THE 
RURAL- NEW-YORKER, 
ANatlonal Journal for Country and Suburban Homes, 
Conducted by 
ELBEBT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 1887. 
Specimens of the R. N.-Y. will be 
cheerfully and promptly mailed to any 
lists of names which our readers may 
be pleased to furnish us. In this way 
those who choose to act as agents may be 
assisted iu obtaining subscriptions. 
Mr. W. Att.ee Burpee, the seedsman 
of Philadelphia, writes, in reply to our 
letter of inquirj, that he deems the Gov¬ 
ernment Seed Shop as now conducted, an 
abomination, and that it sets back 
rather than advances agriculture. “So 
many old and worthless seeds are distrib¬ 
uted that it must discourage farmers from 
making intelligent trials of varieties.'” 
-- 
We were scarcely prepared for a vote so 
nearly unanimous in favor of the heavy 
machine-ealendcrcd paper upon which the 
R. N.-Y. is now being printed. It seems 
that our readers do not like the gloss of 
super-calendered paper, because it is try¬ 
ing to the eyes. We are glad that the 
expression of our readers’wishes has been 
so positive,since, now that we may decide 
to use the heavy paper for the future, all 
will be pleased. 
- — 
Black-wax and and Valentine Beans, 
from the Wash. Seed House, were distrib¬ 
uted among the farmers of Jefferson Coun¬ 
ty, N. Y.. by the Congressman of the dis¬ 
trict in the spring of 1885. These beans, 
as we learn from an extensive bean grow¬ 
er, were alive with bean weevils. The 
bean growers had never seen the pest be¬ 
fore, and they naturally feel incensed 
against the Agricultural Department for 
introducing it. 
NOTICE. 
All subscribers who desire the Rural’s 
Seed Distribution must apply for it. 
Hitherto we have not required those who 
subscribe for the Rural in connection 
with other papers to make an application. 
This has caused confusion. It is only 
necessary to say “Send seeds.” 
It may be supposed that civilization 
carries with it improvement and that as it 
marches on we are nearing a Paradise. 
In those days there will be no insects to 
annoy us. There will be no birds to steal 
our fruits and seeds. All wild animals 
will be things of the past. Man will be 
mighty—having subjugated everything 
and balanced and directed nature to suit 
himself. Man is agreat institution indeed. 
There is no cruelty, ignorance or egotism 
about him—that is, taking him all in all. 
The Paradise to come will prove it. 
We have avoided sayiug much in favor 
of the Rural's Blush Potato for the reason 
that it straggles considerably—a bad fault 
where the digging of the crop is entrust¬ 
ed to indifferent help. Besides, the shape 
is not so good as that of many other 
kinds. It grows upon us, however, that 
this potato, when we consider yield, qual¬ 
ity and keeping qualities, is for suitable 
soils the best late potato in the mar¬ 
ket to-day. Some of our neighbors who 
are market gardeners say that their cus¬ 
tomers will have no other potato while 
they can get the Blush. The Rural peo¬ 
ple raised it the past season for home use 
in preference to any other. 
In somg of the leading catalogues at 
hand the new Brazilian Flour Corn is ad¬ 
vertised as “the most wonderful variety 
of grain ever introduced into this coun¬ 
try.” The claim is made also that it ri¬ 
pens “medium early.” We have nothing to 
say as to whether it will or will not “make 
a grade of flour equal in every respect to 
the best wheat flour.” It may be true. 
But we admonish our friends who live iu 
a climate less favorable to the ripening of 
corn than that of Southern Pennsylvania, to 
try it, if at all, in a small, inexpensive way. 
Our plot at the Rural Grounds last year 
had a long and favorable seasou. It was 
in the milk when frost destroyed it, 
Hundreds of our subscribers do not 
understand, from our method of telling 
them when their subscrintions expire; and 
yet it is a simple thing. For example, if 
the subscriber finds on the wrapper, 
James Brown, 1930, 
his subscription expires with this number. 
It is the whole number of the Rural, 
which shows progressively how many Ru¬ 
ral* have been published from the begin¬ 
ning, and is always to be found under the 
bull’s head, between the head lines of the 
first page. All subscriptions received 
this week will be numbered 1982—that is, 
52 nuipbers will be added, When there 
is no number or a single number after the 
name, the subscription expires with the 
year. 
Save at the Start.— The report of 
the Children’s Aid Society, of this city, 
shows that it costs, on an average, #47.05 
to shelter and teach one child. It costs 
$107.65 to maintain for one year a person 
in the “Tombs’’—the citv prison. Thc«e 
figures repeat one of the oldest of old 
stories. It. is far more economical to 
direct and train homeless children than it 
is to punish them for crimes that might 
have been prevented bv proper training. 
It pavs to begin at the beginning with 
economy. lie who waits till the evil is 
apparent and then attempts, by extra ex¬ 
ertions, to make up for lost time, will be 
out of pocket in the end. This is partic¬ 
ularly true of all operations on the farm. 
The proverb with the widest circulation 
is, “a stitch in time saves nine,” yet none 
is so frequently neglected, even by those 
who use it most—as advice to others. 
A Word as to Trichinosis. —We have 
long believed that many of the diseases of 
which farmers complain were caused by 
trichina 1 . We consider these disgusting 
creature as the real cause of a good pro¬ 
portion of the “malaria,” rheumatism and 
other diseases for which oceans of patent 
medicines are administered. The medium 
through which disease thus enters the sys¬ 
tem is chiefly raw or half-cooked pork, 
Wc are not surprised at the facts given in 
another column regarding the effect, pro¬ 
duced by permitting hogs to eat rats. 
These filthy vermin are veritable store¬ 
houses of disease. We are satisfied that 
cats are frequently affected by trichina 1 . 
Investigation in England has also proved 
that rabbits are sometimes affected in the 
same way. The popular idea that all 
eases of trichinosis arc fatal is an error, 
Hundreds of persons doubtless suffer from 
the loatlicsome disease without ever know¬ 
ing it. They doctor for some imaginary 
disease without knowing that their own 
hog pen and frying-pan are responsible. 
We believe that the man who throws a 
dead rat to his hogs, or who makes no ef¬ 
fort to kill the rats about Ids buildings, 
does himself and his family a serious in¬ 
jury. Great as are the dangers that lie in 
food adulterations, thev are no more dan¬ 
gerous than those which lurk in the half- 
raw pork which some farmers will persist 
in eating. 
ANNOUNCEMENT. 
Tiie series of articles by Joseph Har¬ 
ris, reviewing the Rothamsted Experi¬ 
ments, the first of which appeared in the 
issue of January 15, will hereafter be sub¬ 
mitted to Sir ,T. R. Lawes, with his con¬ 
sent, before publication, in order that be 
may make any needed additions or cor¬ 
rections. Thus, they may be considered 
authoritative and official. 
-- 
A Cauttox. —A subscriber writes us a 
scolding letter because on the strength of 
our report of the Midnight Corn (we can 
no longer write the absurd name in full) 
he ordered a large lot of it at a high price 
and met with loss. How far this corn 
warrants or falls short of what was claimed 
for it in the Rural’s report need not. be 
alluded to now. We would ask our friend 
and all others who may have occasion to 
feel as he does, what the object of our 
seed distribution is? The answer is to 
enable our readers to try in a small wav, 
without expense for the seed, such novel¬ 
ties as may be presented from year to year. 
If they prove inferior, the loss is inapprec¬ 
iable. If they prove better than older 
kinds, the experimenter will increase his 
crops another year accordingly. Readers 
should never lose sight of the fact. that, 
success or failure with a given variety at 
the Rural Grounds orelsewhere gives evi¬ 
dence merely that it will succeed or fail 
under the same conditions of soil, season 
and climate, in other places. What fails 
with us one season may thrive the next. 
That our favorable reports have, as a rule, 
proven trustworthy guides to others is be¬ 
cause the plants or seeds are tested in an 
exceptionally trying climate and without 
that pampering often given by originators 
or those who offer them for sale. We re¬ 
spectfully repeat our conviction that it 
pays to try all promising noveltips in a 
small way. The occasional success will 
in the long run more than compensate for 
the scores of failures. 
An Unseemly rut Salutary Quar¬ 
rel.— A great deal of general dissatisfac¬ 
tion has been felt at the action of the 
Illinois Live Stock Commissioners for fail¬ 
ing to properly restrict and suppress conta¬ 
gious pleuro pneumonia among the dis- 
tillerv-fed cattle at Chicago. Several of 
the local live stock and agricultural 
papers as well as political journals gave 
expression to this sentiment, and over a 
week ago, the carelessness and inefficiency 
of the Commissioners were strongly de¬ 
nounced by Commissioner Colnmn. On 
Thursday they replied, imputing to the 
head of the Agricultural Department malic¬ 
iously vicions motives for his attack, and 
claiming that the discovery of the disease 
in Illinois was duo to them and not to the 
Bureau of Animal Industry, “which never 
discovered a ease in any State.” They 
affirm that, the Commissioner is ignorant 
of what he is supposed to understand and 
supervise, and that through culpable ig- 
noraHce of the State laws, his recommend¬ 
ations to the Governor are “puerile.” 
They claim to have done more in 90 days 
to suppress the plague, with limited appro¬ 
priations than the Department of Agri¬ 
culture has clone in more than two-and a- 
half years with ample appropriations, 
scientific knowledge and appliances. The 
tone of the letter is unscemingly bitter 
and acrimonious, and its charges evident¬ 
ly in great part the result of resentment 
rather than of deliberation; but tile dis¬ 
pute must have a good effect in exciting 
all parties to greater care and vigor in 
stamping out the plague. 
TAXES AND TOBACCO. 
While in all other great nations there 
is nearly always a deficiency in the na¬ 
tional revenue every year, since the war 
there has always been a surplus here. 
While the great financial trouble in other 
countries is how to make both ends meet, 
with us it is what to do with the large 
sum left over every year after all legiti¬ 
mate demands have been satisfied. Out 
of this surplus we paid considerably over 
#100.000.000 of the national debt last year, 
thus greatly lessening the amount of in¬ 
terest payable annually on that “blessing 
in disguise.” For various financial rea¬ 
sons, connected chiefly with the national 
banking system, it is generally considered 
unwise to pay off for the present much 
more of the debt, but with its decrease and 
the growing prosperity and population of 
the country the surplus revenue is steadily 
increasing, and the great problem to be 
solved by our National Legislature is bow 
to decrease it wit hout deranging the multi¬ 
farious industries of the country. To les¬ 
sen the amount of surplus revenue, which 
is a constant temptation to jobbery and 
extravagance, we must either remove or 
lower some of the import duties, to which 
“protectionists” object, or do the same 
with some of the internal revenue taxes. 
There is a strong movement, at present to 
abolish the tax on tobacco, and it is not 
at all improbable that this will be accom¬ 
plished during the present, session of Con¬ 
gress or early in the next session. The 
enormous consumption oT the “weed” is 
scarcely realized. Assuming that one-half 
the population are smokers— a gross as¬ 
sumption—then each one of the 30,000.000 
used last year three and a half pounds of 
smoking and chewing tobacco and 117 
eigars on which taxes were paid, besides 
133 cigarettes. The •aggregate taxes on 
all sorts of tobacco the last fiscal year 
amounted to $36,24 8,4 76 or 60 cents per 
capita for the entire population. The ag¬ 
gregate cost of the tobacco to the consum¬ 
ers must have been enormous. From a 
luxury has tobacco become a necessity to 
our population? 
THE NEW CABINET OFFICE. 
Last Monday the House,by a vote of 222 
to 26, passed a bill establishing a Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture and Labor. In face 
of such an enormous majority in the Low¬ 
er House, the Senate is hardly likely to 
reject the measure, as it did last year when 
a somewhat similar bill was passed by the 
House by a ma jority, large, but not nearly 
so large as that given this year. There 
would be no propriety in the' President’s 
vetoing it, even if be did not approve of 
it; but from the tone of his last message 
it is probable that it meets his approba¬ 
tion. With one voice all the political pa¬ 
pers denounce the measure as a cowardly 
concession to demagogic clamor raised by 
a number of office-seeking agitators, who 
express no real popular opinion, and who 
forced Congressmen to vote for it to secure 
the “farmer vote” and the “labor vote.” 
Agriculture and labor, howcvor.hnve a par¬ 
amount right to be represented in the chief 
executive council of the nation. Agriculture 
is our greatest national interest, not only in 
the value and indispcusablenessof its pro¬ 
ducts, but also in the number of persons 
engaged in it. Because it has already 
made the “wildernessblossom as the rose,” 
and raised this eountrv to the front, rank 
in land-cultivating nations, without any 
representative in the Cabinet. 5*1 no rea¬ 
son why, in view of its increasing impor¬ 
tance, and the new questions that, are 
constantly rising to affect its welfare, this 
omission should continue. Labor is the 
life of aU industries, and Labor, conscious 
of its importance and dignitv. insists on 
a foremost place in the councils of the na¬ 
tion. Why should this country in which 
agriculture is bv all odds the most, impor¬ 
tant industry, show less consideration to 
agricultural interests than most European 
nations. France, Belgium, Prussia, Aus¬ 
tria, Hungary, Italy and Spain, all have 
Ministers of Agriculture or of Agriculture 
iu connection with industry—commerce 
or public works. Even Hie Dominion is 
ahead of the Union in this respect. For 
years the Rural New-Yorker has advo¬ 
cated this measure, and we rejoice that 
our advocaev is likely at length to he 
crowned with success. 
BREVITIES. 
Among the larger potatoes of the Rural 
Blush, we find some are hollow-hearted. 
Mr. PoNnofthe Catakill Mountains, after 
sending us the Pond Gnra of our present dis¬ 
tribution. writes that the kernels are not so 
large as usual on account of the drv weather 
lastsmrimer. “Tt. was.” Iip says “the sever¬ 
est, drought remembered. 11 
LltT our readers who do not know, consider 
that the American Wonder Pea is desirable 
only in rich soil: flint it is a dwarf (about 12 
to 15 inches!: that while it is of the best, 
qnalPv it. is nearly as rarlv ns the earliest 
smooth ncas. Its chief value lies in its earli- 
ncssnnd quality—not in its productiveness. 
We still sell potatoes, at retail, at 75 cents 
nor bushel The market, shows a little sign of 
improvement and ninv run no. Years ago a 
prolonged eold snap insured a rise in potatoes 
to those who lived mar enough to market, 
their own product. With the present svstem 
of heated cal’s. Western potatoes enn be 
shipped in all kinds of weather, and the 
market is steadier. . 
“Take okk the Horns" is the word now. 
And we fancy that a little crave in this direc¬ 
tion will never do unv harm. The oneration 
is, to pome extent.cruel: that is, painful. The 
animal suffers. But it is the sum of suffering 
which is to be considered. Years, many 
vears in the future we have no doubt that 
horned cattle will he greater curiosities than 
polled cattle are now. 
Let ns again remind our readers that it is 
uearlv time to sow potato seeds—those from 
the “ ball’’or anolo. Thev sprout n< soou as 
tomato swig. Then transplant to little pots 
and in early June dump them out in mellow 
plots of the open ground These tender little 
plants will be destroyed bv the potato beetle 
unless covered with netting. Paris-green is 
no protection whatever. 
Edwin Willetts, the president, of the 
Michigan Agricultural College. was put for¬ 
ward hy his friends for TT. 8, Senator during 
the recent Senatorial contest in Michigan. 
We are glad he was not sent to Washington. 
. Asa legislator he is the peer of anv man in 
Michigan, but he js needed at Lansing. He 
can do more good at the agricultural college 
than lie can in f'engrexs. 
Readers will see that the pea “ Pride of 
the Market.” is advertised extensively. We 
tested this nen lief ore it was sold in America 
heside the Stratagem (both are English sorts!, 
and gave a decided preference for the latter. 
Both grow from two to 21 • feet, high and are 
of (lie best quality. But. the Stratagem noils 
nod seeds average larger. We know of no 
better intermediate pea than the Stratagem. 
Toe Natiomil Food Convention, including 
memb«rs of the American Grocers 1 Society 
and several Boards of Trade, will lie held at 
Washington. D. C.. January 19. and will 
draft a system of national laws to suppress 
food adulteration. The movement is strong- 
lv opposed to oleomargarine as au imitation of 
butter, and should receive the hearty support 
of every person who has regard for the health 
and honesty of the people. 
A “Farmers’ Congress.” in session at, 
Washington early in the week, passed several 
“resolutions.’ 1 the most Important of which 
was the following: “That the clause in the 
charters of the National banks, which forbids 
their loaning money on real estate, works a 
great, injury to the farmers of the United 
Stales by deriving them banking privileges 
and thus causing them to pay a higher rate of 
interest Mian other classes of citizens, and that 
we, the farmers of the United States in Con¬ 
gress assembled, do most respectfully, but 
urgently, ask the Congress of the United 
States to repeal the same." The “Congress” 
adjourned on Thursday to meet again at Chi¬ 
cago ju«t before the Fat Stock Show, next 
November There is no occupation which has 
so manv self-constituted “representatives" as 
agriculture. Some of them forcibly remind 
one of the “Three Tailors of Toolv Street," 
London, who, writing to the Czar Nicholas in 
favor of peace, begun ’theirpetition with: 
We, the British people.” f 
