THE RURAL. NEW-YORKER. 
THE 
RURAL NEW'YORKER, 
A National J ourual for Country and Suburban Homo•. 
Conducted by 
ELUERT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, Now York. 
SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 1887. 
The New York Legislature has passed 
a bill making false registration of animals 
a punishable offence. The p unity in¬ 
cludes an imprisonment for a term not ex¬ 
ceeding one year, a flue not exceeding 
$1,000, or both. Bills have also been 
introduced to provide for the co-opera¬ 
tion of New York with tbe United States 
in the suppression and extirpation of 
pleura-pneumonia; to provide for a State 
Agricultural Department, ami to facili¬ 
tate the lighting of noxious weeds. The 
State Legislatures are for the most part 
following the laudable example of Con¬ 
gress in paying a good deal of attention 
to matters agricultural. 
In the Ohio Farmer a writer, signing 
himself “Timothy,” says that a neighbor 
gave him five Beauty of Hebron potatoes. 
He cut them to single eyes, planting two 
in a bill, and raised “seven bushels of as 
nice potatoes as I ever saw.” 
We have figured over this a little. A 
large-sized Beauty of Hebron potato has 
about 10 eyes. This would give 00 eyes 
and 25 hills. Now, to raise seven bushe s, 
or 420 pounds, from 25 hills (let us sup¬ 
pose them to be, as in our culture, in 
drills one foot apart, the rows three feet) 
would be equivalent to raising over 4,0(54 
bushels per acre. This would be nearly 
17 pounds per hill. Our contemporary or 
its writer must have made some mistake. 
A good place to test the pluck of 
a horse is found at some of the ferries in 
this city. Frequently, at high tide, the 
horses arc obliged to dash tip steep and 
slippery inclines to reach the boats. The 
wagons are geuerallv loaded Heavily. The 
courage of the horses and the skillfulness 
of the drivers are strikingly illustrated. 
The men who scream the loudest and lash 
the hardest are not those who get the 
most work out of their horses. Many an 
intelligent horse seems to respect his 
quiet and dignified driver. At a word, 
such horses plunge into the work and pull 
with all their strength. Other horses 
seem actually ashamed of their yelling 
and swearing drivers. Their work is 
done without interest; they seem to care 
little whether they reach the top of the 
slope or not. Perehcron grades are great¬ 
ly esteemed as city homes. They are pa¬ 
tient, and kind. In a place where extra 
work is required they pull like mules 
until the harness breaks or the load 
comes. Some writers try to prove that 
the Pereheron is a stupid horse. There 
is little of such stupidity manifested 
here. 
MISSING SEEDS. 
Commissioner Coi.man says that he 
has received “hundreds, if not thousands” 
of complaiuts from parties who had failed 
to receive packages of seeds mailed to 
them by the Department of Agriculture. 
Notilleations were sent at the same dates 
at which the seeds were mailed; but 
while the former arrived safely, the latter 
were stolen on the way. The Commis¬ 
sioner laments that “seeds going out 
under the frank of the Department, seem 
to be considered common property,” and 
says, tbat “somebody connected with the 
postal service ought to have a fine garden 
this year, if he has taken all the seeds that 
have been missed.” Thousands of people 
who would not swindle a private person 
out of a dollar, would have no scruples 
in cheating the Government out of a 
thousand; and in the present case it is 
evident that some of this class forget that 
it isn’t the Government but the people to 
whom tbe seeds are sent, who are the losers 
by their dishonesty. The fact that the 
seeds cost them nothing and may be wort h 
only what they cost, has nothing to do 
with the morality of the matter; they 
were entrusted to the mail for safe deliv¬ 
ery and should be as safely delivered as if 
they were so many pearls or diamonds. The 
post-office official who would steal seeds 
would be very likely to steal other mail 
matter also. There ought not to be much 
trouble in detecting the guilty, and when 
found there should be no hesitation about 
turning the rascals out. 
ARBOR DAY. 
It is only 15 years ago since the first 
Arbor Day was observed in Nebraska, 
when 12,000,000 shoots were planted on 
what was then known as “The Great Ameri¬ 
can Desert.” At the next session of the 
Legislature the day was made a legal holi¬ 
day, and premiums were offered by law 
for setting out orchard, forest, and 
ornamental trees. The day has been ob¬ 
served ever since, and as a result, the 
United States Forest Commissioner reports 
fine groves 800 miles west of the Missouri, 
and over (105,000,000 small trees thriving 
where a few years ago not a tree could be 
seen except along streams. The example 
set by Nebraska was quickly followed by 
other States, and at present Arbor Day is 
quite generally observed in over 20 States, 
including Kansas, Minnesota, Colorado, 
Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, West Virginia, 
Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, Ala¬ 
bama, Missouri, California. Kentucky and 
Maine, and in several other States, New 
York among them, bills are now before 
the Legislatures providing for the legal 
observance of the day. In some States 
exemptions from a certain proportion of 
taxation are offered as rewards for tree- 
planting. In most of the States the ob¬ 
servance of the day is secured by the efforts 
of the Grange, the Grand Army of the 
Republic, Agricultural Societies, Farmers’ 
Clubs and school authorities. At first, 
some of the Governors in their proclama¬ 
tions naming Arbor Days, mado sad blun¬ 
ders in selecting dittos altogether unsuit¬ 
able for tree-planting i but such mistakes 
never cause a smile or a frown now. Some 
of them, like those of Colorado and New 
Jersey, have this year set apart two days, 
the earlier for the southern and the later 
for the northern section. The observance 
is worthy of hearty commendation because, 
as Professor Brewer says, “it gives a bit 
of Nature's teachings really needed when 
thousands of children arc growing up un¬ 
able to name three kinds of trees or dis¬ 
tinguish wheat from oats; because of its 
economic importance in spreading wood¬ 
growing through the State, and because 
of its results in clothing waste places with 
valuable timber,and beautifying theState.” 
STAMPING OUT CONTAGIOUS PLEURO¬ 
PNEUMONIA. 
At length there is a fair proapect that 
contagious pleuro-pneumonia may be 
stamped out from among the cattle at 
Chicago. Professor James Law, of Cor¬ 
nell University, has gone there as repre¬ 
sentative of the National Bureau of Ani¬ 
mal Industry, and with the assistance of 
the State Board of Live Stock Commis¬ 
sioners proposes to take prompt and effi¬ 
cient means to extirpate all traces of the 
plague. It is estimated that the infected 
districts contain from 8,000 to 10,000 
cattle, which arc to be examined, and all 
the affected and a large percentage of the 
exposed animals are to be killed, and the 
stables thoroughly disinfected. For some 
time appraisers appointed by the State 
authorities have been at work fixing the 
value of condemnablo cattle, and this sum 
will be paid in all eases by the National 
Government. The meat of exposed but 
sound cattle that have been slaughtered, 
and that of animals uot sufficiently dis¬ 
eased to render it unwholesome, will be 
put on the market, and the rest destroyed. 
The work has been in progress during the 
past week, and a post-mortem examina¬ 
tion has proved that a large percentage of 
slaughtered beasts were diseased. Out. of 
215 head slaughtered ou Wednesday, 07 
had the disease in acute or chronic form. 
The State and National authorities are co¬ 
operating quite harmoniously, and there 
is little doubt that the work will be thor¬ 
oughly done. The disease has been lurk¬ 
ing in some of the distillery stables, how¬ 
ever, for over two years, and has notori¬ 
ously affected cattle in nearly all of them 
and m the adjacent pastures for months, 
and a good many cattle have been dis¬ 
tributed from the affected districts to dis¬ 
tant points during this time, so that the 
stamping out of the disease at Chicago 
may not put an end to the evil results of 
the outbreak there. The rules lately 
issued by the Commissioner of Agricul¬ 
ture for the suppression of the disease are 
meeting with hearty approval from the 
State Legislatures aud executive authori¬ 
ties everywhere, however, and there is a 
bright prospect ahead that the vast cattle 
interests of the country will, ere long, be 
relieved from the danger threatened and 
the loss inflicted by this insidious plague. 
— — ♦ ♦ ♦ - — 
AGAINST FOOD ADULTERATION. 
At the last convention of the National 
Pure food Association held in Washing¬ 
ton in January, a bill was adopted to be 
introduced into the next Congress. It 
provides for a Bureau of Adulterations in 
one of tbe Government Departments, 
and proposes that no substance 
shall be coated or colored or pol¬ 
ished or powdered to make it appear 
better or of greater value than it really is. 
A line is not to be drawn at poisonous 
adulterations only; but everything must 
be quite pure. All hurtful adulterations 
arc to be prohibited,and eon-hurtful adul¬ 
terations are to he so regulated that con¬ 
sumers may know what they are buying, 
so that if a man wants chicory with his 
coffee he can get it ; but if he does not 
want it, he need not be deceived. The 
Society has lately been greatly strength¬ 
ened and extended, and branches have 
been established in every section of the 
country. The central workers in this city 
say they will have New England, the 
Middle States and all the leading Western 
States in line for active agitation for pure 
food in a few weeks. As honest trade is 
aided by educating the consumer to de¬ 
mand what he pays for, a popular series 
of meetings arc projected through the 
country, at which specialists in different 
branches of commercial investigation will 
enlighten the public mind on various top¬ 
ics connected with the movement. Gro¬ 
cers are organizing to take an active part, 
in the reform. They say it is essential to 
honest trade. Business-men who desire 
to deal only in first-class goods are not 
sufficiently protected. They are much in¬ 
jured by dishonest competition. The 
very people who are loudest in their com¬ 
plaints about unhealthy food, will pa¬ 
tronize the cheap dealer who undersells 
his neighbor, though the latter deals only 
in first-class goods, and they must know 
that goods of the former cannot be pure 
at the prices he charges. Often they al¬ 
low the honest dealer to be run out of 
business because “he is too high-priced,” 
while,in reality, his profits are less on the 
fine goods he sells than those of his un¬ 
scrupulous competitor on inferior articles. 
Evidently it is a stupendous task to de¬ 
velop the faculty of discrimination in the 
human cater; but with the educational ef¬ 
forts of this society, aud adequate and 
properly enforced legislation it may yet 
be accomplished. 
EXPOSURE OF A SWINDLING PUB¬ 
LISHER. 
It is now about four years since tbe 
Rural New-Yorker first denounced T. 
S. Gardener, of the Farming World and 
four-per-cent, loan notoriety, as a humbug 
and a fraud. At that time ho operated 
almost exclusively in Cincinnati. After¬ 
wards he started a couple of other swind¬ 
les in Chicago under the names of the 
Farm Journal and the Farmers’ Album. 
These we also denounced as soon as they 
appeared. Three times we have devo'ed 
over a column to lengthy exposures of the 
nature of this fellow’s frauds, and at least 
once a quarter for the last four years, he 
and his various swindling schemes have 
been denounced in our columns. A few 
other papers also exposed this fraudulent 
schemer, and about two years ago the 
cheat had the effrontery to begin libel 
suits against the Chicago Tribune and 
Western ‘Rural; but. as we predicted at 
the time, the eases, of course, were never 
brought to trial. In spite of all expos¬ 
ures, however, and the transparent char¬ 
acter of the swindles, his advertisements 
found place in a multitude of papers, and 
the mails were swollen with his alluring, 
d'ceptive circulars. Gudgeons, too, in 
all parts of the country, eagerly swallowed 
the enticing bait, he dangled before them. 
At last a check has been put to the 
man’s operations. Last Tuesday the post- 
otfiee authorities at. Chicago stopped his 
mail and sought, to arrest him on the 
ground that his publications are “a swin¬ 
dle on the public and a fraud on the IT. 
S. mail service.” He was receiving over 
50 registered letters a day, each containing 
from $5 to $13. nnd within three months 
had sent out 250,000 circulars and bogus 
specimen copies of his papers. He 
kept 25 to 30 young women con¬ 
stantly employed in mailing circulars, etc. 
Every subscriber was promised a $8 pre¬ 
mium order—to be cashed later—for an 
outlay of 40 cents, with a valuable jour¬ 
nal thrown in for a year, and t he man who 
got up a club was to get a prize of from 
$25 to $5,000. Onec Gardener got the 
money, he never paid any attention to the 
subscribers or those who got up clubs. 
By lates reports he has fled from Chica¬ 
go to his Cincinnati den. but the post- 
ofliee authorities declare they will arrest 
him wherever they may find him. 
BREVITIES. 
Col. Curtis discourses upon male pigs. 
Prof. G. E. Morrow of Illinois, discourses 
this week upou “Farming a Fairly Profitable 
Business.” 
Read what Dr. James Law says about the 
treatment of intestinal and lung worms in 
sheep under Veterinary. 
The grain drills aud aquapults offered in 
our special piTmium list for April 0th, have 
all been sent out. 
The man who sows fodder corn with the ex¬ 
pectation that the green fodder, alone, is going 
to prove ample food for bis cows, will be dis¬ 
appointed. In like manner the man who ex¬ 
pects silage to provide all the food cattle need 
in winter will be disappointed. They arc both 
supplemental foods. Grain is needed to make 
the ration complete. 
It tabard to see liow any skilled workman 
eau support the dictum of any society tlmt in¬ 
sists that inferior and superior workmen shall 
be paid the same amount for their labor. If 
the inferior workman is paid what lie earns, 
the better workman receives too little. If the 
superior workman is paid what lie earns, the 
poorer workmau is paid too much. 
BtrcKeii ai.l'S Brown’s remarks on manure 
will be read with interest. I t is evident that 
liquid manure is not a well balanced fertilizer. 
How shall it be treated in order to get the most 
out of it.' The remarks upon fire-fanged ma¬ 
nure are undoubtedly correct, Vuit. what rule 
is to be given for determining when the pro¬ 
cess has been carried on long enough? 
Tits: melon season is opening even at this 
early date. While our own gardouers are 
getting ready to plant, melons, the South is 
just ready to put the ripened product into the 
market. The melon market, improves every 
year. People eat more and more of them. In 
the city it is considered about the right thiug 
to eat, melons at breakfast. They are fine at 
any meal. 
A respected friend in Amoricus, Ga., 
writes ns that the Ipomcea noctifiora (I. bona 
nox, as wo believe) is the handsomest and 
most al l rai l ivo climber that he bos ever seen. 
He points out, in a communication which will 
appear next, week, that, it, differs from I bona 
nox in the color of the seed, foliage, growth 
of vine and size of flower, which is sometimes 
C>\4 inches in diameter, pure white in color, 
with a waxy-white, star-shaped center, and a 
delicate perfume. 
At a meeting of the Executive Officers of 
the New York Dairy aud Cattle Show it was 
voted to abolish the extra entrance fee of five 
per cent, on all special prizes. It was also 
voted to extend the time of entry for cheese 
and butter exhibits until Tuesday, May 3d, a 
week before the Opening of the fair. This 
was done at the request of a great many but¬ 
ter makers, who are depending upon the sea¬ 
son ns to whether they will exhibit grass or 
bay butter. 
The bogus butter dealers are getting a part 
of their deserts here just now. About 75 out 
of the 2tK) indicted paid 80,700 in fines during 
the past week, und the others will imve to pay 
proportionately ere long. Let the good work 
keep “booming” in every part, of the State, 
anil in other States also where just laws pro¬ 
vide punishment for transgressors. Of course, 
the fines represent only a small part of the 
gains of the fraudulent transactions, but 
they serve as a warning which is certain to 
have a very healthful effect on the feeble 
honesty of dealers in counterfeit butter, 
sanded sugar, eh ieoried coffee .aud other adul¬ 
terated groceries. 
There is much discussion between various 
newspapers as to the lessons to be drawn from 
the late women’s vote in Kansas. Woman 
suffrage was granted chiefly to counteract the 
moral evils afflicting large towns. It was in 
these that its exercise was abused most. All 
the early reports were from such plan s. The 
newspaper correspondents were on the out¬ 
look especially for abuses, aud, of course, 
found lots of what they were looking 
for. Mrs. Gouger emphatically denies having 
made the alleged disparaging remarks with 
regard to the morality of Leavenworth so¬ 
ciety, and her denial is continued by strong 
evidence. In smaller places everything seems 
to have passed off quietly and decently. 
Wichita, where the most, scandalous scenes 
occurred, had only a few board houses iu 
1870, but iu 1881 it bad H.OOO population. 
These had grown to 8,000 in 1883 ; to 10,000 iu 
1881 , to 15,000 In 1885, to 22,000 in 18S(J, and at 
present the population is estimated at 32,000, 
a correspondent tells us. In it there are three 
uieu to ouo woman. A great deal of allow¬ 
ance should be made for the condition of so¬ 
ciety in a front ier town of such rapid growth, 
where the humanizing, civilizing sex is so dis¬ 
proportionately represented. Why should 
not the Woman HuIlVtigc advocates organize 
a movement to send out there a large mar¬ 
riageable force of spinster evangelists? 
We can scarcely join in the praise of the 
California Privet, which has appeared of late 
iu several farm papers. If wo wore laying 
out new grounds aud wanted an immediate 
effect, wo should plant t he California Trivet 
freely: but it would be with a view to remove 
them Inter. If we wanted a shrub that would 
grow close to a house or wall or shod, aud that 
would thrive with little or no rain, there is no 
better shrub. Again, h is to bq prized be¬ 
cause its leaves m e so nearly evergreen that 
they keep their freshness and color from 
the middle of December unt il the middle of 
January, according to the mil lues* or severity 
of the season. But there in little else to be 
said in its favor, which should induce any one 
to core for more than a specimen or so. It is 
a comparatively shy bloomer, becomes leggy 
if uot pruned and liable to be winter killed, 
and if pruned, soon becoinuz stumpy and un¬ 
sightly. It is among the lust, plants we should 
select for a hedge. Of all t,lie privets we pre¬ 
fer the California, or Laurel-leaf—u butter 
name, since it is not from California, but 
from Japan. Its botanical name is Ligua tram 
lucidum, some say L. oVnlifoJium. It, is proba¬ 
bly a mere variety of L. Japonicum. The 
Common Privet is Ligustrum vulgare, which 
bears I duck* berries. An interesting variety 
is Box-leaved—L. luxifolium, mid there are 
several, very pretty variegated sorts, all of 
which,.with us require some protection, 
