THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
E. S. CARMAN, 
8. WOODWARD, 
Editor. 
Associate. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, New Y.jck. 
8 ATURDAY, DECEMBER 19 , IV> 5 . 
Subsn'ibers of the Rural need never take 
the trouble to write us to u stop" the paper. 
It is invariably discontinued at the ex¬ 
piration of the subscription term, except by 
oversight, in which case it is our loss. 
A Merry, Merry 
Christmas to you all. 
The Potato Special will interest all, 
whether they own a quarter-acre or a 
large farm. 
The description, with life-size engrav¬ 
ings, of our rye-wheat hybrids ' will 
appear in January. Some resemble wheat 
—others rye. All will see that they are, 
to say the least, very remarkable new 
grains. 
Our own choice of blackberries for the 
Rural Grounds is Kittatinny and Snyder. 
The Early Harvest, if it prove hardy, is 
certainly an acquisition since its berries 
are fully ripe when those of the Kitta- 
tinny begin to color. 
Oh 1 the beauty of evergreen trees about 
the home in Winter. When we consider 
their trifling cost, and their surpassing 
cheerfulness and beauty, we simply won¬ 
der why evergreen trees are not planted 
about every country home. 
Oub next Special Number will tell the 
entire story, viz.: “How to raise the 
largest and best crop of potatoes at the 
least expense,” by the most successful 
potato-growers in America. 
It appears, from an examination of 
the substance, by the New York Experi¬ 
ment Station, that Hammond’s Slug Shot, 
advertised in many papers, is merely 
London-purple mixed with a very large 
proportion of gas or slaked lime. The 
Slug Shot was sent to the Station by the 
Rural New-Yorker. 
Is this Sensible?— Can good people 
make a more valuable gift to their farmer 
friends who are struggling to be success¬ 
ful, than a year’s subscription to the 
Rural New-Yorker? It might not be 
out of the way to suggest that some of 
our wealthy subscribers might do worse 
than to present a thousand Rurals to a 
thousand deserving farmers. 
It seems that Mr, Bird, with whom the 
Bird Cantaloupe, offered in our present 
Free Seed Distribution, originated, has 
issued a circular in which he offers a 
small amount of the seed for $12 per 
pound. We shall send at least 15 seeds 
in every packet, which should be enough 
to enable all our friends to give it a trial. 
Mr. Bird claims for these cantaloupes extra 
earliness, large size, fine flavor and good 
keeping qualities—a fine array. 
Have you tried many different kinds of 
potatoes? Which yield the best? Which 
are the best in quality ? Have you raised 
very large crops? How did you do it? 
How should potatoes be stored in order to 
keep the longest? Is there anyway of 
preventing rot and scab? Does a fungus 
or wire-worm or both produce scab? We 
have now decided to issue the POTATO 
SPECIAL in the middle of January. 
We shall be glad to receive notes from 
any of our readers who are successful 
potato growers. They should be mailed 
not later than January 1st. 
We have been favored with a com¬ 
munication from Geo. W. and John E. 
Lawson, stating that the pear known as 
Lawson or Comet was sold by them to 
William Parry under the name of Lawson, 
before Mr. Caywood sold his stock, under 
the name of Comet, to Mr. John S. Col¬ 
lins. It appears, according to the Lawson 
Brothers’ statement, that Mr. Parry is the 
only one who has been granted by them 
the privilege of propagating this pear in 
a commercial way. The premises on which 
the original tree stands wore] purchased by 
John Lawson, the elder, more than 40 
years ago. 
SPECIAL. 
The supplement of this number is de¬ 
voted mainly to blackberries with care¬ 
fully drawn illustrations of the Wilson 
Jr., Early Harvest and Taylor,from speci¬ 
mens grown at the Rural Experiment 
Grounds. 
The Kittatiuny is not as hardy as the 
Snyder or Taylor, and is more liable to 
leaf disease. The Lawton is of good 
quality when fully ripe; but then it be¬ 
come! soft. When first the berries turn 
black they are sour. It ripens later than 
the Kittatinny and is less hardy. Wil¬ 
son’s Early is excellent as to quality and 
size of fruit; but it is not hardy enough 
for Chicago or New York. Is the Wilson 
Jr. hardier than its parent? We ask the 
question, not as a commentary, but for in¬ 
formation. At the Rural Grounds it 
seems to be hardier. The Minnewaska is 
said to be perfectly hardy, as prolific as 
any, and as early as the Wilson. Its value 
for the North will therefore depend upon 
its hardiness. 
Years ago the Rural New-Yorker 
started the question, “What proportion 
of weevil-eaten peas will grow?” Many 
replied that all would grow just as well 
as if not weevil-eaten. Our own tests 
showed that at least 75 per cent, would 
not germinate, and many that did, made 
feeble plants. Prof. Beal’s report was 
much the same as ours. Many others 
have since investigated the matter, with 
varying results, most of them, however, 
showing that a large proportion are 
worthless for seed. In the present report 
of the New York Experiment Station, 
Dr. Sturtevant says that in a garden 
test with Carter’s First Crop Pea, but two 
per cent, of those injured by the weevil 
vegetated, while 60 per cent, of the sound 
peas vegetated. 
It is a matter of regret to us that we 
cannot tell our readers in a few words the 
superiority of the Avery Sewing-Machine 
over all others, and be implicitly be¬ 
lieved. We are ready to excuse many 
of our readers—especially our later sub¬ 
scribers—if they make due allowance for 
the usual exaggerations of such announce¬ 
ments. The truth is, however, that our 
sole object in selecting this remarkable 
machine is that we saw it was superior to 
all others—almost noiseless, frictionless, 
and so simple in every respect as at once 
to commend itself to all who have suf- 
ficent experience with sewing-machines to 
enable them to judge of their compara¬ 
tive worth. It is offered as a premium 
by no other journal. The retail price is 
§60, and it is worth it, if ever a sewing- 
machine was worth that sum. All who 
have seen it say that it must revolutionize 
the sewing-machine business. All who 
send us 40 subscribers and who select it 
as a premium may, after trial, in case of 
dissatisfaction, return it to us, and either 
select other premiums, or obtain our regu¬ 
lar cash discount to club agents. Isn’t 
this fair? 
NOTICE. 
The labor given to the Index Number 
of the Rural New-Yorker, which will be 
issued next week, is far greater than that 
required by any other single number 
published during the year. The reason 
is that it is airanged with great care, and 
is probably twice as long and comprehen¬ 
sive as that published by any other farm 
journal. As valuable as this Index Num¬ 
ber may be to our regular subscribers, it 
will prove of comparatively little value 
to those who send for specimen copies. 
We shall, therefore, mail this number 
(the last of the year) only to regular sub¬ 
scribers. 
THE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT 
AND SWINDLERS. 
The farmer is the favorite prey of 
swindlers of every stripe. The amount 
out of which the agricultural community 
is cheated every year by all sorts of rogue6, 
from the fraudulent tree agent to the 
fraudulent paper publisher, must run up 
among the millions. The schemes of the 
sharpers are always plausible, and some¬ 
times require a considerable amount of 
capital. It is often by no means easy to 
detect their dishonesty, even when they 
can; be personally investigated by the 
searcher after truth. It is sometimes 
next to an impossibility to do so when 
they are at a distance. Great caution is 
required in exposing some of the most 
specious of them through fear of doing 
an injustice to an honorable business, and 
because not a few of them would like to 
institute a suit for libel against a respon¬ 
sible party. If the suit never came to 
trial they would gain temporary credit 
by bringing it; and it would inevitably 
entail more or less serious expense on the 
defendant. The prevalence of the evil 
has been widely and earnestly discussed 
in farmers’ clubs and at farmers’ conven¬ 
tions, and some means of protection has 
been eagerly sought. 
Why shouldn't the Department of 
Agriculture add this to its present func¬ 
tions? Which of these is more beneficial 
to the farmers of the country than 
would be the exposure of the swind¬ 
lers who prey upon them? Its honest 
agents in every part of the country 
afford it unparalleled facilities for inves¬ 
tigation. What sharper would have the 
hardihood to seriously threaten it with 
a law suit? Its official capacity would 
lend weight to its exposures. No one 
would say that these were the outcome of 
personal malevolence or .self-interest. No 
duty of the Department would be more 
popular among the agriculturists of the 
nation. The very fact that the Govern¬ 
ment was on the lookout for them, and 
would relentlessly expose them would 
lessen the number of the swindlers. For 
these and others reasons, therefore, let 
the exposure of swindles upon farmers be 
added to the other functions of the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture. 
WHERE SHALL WE ATM ? AT THE 
HEAD OR THE BELLY ’ 
At once the highest compliment ever 
paid the Rural New-Yorker and the 
greatest libel ever uttered regarding the 
American farmer was contained in re¬ 
marks made to us not long since by the 
owner of a widely-renowned agricultural 
journal. He said : “I wish to congratu¬ 
late the Rural New-Yorker on the posi¬ 
tion it has reached. It is, without ex¬ 
ception, the best agricultural paper in 
America, and, I think, in the world. It 
succeeds to an admirable degree in com¬ 
bining science with practical soil culture, 
so that its perusal, to the educated man 
and the thinker, is a source of great 
pleasure and profit. “But,” said he, “I 
question whether you can make it pay. 
It is a little too good; you aim a little too 
high; you shoot just over the head of 
the average American farmer. While it 
may be of the greatest assistance to those 
who will read it and are able to compre¬ 
hend it, few have enough brains or sense 
enough to try to understand its teachings, 
and thus most farmers fail to appreciate 
it, and so I think your list of subscribers 
will never be what the paper deserves, 
though, no doubt, it will embrace the 
cream of those who are progressive and 
who use their heads in running their 
farms. The fact is,’’said he, “I run my 
paper on a different principle. It is money 
I want, and I run my paper so as to secure 
the largest circulation and give me the 
greatest income. And as the majority of 
farmers merely make a living and have 
no idea of doing better, and as to such, 
science is a scare-crow, I aim low. I shoot 
square at the belly. That is the point 
where you can hit nine men in ten. I 
will secure the niue, who never give a 
thought to their business or the improve¬ 
ment of their farms, while you will get 
the tenth one who does.” 
Such sentiments regarding American 
farmers as a class, are untrue and grossly 
insulting. It is not. true that the mass of 
farmers are simply like so many beasts 
with no aspirations higher than their 
stomachs. It is not a fact that nine far¬ 
mers in every ten have no desire to be 
better informed, or to adopt better meth¬ 
ods in farming, or to improve their farms, 
thuB bettering their condition. Nor are 
they so satisfied with the old ways that 
they will not read and try to understand 
a paper, “aimed at their hpads,” aud 
that appeals to their intellect-. And 
he who has such a low estimate of them 
and their capabilities, aDd who, in con¬ 
ducting a paper ostensibly in their inter¬ 
ests, “aims only at their bellies,” is 
a disgrace to the profession, and should 
not receive their support. 
It is true, too true ! that many farmers 
are blindly groping along, ignorant of the 
first principles of successful soil culture, 
and scarcely able to do more than wrench 
from their run-down farms a scanty living; 
but this is not from choice, but a neces¬ 
sity, bred from the lack of knowledge, 
for which this s<*me class of editors are 
largely responsible. It can hardly be ex¬ 
pected of the pupil that he should know 
more than his teacher, and when agri¬ 
cultural papers, which are, or should be, 
the instructors of the farmers, are run by 
men who do not know what they essay to 
teach, or are so timid and grossly dishon¬ 
est that they will not raise their “ aims 
above the belly ” of their readers for fear 
of losing their patronage, is it any won¬ 
der that farmers that read such papers are 
not better informed and more successful ? 
We are proud of the position conceded 
to the Rural New-Yorker, and equally 
proud of tne fact that it has thousands 
and thousands of subscribers, many of 
whom have been for years steadfast friends, 
and who can understand and do appreciate 
it, and who are in full sympathy with 
its editors in their earnest endeavors to 
raise American agriculture to a higher 
level, and to make it at once more scien¬ 
tific and profitable. The day has gone 
by when farmers are frightened at the 
name “science,” and thousands are now 
anxiously seeking to know its laws, that 
they may apply them to the operations of 
the farm. And that the Rural’s course 
in such matters is profitable to its readers 
is proven by the fact that they are among 
the best educated, most progressive and 
thoroughly successful farmers everywhere, 
and they are never humbugged or “taken 
in” by sharpers and swindlers. 
We know that this course is not dis¬ 
tasteful to our readers, from the fact that 
our circulation, while larger than ever 
before, and we believe larger than that of 
any other agricultural weekly, is constant¬ 
ly increasing, and this from'among such 
people as any paper would be proud to 
include among its subscribers. 
We have now too many agricultural 
papers of the “Cheap John” class,and are 
sorry to see a tendency in some of the 
better ones to cheapen themselves. This 
means less work, less originality, cheaper 
material and less care.' The country’s 
want just now is not cheaper agricultural 
papers, but better ones—those requiring 
more work, more experimenting, more 
science, more honesty. We should have 
more successful, thinking farmers in the 
editorial chair; men with ability and 
patience to experiment, and test all things, 
and courage to honestly report the re¬ 
sults, and on whose integrity all can rely. 
Above all things, we want papers that 
shall always “aim at the head,” 
--- 
BREVITIES. 
Blackberries. 
A good name for oleomargarine, suine, 
etc.: “What-yer-call-it.” 
Mrr Mary Wager-Fisher's sprightly 
and candid transcontinental letters will be 
continued through several months. 
There will have heen in the present volume 
of the Rural New Yorker, which will end 
with our next issue, a weekly average of 18 
pages. 
We have received from Mr. Cleveland 30 
bushels of the Alaska. Pea. We find that 
this will enable ns to send over 200 peas to 
each of the “20,000 applicants for whom we are 
preparing the Seed Distribution. These peas 
are absolutely free of weevil boles. 
The Rural New Yorker.— The Detroit 
Free Press of Nov. 28 , says: “ To those 
who have seen aud read the Rural New- 
Yobker any word from os in commendation 
of that favorite journal is unnecessary, but to 
those of our readers wbooontemplatesubscrib- 
ing for an agricultural paper we wish to say 
that the Rural Nitw-Yorker is, beyond ques¬ 
tion. the largesfland best, the most ably edited 
agricultural weekly in America. Its famous 
free seed distributions to its subscribers of 
new and valuable varieties of seeds have been 
great successes, and aloue should recommend 
it to farmers and gardeners.” 
Tp Please the Ladies, Among the Gar¬ 
den Treasures of our Free Heed Distribution 
will be fouud tho following kinds of seeds: 
Pa*onv-flowered and carnation Poppies; Mar¬ 
vel of Pern; Sweet- Peas in full variety,which 
we particularly commend to them for cut 
flowers; Sweet Alvssum, Atnarantbus, Aquil- 
egia, Cacalin, Galllopsis, Campanula, Candy- 
tuft. Canna In variety: Oelosla in variety; 
C’entaurea Cyanns, Olarlda, Delphinium, 
Chinese Pinks in variety; Sainiglossis, Pen- 
stemons, EsehscboHzin tnix"d, Ricinus mixed. 
Salvia, Hibiscus moscheutos. Syriacus and 
militaris; Yueoafllamentosa, etc. The whole 
collection will comprise at least 100 different 
kinds. 
Within the past week we have noticed ac¬ 
counts of nine cases of trichinosis in different 
partsof the country. Sometimes single per¬ 
sons were affected, but in most cases entire 
families were stricken. The disease is ex¬ 
tremely agonizing, and, in severe cases, incur¬ 
able. Jn every instance the outbreak was 
traced to the use of raw or underdone pork in 
some form—generally ham or sausage. It is 
well known that trichinae are destroyed in all 
meat that is well cooked, not on the outside 
only, but throughout- the entire piece. Under¬ 
done or “rare” beef is popular iu England, 
but pork, and indeed nearly all other h eats, 
must always be well “done.” The eating of 
raw or underdone pork is a German custom, 
and to it are due the great uutuber of cases of 
trichinosis in Germany of late years. At best 
it is a semi barbarous usage : at worst it is 
highly' dangerous. For the sake of refinement 
and health we trust none of our friends will 
indulge in the objectionable practice. 
