THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JULY 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
ANatlonal Journal for Country and Suburban Homo s. 
Conducted by 
EX.BB11T S. CABMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, JULY 30, 1887. 
A single vine of the Alice Grape (red) 
planted last spring, has now a cane seven 
feet long. The vine bears a single bunch 
of grapes free of rot, crack or mildew. 
This is a long keeper, and as good in 
quality as the Catawba. It is a promis¬ 
ing baby. 
-- 
Next week we shall place before our 
readers one of the most forcible of the se¬ 
ries of cartoons, nine of which have al¬ 
ready appeared during the year. These pic¬ 
tures, which we have worked up with no 
end of pains, command the attention and 
impress the mind as the best reading mat¬ 
ter often fails to do. 
We fancy that the Cottage (black) 
Grape will be better appreciated in the 
future than it has been in the past. It is 
the most vigorous and one of the hardiest 
vines ever grown at the Rural Grounds. 
We have neverkuown the berries to rot or 
the foliage to mildew. It is earlier than 
the Concord and quite as good in quality, 
though the bunches are smaller. 
♦ • ♦- 
A portrait of Sir J. B. Lawcs, repro¬ 
duced from the London Mark Lane Ex¬ 
press, appears in a late Breeders’ Gazette, 
which is far from doing him justice, if 
-we may judge from a photograph of the 
Rothamsted sage in the Rtjral’s posses¬ 
sion. A small portrait drawn from this 
photograph appeared in the R. N.-Y. of 
December 28, 1878, and a larger and bet¬ 
ter one by another artist in the issue of 
August 20, 1881. 
On Saturday, July 10, we looked upon 
one of the most promising four acres of 
corn that the Rural Farm has ever grown. 
The ^stalks were the heaviest, the blades 
the widest and of the deepest color. 
This field, as will be remembered, was 
carefully prepared in the hope of equal¬ 
ing the great yield of eight years ago. 
On Sunday morning we looked upon a 
different and somewhat saddening sight. 
All of the plants were more or less pros¬ 
trated while those slow to yield to the 
gale of the previous night, were snapped 
in two, as if so many pipe-stems. 
Antoinette, a white Miner seedling, 
planted in the spring of 1886, has made a 
fine growth. F. B. JTayes, planted in the 
fall of 1884, has healthy foliage and ber¬ 
ries free of rot., crack or mildew’. Ul¬ 
ster Prolific has healthy foliage and sound 
berries. Woodruff Red lias made a ram¬ 
pageous growth, but. the berries are 
cracking and rotting. Poughkeepsie Red 
bears many bunches, none of which are 
perfect on account of rot. The same 
may be said of Niagara. The Worden is 
rotting more than the Concord. Pock- 
lington is still free of rot, and bearing a 
full crop. 
- - - ■ ♦ » 
A great business has been done in hay¬ 
ing tools all through New England this 
season. Mowing machines, tedders and 
horse-rakes have sold as they never have 
done before. There can be no doubt that 
the hay crop in that sectiou is the best 
that has been harvested for years. The 
quality is superior, too. If improved 
methods were necessary in harvesting 
this crop, they will be also necessary iu 
marketing it. The market will be good 
in the larger cities and towns which look 
to the West iu ordinary years, for their 
supply of baled hay. The hay crop, in 
many sections of the West, has been seri¬ 
ously cut down, and it looks as if Eastern 
baled hay, this year, will be good prop¬ 
erty. 
The N. E. Homestead publishes some 
letters said to have been written to a 
seedsman by one connected with the Agri¬ 
cultural Department. If these letters are 
genuine, there can be no doubt but that 
the “Seed Store” is conducted by a very 
tricky set of clerks. Much the same in¬ 
formation was given us last spring, but 
as our informants would not consent to 
back up their statements with their names, 
the information was never used. We 
carefully gave every side of the contro¬ 
versy. It was deemed desirable to know 
why farmers want the distribution^kept 
up. Nobody has yet been found to claim 
that the seed distribution is any¬ 
thing like a complete success. Few 
can deny that abuses have entered 
the Department and that, as mat¬ 
ters now r stand, the Commissioner is 
unable to do as he would wish in the mat¬ 
ter. We still believe that the surest and 
quickest way to make the “Seed Store” 
what it should be, is to do away with the 
whole business and start it again as it 
should be carried on. 
— 
In the agitation for better remuneration 
for labor, what chance has the poor 
farmer ? Farmers in many parts of the 
West are selling wheat at from 40 to 00 
cents per bushel and corn at 20 to 80 
cents. At these prices farmers are get¬ 
ting about $1 a day of 12 to 14 hours, 
while they—yes, they—are paying factory 
hands from $2 to $8.50 a day of eight to 
ten hours. The factory hands make goods 
which the farmer buys, and the cost of the 
high-priced labor on those goods comes 
out of the farmer’s pocket. Why should¬ 
n't the poor farmers of the country be as 
well paid as any other class of working 
men? Are they*not as worthy as a class? 
Should they be required to pay $8 to a 
hired man for ten hours’ work, while they 
must themselves be, perforce, content with 
$1 for 14 hours’ work? Why should they 
always have to sell in a cheap and buy iu 
a dear market? 
COLLAPSE OF THE COTTON CORNER. 
Last March, when the price of cotton 
was nine cents, a ring of speculators in 
Galveston, New Orleans and Liverpool, 
decided to corner the staple. They 
bought in heavily, and steadily raised the 
price until it was upwards of 11 cents in 
May. In June there was a alight advance. 
At the beginning of July the price of 
cotton for August delivery was over 11 
cents. This advauce in price had a dis¬ 
astrous effect on the sale of the staple 
abroad. The Treasury Department's 
monthly summaries of exports show the 
following falling off, as compared with 
the corresponding months last year: 
1886. 1887. 
April. 
May. 
June. 
... .$15,284,589 $8,548,409 
. 13,68*1,816 3,458,628 
. 11,176,358 2,074,417 
Total.$10,110,804 $15,071,415 
Thus, by the operations of this unscru¬ 
pulous ring of speculators, the nation lost 
the sale of $25,000,000 worth of cotton 
to the rest of the world in three months, 
besides greatly hampering our domestic 
cotton manufacturers, and considerably 
curtailing the amount of the staple they 
used. 
The manufacturers of England were so 
indignant at the manipulations of the 
syndicate that they deliberately cut down 
production of cotton goods until the mar¬ 
ket for the raw material should be more 
favorable. The corneis in wheat of 
former years have induced the United 
Kingdom to develop the wheat-producing 
resources of India and of the British Aus¬ 
tralasian colonies, besides encouraging 
other countries to compete with us in the 
European wheat markets. Will this and 
other corners in cotton force transatlantic 
buyers to develop other cotton sources 
to our loss? It is to beboptd the lesson 
the speculators have been taught will be 
a deterrent warning against such enter¬ 
prises in future. Last Monday came the 
news of the collapse of Kaufman & Runge 
of Galveston, whose junior partner was 
the head of the ring. Since then other 
cotton firms in New Orleans and Liver¬ 
pool have either burst up or become 
greatly embarrassed. The juice of cotton 
has sunk rapidly until about two thirds 
of the in Hated advance have been lost. 
Hitherto this has been an unfortunate year 
for speculators who have attempted to 
corner agricultural products. Wheat, 
cotton, coffee, jinnies and even straw¬ 
berry “corners” have all collapsed, in¬ 
flicting ruin on their manipulators. By 
attempting to make fortunes out of the 
necessities of the people, with the most 
contemptuous disregard for the interests 
of other classes and of the nation at large, 
they have brought misery and destruction 
on themselves, and there are few to sym¬ 
pathize with them in their misfortunes. 
EVASION OF IMPORT DUTY ON LIVE 
STOCK. 
The importation of animals on the plea 
that they were for breeding purposes, and 
on that account exempt from import duty, 
has been the cause of much dispute, trou¬ 
ble and annoyance. Workhorses, and, it 
is said, even mules and geldings have 
been imported from Canada on this pre¬ 
text. Whole flocks of the scrubbiest sort 
of sheep have been driven across the line 
from Mexico simply to be sheared in this 
country so as to escape the import duty 
on wool. Herds of range scrub cattle 
have been brought, it is reported, from the 
Canadian Northwest Territories into Mon¬ 
tana and Dakota to fatten on their way 
to the shambles. Of late the Treasury 
Department has been enforcing the law 
much more rigidly than it was enforced 
for many former years, and such abuses 
are rare in any place nowadays, and when 
they occur, are confined to remote regions 
seldom visited by revenue officers. 
Lately Judge Gresham decided that 
animals, to be exempt from import duty 
on the ground that they are intended for 
breeding purposes, must be imported for 
the Special object of breeding with a view 
to the production of superior stock. 
This can be claimed for no “scrub” ani¬ 
mal ; nor for any animal incapable of rc- 
productiou. According to the Judge’s 
decision, animals imported for sale, with 
the ultimate object of breeding from 
them, are not exempt from duty. The 
immediate object of their importation 
must be to use them for breeding jiur- 
poses, not for making a jirofit out of 
them. Accordingly, the Treasury De¬ 
partment has just, brought suit against 
Galbraith Brothers, of Janesville, Wis., 
the extensive importers of choice horses, 
for $17,000 alleged to be due as duty on 
former importations of horses. No reflec¬ 
tion can rest on the firm, whatever may be 
the result of the suit, as the business 
was openly transacted, and the object of 
the importations was well known. The 
trouble is entirely due to the ignorance of 
the Treasury officials with regard to the 
scope of the law. Should the decision of 
the Court be adverse, however, there is 
no doubt that other importers of domes 
tic animals will be also sued for import 
duties which the customs collectors at the 
various ports of entry ignorantly failed to 
collect at the proper time. 
END OF THE TEXAS CATTLE TRAIL. 
The great Texas cattle trail was estab¬ 
lished in 1868, and during the first years of 
its use the cowboys had to fight their way 
through hostile Indians. For 14 years 
Texas cattlemen have driven most, of their 
cattle alougit to Northern markets, with¬ 
out a single season’s intermission. Last 
year 800,000 head were driven over it. It 
begins 200 miles south of Fort Worth, 
and takes a straight line for Wyoming, 
entering Colorado near West Las Ani¬ 
mas. Formerly it was many miles in 
width—as wide indeed as the cowboys 
choose, in many places—but the rapid set¬ 
tlement of the country forced it,year after 
year, within narrower limits, until last 
year it was only three miles wide. Cat¬ 
tle for the Kaunas City, 8t. Louis, Chica¬ 
go and other city markets, were switched 
off at the various railroad lines that crossed 
its course; but the bulk of the drivis 
were held Imek for fattening in the vari¬ 
ous sections through which they passed, 
the last of them being sold iu Wyoming 
to be prepared for market either iu that 
Territory or in Dakota or Montana, 
chiefly, however, in Wyoming. The 
trail was a great convenience to Texas 
cattlemen in its day, but a great nuisance 
to the stockmen along its course, who 
feared the spread of Texas fever from the 
cattle which traversed it. Its day is now 
over, however. Only 70,000 head were 
driven on it this year, and of these 20,000 
have reached Wyoming, the remaining 
50,000 being still near the Arkansas River. 
A telegram from Denver, Colo., yester¬ 
day, says the owners of these cattle, af¬ 
ter due consultation, have decided to 
drive them back to Texas. When they 
started it was thought that the hard win¬ 
ter had made cattle scarce in Wyoming, 
Montana and Dakota, and that a remun¬ 
erative market awaited them in those Ter¬ 
ritories. It, now appears, however, that 
no Texas cattle, whatever, are wanted 
there. The cattle are not fit for the but¬ 
cher; and even if they were fit for can¬ 
ning, prices at the great collecting centers 
are too low to be profitable. The course 
adopted is considered unwise by many. 
It will return $2,000,000 worth of beef 
to Texas, which is already overstocked, 
thus driving down prices to a ruinous 
figure. It is agreed on all hands that no 
more cattle are to be driven along the 
“Texas Trail,” which will be at once 
occupied by busy agricultural settlers. 
The Texas cattle trade must be rev¬ 
olutionized. The State must consume 
its own vast supplies of beef; that 
is, it must establish packing-houses, do 
its own killing, and make its own shiji- 
meuts. Meanwhile, although the “revolu¬ 
tion” must be greatly injurious to all 
Texas cattlemen, and ruinous to many, 
the temporary stoppage of competition 
from Texas, the greatest of_tho cattle 
States, ought to tend to stiffen prices of 
beef cattle in all the Northern markets. 
■ ♦ * » 
BREVITIES. 
Chinch bugs] chinch bugs! Read the 
Rural’s Western reports. 
We are still using blush potatoes, though 
kept in rather a warm cellar. It is certainly 
one of the best of keepers. 
The Eaton Grape-vine is making a fine, 
healthy growth at the Rural Grounds. It is 
a large, black grape of promise. 
Prof. Carpenter’s article on windmills is 
somewhat surprising. We had supposed the 
wind engine to bo far more powerful. 
The man who starts out in life with the de¬ 
termination to mind bis own business, is al 
ways sure of a job. He will uever be idle. 
Johnson Grass is now about six feet high 
at the Rural Grounds, and the grain is in the 
milk. The little patch was seeded four years 
ago. 
Our first perfect ripe tomato was found 
July 18 on a plant of the Mikado or Turner 
class. Plants were sent to us last year by Mr. 
Livingston of tomato fame. The fruit is 
quite smooth and solid. 
It is all well enough for farm papers to ad¬ 
vise that we plant, peas for late use; but most 
people don’t care to bother with late peas 
which give small crops and usually mildew, 
after green eoru is ready for the table. 
TnE streets are well covered with Le C'oute 
pears from Florida and Southern Georgia. 
These retail at 82.75 to $3.58 per crate, and 
are sold readily. The quality is fair—it 
would be considered poor if other varieties 
were on sale. 
The Pekin duck is suggested as a destroyer 
of the potato beetle. This fattening of a deli¬ 
cacy on a pest should be encouraged. It is a 
business that works both ways. It is eating 
cake and having it. Now then, let some pub¬ 
lic benefactor discover a bird that will fatten 
upon rose-bugs. 
All over Long Island the crops of oats, 
rye, wheat and hay are short. Up to the 16th 
the promise for a maximum yield of corn was 
uever better. The cyclone which occurred in 
the evening of the 16th, lodged a good share 
of the smaller plants while many of the tall¬ 
est were broken. 
The legislature of the State' of Illinois in¬ 
vited tho American Forestry Congress to meet 
at Springfield, Ill., this year. The officers of 
the Congress have accepted the invitation and 
the meeting will be held September 14-16. 
Special attention will be given to the question 
of planting artificial forests in the prairie 
States. Prof. B. E. Fernow, Washington, 
D. C., is Secretary of the Congress. 
A. W. Pearson, of Vineland, N. J., under 
date of July 21, writes as follows: “I see that 
my Cottage Grapes have rotted quite a good 
deal; still, the Cottage stands better than the 
Concord or Ives. Moore's Early is not rotting 
any. So far as I am able to judge, copper 
sulphate is a preventive of mildew. I have 
just made the second application of it to my 
experimental vineyard. Since doing so, the 
mildew spots on the leaves have not spread 
any. I shall soon know if it will prevent 
grape rot. also ” 
A bit.L was recently introduced into the Eng¬ 
lish Parliament which proposed to compel all 
owners of laud to keep the same under culti¬ 
vation. By the provisions of the bill, all land 
not occupied for building purposes must be 
made to produce some useful crop or be con¬ 
fiscated to the Government. This is a “George 
theory ” on a large scale. The bill was hardly 
considered seriously, yet it shows that tho ad¬ 
vocates of “land reform” are determined to 
push their ideas into the highest, places. It is 
the duty of American citizens to understand 
these “ideas” as far as possible, and thus bo 
prepared to meet them. 
The fruit crop of California is reported to 
lie unprecedentedly large, and the recent 
arrangement between tho growers and 
the transcontinental railroads is opening 
profitable markets for it in the East. Already 
large quantities are being shipped East on 
trams running on passenger time, carrying 
goods from the Golden State to Chicago in 
live days’, and to New York in six, at the rate 
of $380 a Car to the former and $-188 to the 
latter. In spite even of these heavy charges, 
the growers are now making a good profit; out. 
when their fruits come into competition with 
Eastern fruits, the margin must, of course, be 
much less. From Chicago and New York, as 
distributing centers, a great deal of California 
fruit is carried to all the surrounding markets, 
and much of it is taken iu bulk direct to other 
largo cities, which in turn serve as distribut¬ 
ing centers for smaller towns in their vicinity. 
Wore it not for this timely outlet, a large part 
of the crop must have been wasted for lack of 
customers. 
TnE farmers about the Rural Farm (Long 
Island) in days of old cultivated with the 
plow, throwing the furrows towards the hills 
and still further hilling uo with the hoe. But 
they are changing now in tavor of shallow 
cultivation,with very little, if any, billiug up. 
One of our best farmers remarked to the 
writer a few days ago that he preferred, if 
setting out to raise a heavy yield, to plow 
under a sod in lab' March and to plow eight 
inches deep, Then in May be uses a disc har¬ 
row across the furrows aud finishes with a 
smoothing harrow. He then plows a furrow 
four feet a pari, yfteh way’, mid while one man 
drops four Kernels in the intersections, auother 
man follows with a one horse plow to cover. 
This covers the kernels a little too deep. As 
soon us they begin to sprout, tho field is gone 
over with an old wooo-tootn harrow turned 
over. This breaks tho crust and destroys the 
weeds. The cultivation is done by a sulky 
with four plows, set to run shallow, the rider 
straddling the rows. \ r ery little hand work 
is needed. He uses hone at the rate of 1,500 
pounds to the aero sown broadcast .before the 
smoothing harrow is used. 
