33E^ 24 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Home •, 
Conducted by 
elbert s. carman. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-FORKER, 
No. S4 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24. 1887. 
The next number of the Rural New- 
Yorker will be the 68d and last of 1887. 
The index, which has been as carefully 
and thoroughly prepared as usual, will be 
printed in the body of the paper, and a 
colored cover will make room for so much 
of our advertising patronage that the usual 
amount of reading matter will appear. 
♦ ♦ ♦- 
Part first of Mrs. Mary Wager-Fisher’s 
“Dark Side of Farming,’’ will appear in 
the Woman’s Department of the first issue 
of 1888. 
Communications appear in this issue 
from some of our best poultrymen. It 
will be seen that some recommend to¬ 
bacco, some carbolic acid, &c., &c., for 
destroying the vermin that infest the 
fowls. Several years ago the Rural 
announced that kerosene sprayed upon 
the houses, roosts and nests would rid 
them entirely of such pests. A few 
moments only are needed for the work 
when spraying bellows, now sold by all 
seedsmen, are used. Why the method 
has not become more popular among all 
people that keep poultry is a downright 
mystery to the Rural. We are confident 
that any one who uses this perfectly 
effective, cheap, and quickly applied 
method, will never return to the old ways 
of cleansing the poultry house. 
The special meeting of the New York 
State Agricultural Society last Tuesday 
was a notable one. Over 1,200 of the life 
members were represented, either by proxy 
or in person. The main interest centered 
in the election of Secretary. As we have 
pointed out, the issue lay, not between 
Mr. Woodward and Mr. Harison as men, 
so much as between two distinct lines of 
policy represented by the two candidates. 
The result of the election was decisive, as 
we hoped it would be. Mr Woodward 
received 7G2 votes, and Mr. Hanson 480. 
We are glad of this result, because we 
believe that under Mr. Woodward’s ad¬ 
ministration, the society will have greater 
power for good. Mr. Harison should now 
realize, after his long contest, that the 
farmers of New York State do not approve 
the policy he represents. 
In the selection of trees for the rural- 
ist’s garden, lawn or home grounds it is 
difficult to understand why so little con¬ 
sideration is paid to the judicious selec¬ 
tion and arrangement of evergreen trees 
and shrubs. Hardy deciduous plants may 
fill every need during the warm growing 
season; but in tbe cold season they serve 
to make winter seem more wintry. Ever¬ 
greens should be so intermingled that 
when the leaves of deciduous trees fall, 
the evergreens stand out as if it were to 
take their place and to continue through 
the winter something of the greenness, 
fullness and beauty of Summer. If now 
we would compare two places, both of 
which are equally well laid out and cared 
for, tbe one presenting only the 
leafless branches of deciduous trees 
and shrubs, the other a spruce, hem¬ 
lock, retinispora or pine whichever way 
the eye may turn, the great value of ever¬ 
greens for winter effect will be forcibly 
impressed upon us. 
A subscriber who is noted as a good 
farmer, writes that he has kept a com¬ 
plete journal ever since February 1,1847. 
It is not a simple pocket diary—he is 
now writing in his 24th large book. A 
good record of temperature, work, ex¬ 
periments—in fact a complete history of 
his farm operations for the past 40 years 
will be found in these volumes. We 
venture to say that no amount of money 
could buy an agricultural library that 
could be so useful to tbe farmer as this 
written record of his work. There is not 
a farmer in this country who has not 
known the time w'heu a written history' 
of his farm operations would not have 
saved him money. We trust too much to 
memory. A successful business man 
trusts only to actual figures and recorded 
facts, and there is no reason why a farmer 
should not have as sound a backing for 
his business. At the new year we ought 
at least to make an effort to reform our 
farm operations. In deciding upon points 
for reformation, don’t forget to begin 
writing a farm history. 
A telegram tells us that two loathsome 
cases of leprosy are kuown to medical 
men near Rothsay, Minnesota. Several 
cases are reported from Philadelphia. 
We have been told over and over again 
that the. plague has been prevalent for 
some years in parts of California and Or- 
egou, as well as in British Columbia and 
New Brunswick. From Europe also a 
cry of alarm comes with regard to the 
spread of thiR most hideous of all the mal¬ 
adies that affect humanity. The London 
Times and St. James Budget have lately 
raised a warning voice against it, empha¬ 
sized by correspondents. Archdeacon 
Wright, in the Times, agrees with the 
Anti-Chinese agitators everywhere, that 
the dreadful malady is spread everywhere 
by Chinese emigrants. Not only have 
they brought it to this country, but they 
have also carried it to the Cape of Good 
Hope, Australia, the Sandwich Islands 
and various parts of Europe, or it has 
been carried thereby Europeans who have 
been in contact with them. There are 
numerous lepers in the hospitals of Paris 
and several in those of London, Dublin 
and Glasgow. Specialists in skin diseases 
say that the malady Itself has of late 
years increased in activity and it is *‘con¬ 
stantly increasing the area of its dreadful 
influence.’’ It is suggested that any acci¬ 
dental circumstance which might develop 
its virulence still more would produce a 
world-wide epidemic. “The train is laid 
and needs only to be fired.” While no im¬ 
mediate danger need be apprehended, 
we should not shut our eyes to the risk 
of so dreadful a calamity. 
RESPECTFUL 
N OTICE is given that we are always 
glad to send specimens of the R. 
N.-Y. to auy names with which our read¬ 
ers may favor us. 
We shall be grateful to any of our sub¬ 
scribers who may take the trouble to send 
us a new subscriber with their renewal. 
It is suggested that many holiday pres¬ 
ents are made which.cost more and are 
worth less than a year’s subscription to 
the R. N.-Y. 
THREE. 
nnHE three best fall and late apples; the 
three best summer and fall pears, 
plums, peaches; the three best white, red 
and black grapes; the best early and late 
strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, 
blackberries, currants—for widely separ¬ 
ated parts of the country. 
Communications have been received 
from: 
Pres. T. T. Lyon, 
Pres. Patrick Barry, 
C. A. Green, 
W. C. Barry, 
Pres. Parker Earle, 
Pres. P. J. Berckmans, 
Gov. Robert W. Furnas, 
U. S. Com. N. J. Coltnan, 
Dr. T. H. Hoskins, 
Judge William Parry, 
Secretary E. Williams, 
State Pomologist P. M. Augur, Connecticut. 
Grand Master J. H. Hale, “ 
W. G. Waring, Pennsylvania. 
Pres, T. V. Munson, Texas. 
Peter M. Gideon, Minnesota. 
The publication of these valuable esti¬ 
mates will be begun next week. 
• SABBATH DESECRATION. 
T HE “Sabbath Association of Illinois” 
is an organization the members of 
which believe that anarchy, lawlessness 
and misrule generally are the direct re¬ 
mits or the desecration of the Sabbath. 
“The demon of Sabbath desecration 
breeds all the evils that afflict us as a 
nation” is a statement, in a few words, of 
what they believe. They propose to 
induce all who are in sympathy with 
them to unite in working for the follow¬ 
ing points. 
1st—To petition Congress to enact laws dis¬ 
pensing with the running of the mails; and 
with all military and naval parades: and to 
close the post-offices on Sunday. 2d—To 
request railroad officials to discontinue run¬ 
ning passenger. excursion aud freight trains 
on that day. 3d—To request those who have 
control of our telegraphs not to receive or 
transmit over their lines messages of a secula 
or business character on the Sabbath. 4th— 
To request, those who have control of the pub¬ 
lic press not to publish newspapers on Sunday. 
There can be no doubt that members 
of the present generation have a different 
idea of the real meaning of Sunday from 
that held by their fathers. In our own 
neighborhood Sunday work is increasing 
and there is unquestionably a falling off 
in real reverence for the Sabbath day. 
It is a question, however, whether the 
proposed plan could be carried out. As 
a rule, Americans are not given to self- 
denial on such questions. Most of us 
want to preach rather than practice. 
Many men believe that the use of tobacco 
is harmful though they use it themselves. 
Ask them to begin the work of destroy¬ 
ing its evil influence by refusing to use 
it themselves and they object. It is the 
same way with the desecration of the 
Sabbath. Many men are convinced that 
many things connected with the present 
observation of the Sabbath are demoral¬ 
izing and tend to weaken our national 
strength. Ask these men to give up 
their Sunday mail, their Sunday paper 
and possible excursion on the railroad or 
steamboat, and they see it in another 
light. Before such reforms can be in¬ 
augurated the intelligent people of the 
country have to cultivate self-denial and 
set a better example to those who imi¬ 
tate them. 
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED. 
A FRIENDLY word with our readers 
as the year draws to its close: We 
are often told that the Rural New- 
Yorker improves from year to year. 
This is gratifying, since our labor has 
been from the beginning and is, in a great 
measure, a work of love. It is pleasant 
to know that one’s earnest effoits in any 
worthy direction are appreciated. We 
are just as anxious that it should continue 
to improve in the future as we have been 
in the past; indeed, more so, if that be 
possible. There is room for improvement 
—aye, a mighty field, almost without 
a bouudary, spreads out, awaiting to be 
worked by those who have the ability to 
do it. Aud the field seems to widen and 
lengthen as scientific agricultural investi¬ 
gation shows us how little we know. In 
this work the Rural would gladly do its 
share. 
The price of the R. N.-Y. is higher 
than that of many other excellent farm 
journals, and yet the cost of its publica¬ 
tion is greater to-day ihan it has ever been 
before; greater by far than that of any 
other journal of its class with which we 
are acquainted. It has been our policy 
not to reduce its price under any circum¬ 
stances, but to improve it in every way 
as circumstances may enable us so to do. 
Whether this has been done and to what, 
extent, it is for our readers to say. It is 
utterly senseless for editors to inform 
their readers, as if they were half-witted 
children, of the excellence of their jour¬ 
nals. There is no sense in hedging them 
to aid in extending its circulation. They 
are capable judges of the quality of the 
papers they read, and of how well such 
papers supply their wants; and they will 
aid in extending the circulation, accord¬ 
ing to their interest and inclination, just 
the same hh they would aid in anything 
else. It is, therefore, to the estimation in 
which the rea iers hold the Rural New- 
Yorker that we have to look for support 
and any material increase of circulation. 
We do not prize those forced, pur¬ 
chased circulations—made up of subscrip¬ 
tions rarely renewed—which come from 
promises never to be fulfilled, or are in¬ 
duced by exaggerations soon to be proven 
such by tbe rmmiful reader. 
We want all of our readers to feel that 
they cannot get along without the Rural 
New-Yorker, and that it is worth to the 
family more each year than its yearly sub¬ 
scription price. We want them to feel 
that, though we make lots of mistakes— 
errors both of omission and commission 
—yet our aim is to do the best we can. 
We address ourselves to good, intelligent 
people—to all home-owners as well as to 
farmers—who are capable of distinguish 
ing between true, hearty efforts and the 
make-believe pretensions of those with 
whom money-getting is the all-absorbing 
impulse. Good, intelligent people natur¬ 
ally desire to aid in extending the influ¬ 
ence of any good work whatever with 
which their occupation, sympathies or 
well-being unite them. 
Now, we have to thank our friends for 
a liberal support during 1887, and to tell 
them that a comparison of subscriptions 
received during this and last s ason for 
corresponding dates points to a material 
increase of the Rural’s circulation for 
1888. We also beg to take this occasion 
to extend to all our friends, with all sin¬ 
cerity and with grateful hearts, the com¬ 
pliments of the season. 
BREVITIES. 
Better prices are indicated for corn and 
cattle, while potatoes will probably hold their 
own. 
The Rural New-Yorker has .iust added 
by purchase 45 acres of land to its New Jersey 
experiment grounds. 
The market for prime celery has been ex¬ 
cellent this year—better than last. This vege¬ 
table is like's wee t corn, in tbe fact that it is 
bard to get too much in tbe city. 
Our potatoes find rather slow sale in Pat¬ 
erson at $1 per bushel. City people are eatiug 
fewer potatoes this winter: the price is beyond 
their limit. Boiled rice is uspd in many fami¬ 
lies to take tbe place of potatoes, and it an¬ 
swers very well. 
The next article by Judge Jones will be 
illustrated with drawings taken from meats 
sold in the New York markets. It is very 
gratifying that farmers are taking so much 
interest in tbe feeding experiments for “qual¬ 
ity" which are being conducted this winter. 
We would once more ask those of our farm¬ 
ers who are raising wheat or rye, to spread 
some short manure over a small portion so 
that the effects of tbe light covering may be 
compared with the rest of the field next season. 
It should be spread as evenly as possible while 
the ground is frozen. 
After carefully trying a good root-cutter 
a subscriber writes that, he hardly knows how 
he ever got along without it. This is a com¬ 
mon remark about good tools. Many farmers 
make lots of hard work because they can’t 
realize that a good machine, with muscles of 
iron and wood, will make things easier for 
them. 
It appears that there are two sides to the 
question of selliug eggs by weight. It seems 
simple enough to those who buy tbe eggs, but 
the objection comes from those who handle 
them. Eggs are so easily broken that they 
can hardly be classed with less breakable 
products that can be carelessly thrown into 
the scales. 
Our poultry notes this week are interesting. 
Everybody knows by this time that warmth 
and plenty of food are two fundamental 
points in egg production. It Is also well 
known that a hen must have plenty of lime 
in order to manufacture egg shells. Green 
food of some sort is needed and lice must be 
destroyed. Those who read the short articles 
in this week’s Rural will have no excuse, 
surely, in saying that they don’t know how 
to provide lime and given food or how to kill 
lice. 
The American Poultry Association will hold 
an important meeting at Indianapolis. Ind., 
Jauuary 18-25, 1888. The “Standard of Ex¬ 
cellence” will be revised at this meeting, and 
as thus is done but once in five years, it is of 
importance that all interested poultrymen at¬ 
tend. Probably all the leading fanciers in this 
country and Canada will be present. A 
great national poultry show will be held at 
the same place and time. Richard Twells, 
Montmorcucie, Ind., is secretary. 
Green Peas are already in the market. 
A small supply came from Charleston, S. C., 
this week, aud sold at 50 cents per half-peek. 
String beans are here and also cucumbers— 
the latter from hot-houses. Mushrooms are 
unusually high this season, $1.75 [>er pound 
being obtained for those sold. Mushrooms 
seem about like broilers in the fact that they 
are reasonably sure to command good prices 
while not enough fanners are ready to spend 
the time and cure necessary for their pro¬ 
duction to endanger a “glut.” 
The Pennsylvania State College sends out 
an excellent set of instructions to guide those 
who seud samples for aunlyses to‘the experi¬ 
ment stations. The number of farmers who 
desire such work done grows larger every 
year, and these instructions will bo of value 
to them. The director of the Pennsylvania 
College evidently wishes to encourage the 
analyses of dry and green fodders, grain and 
meal and other cattle foods. Tbo director 
concludes that analyses of soils are usually not 
of sufficient value to warrant the expense, so 
such analyses will not, ordinarily, be made. 
TnK tweuty-uinth annual meeting of the 
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society will be 
held at Lebanon, Pa., on January 18 and 10. 
Arrangements have beeu made by the efficient 
and energetic secretary of the society, E. B. 
Engle, for low rates on railroads and at hotels 
for visitors to the convention. This society is 
one of the best of its kind in the country Its 
meetings uro always interesting and instruct¬ 
ive. The practical benefits derived from min¬ 
gling with those who attend these meetings, 
and gettiug information from them aud com¬ 
paring notes with them, will amply repay all 
wide-awake horticulturists within a reason¬ 
able distance of Lebanon for the expenses of 
atteudiug this convention. 
The New York Farmers’ Institutes will open 
at Syracuse December 20. A splendid pro¬ 
gramme has beeu arranged, including papers 
from Dr. Peter Coliter, XV. H, Gilbert, J. S. 
Woodward, Hon. J. K. Brown, C. N. Sims, 
Mrs, Emma Taylor, Hon. S. G. Hubbard, 
Prof. 1. P. Roberts, Col. James Wood, Col. F. 
D. Curtis. Major Alvord, J. F. Converse, 8. 
Hoxie and J. H, Sanders. The local commit¬ 
tees havu worked up a great interest iu the 
institute amt the prospects are that the season 
will be most auspiciously opened. Those who 
attend are sure to hear something; of value. 
Ijet every farmer within convenient reach of 
Syracuse make it a point to be present. Re¬ 
ports that come from Wisconsin iudicate that 
the institutes there are more popular than ever 
this year. There is no reason why the. success 
of Wisconsin should not be repeated here. 
Michigan. 
New York. 
(i U 
U (i 
Illinois. 
Georgia. 
Nebraska. 
Missouri. 
Vermont. 
New Jersey. 
<t ii 
