4M 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JULY 2 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
ANatlonal Journal for Country and Suburban Home*. 
Conducted by 
KtBHRT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE KURAI, NEW-YORKER, 
No. 8-1 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, JULY 23, 1887. 
Kaffir Corn, something of a novelty 
in the way of sorghums, was planted May 
4. The plants will now average nearly 
three feet high, ancl show no disposition to 
sucker. They resemble corn plants. 
The half-plot of sweet corn which re¬ 
ceived an extra amount of nitrogen (300 
pounds to the acre) is no further ad¬ 
vanced—no better in any respect—than 
the other part. Similar tests upon field 
corn and potatoes give similar results. 
An excess of nitrogen beyond that sup¬ 
plied in the high-grade fertilizer which 
was spread at the rate of 800 pounds to 
the acre, is thrown away if judged by 
these experiments. 
The new Golden Queen Raspberry, 
which fruits at the Rural Grounds this 
season for the first time, may be described 
in a few words as a Cuthbert of a pale 
buff color. Any choice between the two, 
in so far as we can discover, is therefore 
confined to the color of the berries. To 
say that it is as good as the Cuthbert in 
every way is to admit that it is the best 
white raspberry in cultivation. 
A farmer recently in Indiana, not hav¬ 
ing enough grade Short-horn steers to 
fatten for a car-load, went out in his 
county uud bought a sufficient number of 
common stock to add to them to fill the 
car. He placed all together in his corn 
field to feed at will on the ears and stalks, 
to which he added what they desired of 
Timothy and clover hay. He judged that 
the grade Short-horn steers consumed 
no more of these rations than the com¬ 
mon ones, and yet they were soonest 
ready for market, and were worth 
cents per pound more when sold. Should 
the steers weigh 1,200 pounds each, this 
would make a difference of $30 in favor 
of every one of the improved steers. 
Prof. Scribner, of the Agricultural 
Department, has issued a circular in which 
he calls attention to the fact that the fun¬ 
gus which causes the mildew of the pota¬ 
to vine is very similar in character to that 
which causes the mildew and rot of the 
grape. On page 418 wc gave two of the 
mixtures of sulphate of copper with which 
it is proposed to arrest the mildew of the 
grape. Now it is proposed to use these 
mixtures on potato and tomato vines. The 
liquid is to be sprayed upon the vines 
through a cyclone nozzle. Two powders 
are proposed. One is formed by mixing 
two pounds of anhydrous sulphate of cop¬ 
per with 20 pounds of flowers ol sulphur 
and 10 pounds of air-slaked lime. The 
other is a mixture of three pounds nf an¬ 
hydrous sulphate of copper with 07 
pounds of flowers of sulphur. This 
amount will cover live acres of potato 
plants. The powder is sifted upon the 
plants about as plaster and Paris-green 
are applied. It is hoped that intelligent 
cultivators everywhere will give this treat¬ 
ment a fair trial, and report results to 
Prof. Scribucr. 
ANNOUNCEMENT. 
About the first of September we shall 
begin the publication of a serial story 
which will run conliimowly for about 
five months. It is written by one inti¬ 
mately connected with the Rural New- 
Yorker and will not appear in any other 
publication. It is entitled “Anderson- 
villc Violets.” Tbe scenes are laid at the 
time of the war and some 10 or 12 years 
later. It has been read in manuscript by 
several leading critics, and well com¬ 
mended. We think our friends will 
enjoy it. It is hard to find a story ex¬ 
actly suited to a paper like the Rural. 
Our circulation is so widdly extended 
and varied that a story should be fairly 
national in character to please all. Now 
that the time has come when all may 
look at the war and its results calmly and 
generously, we are led to think that 
“Andersonville Violets” will provide 
useful thought material as well as enter¬ 
tainment. 
THE IMMIGRATION PROBLEM. 
It is not strange that American states¬ 
men arc seriously turning their attention 
to the immigration question. It is one of 
the most important problems with which 
we have to deal. Iu every Fourth of July 
oration of any prominence, the matter 
was thoughtfully discussed as one vitally 
concerning the future of our country. On 
one point the speakers agreed with strik¬ 
ing unanimity. We have no place iu this 
country for any more European paupers 
or criminals. The time lias come to shut 
the gates squarely against the rascals who 
come here to stir up anarchy and discord. 
It has well been said that the statesman 
who can pass through CongresR a law that 
will check the inflow of unskilled foreign 
labor will have a strong title to the grati¬ 
tude of his countrymen. Prof. Boyeson 
has recently written a timely article on 
this subject. By birth a Norseman, by 
residence uud inclinations an American, 
his ideas are entitled to respectful consid¬ 
eration. He is convinced that the prob¬ 
lem of immigration has recently assumed 
a more serious phase than the general 
public can realize. While the immigrant 
improved his condition by coining to this 
country, he became, as a rule, a good citi¬ 
zen. He left his own country with an ex¬ 
alted notion of the new life he proposed 
to enter. Ten or IS years ago, he realized 
a portion at least of his expectations. 
Now this is changed. There is a crowd 
everywhere, good land cannot be had for 
the asking, and a feeling of disappoint¬ 
ment takes the place of the former hope¬ 
fulness and euthuaiasm for American in¬ 
stitutions, Many later arrivals actually 
begin to say that they should have stayed 
in their own country. They had an ex¬ 
alted idea of life here. When they find they 
must work, and work hard in order to make 
even a living they are disappointed. An¬ 
archy and socialism are sure to grow from 
this sullen disappointment. “Socialism is 
the political name for discontent; and 
revolution is discontent re-enforeed by 
hunger,” says Professor Boyeson, and 
every thinking man must admit that a gov¬ 
ernment like ours can he considered 
strong and safe only when backed up by 
the happiness and contentment of the peo¬ 
ple. It is idle to suppose that the bulk 
of these immigrants come to this country, 
because they want to be American citi¬ 
zens. They come here because they 
think they can live casici and better than 
they could in their old homes. They 
now begin to feel more generally disap¬ 
pointed than ever before, and this disap¬ 
pointment will only make them hate the 
country which cannot fulfill their expec¬ 
tations. This view of the matter is a 
new one. If it. be correct, and from our 
limited acquaintance with immigrants we 
know there is much truth in it, then it 
is surely time to push this question of un¬ 
restricted immigration to the front until 
it is settled. 
RAILROAD OPPRESSION IN THE 
NORTHWEST. 
For years California has been under 
the heel of an oppressive railroad mo¬ 
nopoly, and the great Northwest has been 
in nearly the same position. A citizen of 
St. Thomas, Dakota, manifestly speaking 
for the entire farming community of that 
section, has just made a complaint to 
the Interstate Commerce Commission 
against the Manitoba Railroad Company, 
which tells of one form of oppression. 
It is charged that the company refuses to 
furnish ears for the shipment of the wheat 
crop of that region. At one time the far¬ 
mers seized the cars they needed, despite 
the railroad people, and loaded their 
wheat, but ever since the railroad has 
kept its empty cars at a distance from the 
wheat stations. It is averred that the 
local press is muzzled by railroad bribes 
and advertisements; and that the free 
pass system is as fully in operatiou as 
before the passage of the Interstate Law. 
It is the general belief among the farmers 
that the owners of a certain elevator line, 
by collusion with the railroad authorities, 
are in a position “from which they con¬ 
trol the price of wheat, if not through 
the entire country, certainly through the 
spring wheat belt of the Northwest.” In¬ 
tending shippers frequently receive orders 
from the railroad magnates to ship their 
wheat through a particular elevator line; 
and the complainant among others re¬ 
cently received such an order, accompanied 
by an intimation that if he did not wish 
to do so, he could stop raising wheat. 
Every other industry in that section is 
subordinated to the raising of wheat, so 
that this was equivalent to an intimation 
that unless he yielded to an unjust exac¬ 
tion, he must abandon his whole business. 
Remember this is not an isolated ease; but 
fairly represents the general policy not 
only of the Manitoba but of other rail¬ 
road companies in that section. Not 
only do these monopolists exact for 
themselves “all the traffic can bear,” 
but even then, In order to obtain from 
them the services to which they are 
legally entitled, their victims must pay 
toll to the friends of their oppressors, who 
are generally their confederates also. 
Surely this is a case on which the Inter¬ 
state Commerce Commission should act 
effectively and promptly—all the more 
promptly as the season for moving the 
crops of that section is at hand. 
“TOO MUCH ABOUT TREES AND 
SHRUBS.” 
A first-rate farmer who is also a first- 
rate editor of a weekly farm paper, in 
criticizing the R. N.-Y., said he thought 
it gave too much space to trees and 
shrubs. “Most farmers,” he said, “do not 
care to read about them.” 
Our friend is right perhaps; but we 
shall obstinately go on talking about trees 
aud shrubs the same as if it were profit¬ 
able to do so. The great need of many 
farmers to-day is a better appreciation of 
what makes home homelike. They are 
too prone to look upon the farm as a work¬ 
shop where they are merely to grind out 
a living, in which every member of the 
family must take a part. Grind, grind, 
grind is the order of the day aud the year. 
The monotony becomes hateful both to 
young and old, and farm life detested. 
And so it will ever be to those who can 
not bear to spend a dollar towards making 
farm life more engaging. Is there any¬ 
thing more homelike, more enjoyable 
than a beautiful country home? And is 
it possible to conceive of such a thing 
without trees aud shrubs? Even the 
struggling farmer, who, through misfor¬ 
tunes of any kind finds it difficult to earn 
a bare subsistence, may do something 
towards making his home attractive. It 
may not lighten his labors this year or 
next, or ever, but it willoue day help him 
to bear his labors when he sees that his 
wife and daughters and sons appreciate 
bis endeavors to make home happy and 
are not crazy to get away from it when¬ 
ever a chance occurs. 
Our view is that it is the duty of every 
farmer, restricted only by absolute needs, 
to work as hard to render home homelike, 
as it is to work in his fields or care for his 
stock. And as a chief means io this end 
he is called upon to plant and to care for 
shrubs and trees about his bouse. 
The Rural has spent a fair share of the 
past 15 years in experimenting with the 
various ornamental plants hardy enough 
to endure the trying climate of the Rural 
Grounds, and we fancied we were doing 
good service in telling our readers the re¬ 
sults of our work in this line. It does 
not satisfy us at all that well-to-do farm¬ 
ers should be contented with Sugar Ma¬ 
ples, Norway Spruces aud Balsam Firs 
and a few lilacs and weigelas about the 
house or roadway, though beautiful as far 
as they go. Variety iu this as in everything 
else, gives a long-lived charm. There is 
always something to study and to cheer. 
We pass from the lilacs to the spiueas, to 
the clematises, magnolias, roses and lilies; 
to the strawberries aud currants and 
grapes, to the varied and bright fall 
leaves that end the warm season, but to 
leave the warm foliage of evergreens that 
cheer us again as iu spring during the 
winter months. 
FARMERS AND THE CANALS. 
Last Thursday a number of representa¬ 
tive farmers of Western New York met 
at Rochester and prepared a number of 
“resolutions” the principal of which 
wore directed against the State canals. 
They protested against the proposed en¬ 
largement of the Erie, as entailing an un¬ 
called for and unnecessary expense upon 
the taxpayers of the State. They de¬ 
clared that much of the recent canal legis¬ 
lation has been “calamitous;” that 
“free canal” has been of uo practical 
value to the boatmen whom it was in¬ 
tended to benefit; but that the taxes paid 
by the people to maintain “free canal” 
have gone into the hands of elevator and 
middlemen, instead of the navigators of 
the canals, and that experience proves 
that the imposition of a light toll, suffi¬ 
cient. to care for the canals, and protect 
their commerce at the respective termin¬ 
als of New York and Buffalo, would be 
the greatest boon that could be conferred 
on the boatmen of the State. Tt. was de¬ 
cided to hold a State convention at Syra¬ 
cuse on August 25, at which it is expect¬ 
ed that every county in the State will be 
represented. The object of the conven¬ 
tion is to form an organization for the pro¬ 
tection of our farming interests. 
There is no doubt that the proposed en¬ 
largement of the Erie Canal will, benefit 
almost exclusively through shippers from 
the West and the merchants of this city. 
If effected, much of the grain from Chi¬ 
cago, Milwaukee, Duluth and other West¬ 
ern shipping points could come through 
to this port without breaking bulk; 
larger boats could be used on the canal, 
and heavier loads of merchandise could 
be sent west on the. returning vessels. 
All this would lower expenses, and as 
expenses of transportation all ultimately 
come out of the pockets of the producers 
and consumers, both would be benefited 
by the measure. Our Canadian friends 
are straining every nerve to secure and 
hold as much as possible of this Western 
trade. They have enlarged the Welland 
and Lachinc canals and made them free, 
and unless New York keeps pace with 
them, it must lose much of the trade 
which has contributed to make it 
the Empire State and its chief city 
the commercial metropolis of the nation. 
Of course, the rest of the State is benefit¬ 
ed to a great extent by the prosperity nnd 
consequent enlargement of this city, which 
affords a convenient market for much of 
its products, and pays no small propor¬ 
tion of its taxes, besides giviug employ¬ 
ment to thousands of its sons and daugh¬ 
ters. A lively traffic uo the canals adds 
considerably to the prosperity of the 
country along their routes. Moreover, 
the water routes of the State are, to a 
very great extent, regulators of the rates 
of freight on the rail routes. Apart from 
these considerations, however, the farm¬ 
ers of this State would be injured rather 
than benefited by the proposed alteration 
of the canals. It would tend to increase 
and intensify the competition between the 
products of their own lands and those of 
the cheaper lands of the West, and thus 
tend still further to lower the prices of 
Eastern products iu Eastern markets. It 
is very natural, therefore, that the farm¬ 
ers of this State should object to be sad¬ 
dled with taxes to pay for a work that is 
likely to be detrimental to their own in¬ 
terests. But why not boldly avow the 
real grounds of their opposition, instead 
of basing it on their solicitude for the inter¬ 
ests of the “navigators of the canals?” 
BREVITIES. 
The new grape, Berekmans, is fruiting at 
the R. G. for the first. Vines and grapes 
healthy and perfect thus far. 
A. E. Gibson, of Colorado, writes: “I wish 
to commend the recent pictorial of the Rural 
which so forcibly shows up the bird destroy¬ 
ers. The illustrations form a powerful argu¬ 
ment.” 
A LITTLE group of trees wo much enjoy at 
the Rural Grounds, is made up of magnolias. 
KoulangC’s aud I am tie's bloom first,. Then fol¬ 
low the Ear-shaped Umbrella, Cucumber, 
Great leaved. Glauca, and Hypaleuca. A 
magnolia grove is not to be sneezed at. 
A farmer friend, while visiting the Rural 
Grounds a few days ago, remarked that he 
had several times received large packages of 
seeds from the Washington Department of 
Agriculture. “But,'' said he, "we ucver think 
of planting them. We can’t afford to plant 
them We want the best seeds we can get, 
and don’t care to risk our time aud money up¬ 
on those which are probably inferior or 
worthless.” 
That the imported stallious are not sure 
foal getters the first year, has been found to 
be a fact by many importers of foreign stal¬ 
lions, and Instead of obtaining thorn now at 
three years old or above, ana losing a good 
deal of their service the first year, colts 
about one year old aro selected, end grown up 
on our home farms. Iu this way they are 
thoroughly acclimatized whim fit, for service, 
and are as sure foal getters us if burn in the 
United States. There are other advantages 
attending the importation of yearling stal¬ 
lions. The first, cost is not nearly so much as 
that of older ones. The freight and feed on 
their voyage across the Atlantic are probably 
not more tkun one-third so great, on the aver¬ 
age, and the risk of their being injured or 
killed in transit is considerably less. 
Although there is an increase of six per 
cent, in the area of spring wheat, yet owing 
to drought, the Hessian fly, chinch hugs and 
’hoppers, a smaller aggravate yield, than the 
147,000,000 bushels of 188(5 is expected. The 
winter crop,with a decrease of two per cent, in 
area, will be considerably less than 301,000,(XX) 
bushels--last year’s output. The total short¬ 
age compared with the moderate crop of 
last, year, may, from present indications ns 
telegraphed here from various points in the 
country last night and this morning, reach 
20,(XX),000 bushels. In Europe the wheat crop, 
ns a whole, will he short, and the shortage m 
India is acknowledged to be considerable. 
Australasia is hardly likely to have much of 
a surplus for export; and recent, reports from 
South America do not indicate much of a sur¬ 
fing; although it must be borne iu mind t hat 
his is the midwinter season in countries south 
of the equator, uud therefore all crop reports 
from that hemisphere must be based, to a 
great extent, on guesswork. Still everything 
points to good prices for wheat this year. 
Every year while the harvest is being mark¬ 
eted! speculators aud dealers try by all means 
to lower the prices of the product* they intend 
to buy, and doubtless many efforts will be 
made to put down the price of the new wheat 
crop to the lowest possible notch; but it ap¬ 
pears very likely that those who are m a posi¬ 
tion to hold on to their wheat, will be able to 
obtain better figures later ou. 
