that Zundel, one of the very foremost 
veterinarians of Europe, in his argument on 
the subject, stated “that contagious maladies 
are no longer recognized as of spontaneous 
origin.” He will find that Prof Law concludes 
from the deliberations of this congress that 
“the idea of the spontaneous origin of lung- 
plague in the present day is effectually set 
aside” (p. 340). Stockman himself insists, 
when it is convenient, that such diseases do 
not originate spontaneously, for how else 
could he say (p. 201) that “any person of com¬ 
mon sense aud knowing anything of the dis¬ 
eases of live-stock, should know that the ap¬ 
pearance of rinderpest here is utterly improb¬ 
able and practically impossible.” And again, 
“There never has been a case of foot-and- 
mouth disease in Kansas, and never will be 
until it is brought there by infected cattle 
from England, where it is always more or less 
prevalent, or by contagion from infected 
ships.” Exactly; but if foot-and-mouth dis¬ 
ease and rinderpest originate spontaneously 
at the present day, why do we not have them 
all over the United States? What reason has 
Stockman for insisting that the contagion 
must first be imported? If he will pardon the 
suggestion, I would like to inquire if it is not 
reasonable to suppose that we would have 
fewer reports of foot and mouth disease and 
rinderpest in the interior of the country, if all 
writers taught the same doctrine, that conta¬ 
gious diseases do not arise spontaneously, but 
that they must be produced from other eases 
of the same disease ? In other words, is it not 
this same doctrine of the spontaneous gener¬ 
ation of such diseases, which is directly 
responsible for many of these scares? 
Washington, D. C. 
(To be continued.) 
CATALOGUES, ETC., RECEIVED. 
Ant. Roozen & Son, Overveen, near 
Haarlem. Holland. General agents for the 
United States, De Veer & Boomkamp, 19 
Broadway. N. Y. An excellent aud trusty 
catalogue of what are .known as Dutch and 
Cape Bulbs for fall planting. i'.c., hyacinths, 
tulips, crocuses, narcissus, lilies, irises, snow¬ 
drops. triteleias and a large assortment of 
miscellaneous bulbs. Our readers mav order 
through De Veer &: Boomkamp with the full 
assurance of being faithfully served at very 
reasonable prices. Bulbs mav be ordered in 
anv quautiy, and they will pay the duties and 
ship them according to directions to any ad¬ 
dress. The catalogue will be sent, postpaid, t o 
all of our readers who apply. We take plea¬ 
sure in speaking highly of the firm, since we 
have been growing their bulbs for several 
years. 
CONDUCTED BY BUSI RAY CLARK 
A GLIMPSE OF SOUTHERN LIFE. 
X. Y. and Z. had gone to the New Orleans 
Exposition; and we w *re snowbound at “Cliff 
Farm” high above the Father of Waters, who 
had lain for weeks locked in his winter sleep, 
uncouscious of the tramp of heavy feet and 
heavier loads of cord-wood that had beeu daily 
drawn across his paternal bosom. 
All night and all day long the snow had 
seemed to pour from the ?ky: driving in a fierce 
north wind that had laid it in waves and folds 
aud ridges over the hills and up to the very 
house doors. Before I drew the curtain across 
the conservatory arch, I looked out for some 
sign of the storm abating, but there was none, 
aud I went to the fire and sat down to hope 
that our travelers who had left this waste of 
dreariness were nearing the Gulf where the 
air is cool and crisp, but the sunshine hints of 
Spring. 
How long I sat there nursing my dreari¬ 
ness and listening to the wiud in the wide 
chimney, moauiog and shrieking. I knew not; 
but when I was again conscious of my sur¬ 
roundings I found the room deserted and the 
doors behind me wide open. I looked at the 
lights, they were burning just a little blue and 
there'was a slight aroma of mischief in the 
air. Hoping to get a view of the situation 
