60 
THE BUBAL fSIW-YOBSSIB. 
JAN 26 
„ THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National J ournal for Country and Suburban Home 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. C4.RMA.V. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1888. 
Read what Prof. Cook says about de¬ 
horning on page 55. 
We are now preparing the story of our 
hybrids between blackberries and rasp¬ 
berries, which will be illustrated with por¬ 
traits of several of the plants, which are 
well executed and quite true to life. At 
present these hybrids are merely curious. 
It is barely possible that they will develop 
into something more one day. 
Readers will find the “Volunteer” 
tomato announced among the novelties 
of the catalogues now being mailed to 
interested people. It is an excellent to¬ 
mato as grown at the Rural Grounds last 
season—one of the best—but not mater¬ 
ially differing from such well-known 
kinds as Paragon, Mayflower, Optimus 
and the like, and in no way better, so far 
as the Rural could judge. 
In our special club list is now included the popu¬ 
lar Weekly Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky. 
We will send it and the Rural New-Yorker one 
year for $2.75. Also the Weekly Democrat and 
Chronicle, of Rochester, N. Y., at $2.50, com¬ 
bination Price. As for many years past, we con¬ 
tinue to club with the Inter-Ocean, of Chicago, 
Ill., and the Free Press, of Detroit, Mich., either 
of which and the R. N.-Y. will be sent for $2.50 a 
year. The price of the Rural and N. Y. World, ot 
this city, with its book premium, will be, as hither¬ 
to, $2.60. Subscribe through the Rural New- 
Yorker. Send for specimens to the publishers of 
the above journals. 
We urge it upon our readers now as we 
did 10 years ago and have nearly every 
year since, to raise potatoes from seeds. 
Let the young folks try it if the old folks 
have too much else to' think of and to do. 
Read what is said on page 51. If you 
have no seeds perhaps you may get them 
by correspondence with seedling potato 
growers. Some of the seedsmen, also, 
sell the seeds. Treat them just as you 
would tomato seeds. 
CONSISTENT. 
P oliticians and Frauds: “Washing¬ 
ton said that ‘Agriculture is the most 
healthful, most useful and most noble em¬ 
ployment of man.’ So say we all of us, 
hurrah I” See first page cartoon. 
The South Carolina phosphate indus¬ 
try is being pushed with unusual vigor. 
Lately the business has been languishing, 
owing to low prices and dull sales. Yes¬ 
terday, however, crude rock advanced 40 
cents a ton, and good acid phosphate $1. 
The rise is attributed to the prosperous 
condition of Southern farmers and the 
fine crops of last season, which have ena¬ 
bled them to purchase more liberally. 
The prosperity of agriculture is tanta¬ 
mount to the prosperity of every ether 
industry. 
Rarely a year passes during which we 
do not receive inquiries as to the Seven- 
head or Egyptian wheat and occasionally 
a fine head is sent to us for identification. 
This variety was one of the first sown at 
the Rural Farm. As a winter wheat 
most of it was killed and the few surviv¬ 
ing plants bore but a single weakly stem 
which could not support the head as it be¬ 
came heavy with maturing grain. As a 
spring wheat it did not ripen. There are 
parts of the Northwest where it matures 
and yields very well, but we can not learn 
that it is anywhere preferred to other 
kinds. 
RESPECTFUL * 
otice is given that we are always 
glad to send specimens of the R. 
N.-Y. to any names with which our read¬ 
ers may favor us. We shall be grateful 
to any of our subscribers who may take 
the trouble to send us a new subscriber 
with their renewal. 
Specimens, posters, &c., cheerfully sent 
to all applicants or to any list of names 
furnished by our readers. 
Tell us of a better intermediate pea 
than the Telephone. The Rural New- 
Yorker was the first to try this pea, hav¬ 
ing imported it the season it was first 
announced in England. So also were we 
the first to report (in print) upon the 
American Wonder, Stratagem, Pride of 
the Market, Racket, Market Garden, 
Challenge, President Garfield, Emerald 
Gem, Latest of All, Abundance, Ever- 
bearing, Vermont Wonder, Cleveland’s 
Rural New-Yorker, Six or eight of Lax- 
ton’s late seedlings, Early Paragon, 
Alaska, Minimum, Anticipation, and al¬ 
most too many others, we find upon look¬ 
ing over our notes, to mention. 
A question arose last week regarding 
the duty on a quantity of felting imported 
from Europe. Did it contain wool? Ex¬ 
pert testimony proved that the wool-like 
substance found in it was cow’s hair. It 
appears that there are cattle in certain 
parts of Russia, with coats so long and 
shaggy that the hair is actually of use in 
making rough articles of felting or even 
wearing apparel. Shall we have a new 
breed of cattle as a result of this discov¬ 
ery? They would have to be bred for 
hair in order to make them popular. If 
the idea once gets started well, our much 
abused friend, the “scrub,” will stand a 
better chance than at present. The fu¬ 
ture “general-purpose” cow, too, will 
have to be bred with an eye to hair! 
In a week or so we shall complete the 
account of the Rural’s series of experi¬ 
ments carried on with a view to ascertain¬ 
ing, first, whether it pays to raise pota¬ 
toes with fertilizers, and second, what is 
the largest amount that can be profitably 
used, the soil of the experiment plots be¬ 
ing an impoverished loam, rather inclin¬ 
ing to sand than to clay. Our last ac¬ 
count seemed to show that the yield was 
profitably increased by use of 880 pounds 
to the acre ail sown in the trenches. This 
was a high-grade potato fertilizer valued 
at about $45 per ton. Our next experi¬ 
ments were made with a potato fertilizer of 
a lower grade, spreading all the way from 
440 to 2,640 pounds to the acre. The in¬ 
crease of yield was decided and profitable 
up to 1,760 pounds to the acre. Higher 
amounts of fertilizer gave varying results 
which made it questionable whether they 
could be used with profit. 
TO ADVERTISING PATRONS AND 
AGENCIES. 
N order to save our advertising patrons 
time and trouble in correspondence, 
we beg leave to repeat that the Rural 
New-Yorker’s published rates for adver¬ 
tising are never, in any instance or under 
any circumstances, departed from. We 
regard it as a very plain and pressing 
duty upon publishers that the price for 
advertising space in their journals should 
be the same to all. 
Some six years ago the silo epidemic 
raged in the East. People read the wild 
ta k of friend Bailey, of Billerica -or was 
it Billerica of Bailey?—and built silos that 
cost $500 or more. Are they happy now? 
The Rural said “wait.” “Perhaps we 
don’t know the best way to build silos 
yet; perhaps we may improve in the 
methods of raising silage crops and of 
storing them.” Then came a calm. Now 
the ensilage fever is raging in the West, 
and again the East is stricken; but this 
time with a modified craze that promises 
to serve all who avail themselves of all 
we have learnt about ensilage since the 
wild times of Bailey Billerica. We shall 
soon place before our readers the best in¬ 
formation we can glean from those who 
can speak from intelligent practice. Our 
correspondents are invited to contribute 
to our columns their experience. 
For some time past a contest has been 
going on among breeders of French 
draught horses as to the claims made by 
Percheron breeders that their animals 
were entitled to be regarded as a distinct 
breed and to constitute a separate class at 
shows. A committee was appointed by 
the Illinois State Board of Agriculture 
last March to thoroughly investigate the 
matter. The Percheron breeders claimed 
that their breed was distinct and well 
recognized in France; that it had been 
bred for many years as the leading 
draught horse of that country and kept 
pure through many generations. On the 
other hand, it was claimed that all the 
draught horses of France are substan¬ 
tially of the same breed. The committee 
proposed to settle this matter and sent 
communications to the best authorities in 
France. These authorities unanimously 
decided that the Percheron is a distinct 
breed and is the leading draught horse 
breed in France. On the report of this 
committee the Illinois State Board voted 
to put the Percherons in a distinct class. 
Thus in Illinois at least, the question has 
been settled to the great satisfaction of 
Percheron breeders. 
The Buffalo Courier declares that what 
our politicians need is simple honesty. 
That is what we all need. It is a very 
simple thing to be sure, yet hard to get, 
hard to find, hard to steal. “Simple hon¬ 
esty’ ‘—as if it were strewn everywhere 
and one had only to pick it up from the 
road-side or pluck it from every bush. 
“Simple honesty”—the simplest of things 
—the hardest to get and to keep. Edi¬ 
tors and publishers, the foremost in 
moral teachings, the hindmost in moral 
practice, might •well scratch around for 
some of this simple material. They can 
talk morality as much as they like. It 
doesn’t cost them anything. They can in¬ 
veigh against the wickedness of the poli¬ 
ticians as much as they like. That doesn’t 
cost anything. They can preach a thou¬ 
sand sermons in their reading columns,and 
set a thousand traps for the unwary in 
their advertising columns. There is to 
one to say them nay. But the politician 
has no organ. He advertises himself as 
best he may. If he can get a reading no¬ 
tice of indorsement, he is lucky. Now 
suppose editors and publishers were to 
change places with the politicians, how 
much would the world be benefited? Here 
is a problem for you. 
TnE National Tobacco Association met 
at Washington last Wednesday. This is 
an organization of manufacturers and, of 
course, its opinions were entirely con¬ 
sistent with the manufacturing interests. 
It “resolved” that “finding that the views 
of Congress and probable action on the 
tobacco tax question are undeveloped and 
uncertain;” it believed it advisable not to 
take any action at present. While some of 
the members were in favor of a total 
abolition of the tobacco tax a majority 
were in favor of the retention of a nomi¬ 
nal tax—say two cents per pound— for 
the purpose of protecting the trade from 
imposition and to “compensate the manu¬ 
facturer for the labor of carrying out the 
provisions of the law.” The growers 
however, appear determined to do all in 
their power to obtain the entire abolition 
of the tax, and the North Carolina Sena¬ 
tors and Representatives have been 
warned that if the Democratic party 
refuses to abolish the tax while the Re¬ 
publicans are willing to do so, the Demo¬ 
cratic party will lose the Old North State 
at the next Presidential election. Pres¬ 
ent indications are that a compromise 
will be effected, by the retention of a 
two-cent tax on chewing and smoking 
tobacco, and the abolition of the tax on 
leaf tobacco only. Bv this means a re¬ 
duction of about $25,000,000 will be 
made in that bothersome surplus revenue. 
Never before have farmers paid so 
much attention to the taiiff as at present. 
Never before has the subject been so fully 
discussed in the public press or through 
circulars sent by both parties to nearly 
every home in the country. Those who 
have not received much 1 ‘literature” on 
the subject up to the present time, need not 
worry; they are pretty sure to receive an 
abundance, gratis ,before next Presidential 
election, and no very drastic amendments 
to our “external revenue” will be made 
until the people shall then have expressed 
their views on the matter. It will be ex¬ 
haustively discussed in Congress, of course, 
but more with an eye to politics than to 
legislation. Like other classes, farmers, 
of course, are divided in opinion on the 
question; but from present indications it 
is apparent that a majority of them are 
on the side of protection. Of course, both 
free-traders and protectionists as well as 
those who want a tariff for revenue only, 
give only their own side of the question, 
and a person who confined his reading to 
the literature of either of the parties, 
would be very likely to take a narrow, 
bigoted, intolerant view of the question. 
There is, however, a good deal to be said 
on all sides, and thousands of honest, in¬ 
telligent, patriotic men, whose main object 
is the welfare of the country at large, can 
be found in each party. Every farmer 
should study the question from all sides 
and thus be able to come to a broad¬ 
minded conclusion with regard to the 
effects each line of policy is likely to have 
on the prosperity of his own class and that 
of the country at large. 
THE WOOL TARIFF PROBLEM. 
A t the conference between the wool 
growers and manufacturers, held last 
week at Washington, opinions among 
growers were all on the side of an increase 
in the tariff on wool; while among manu¬ 
facturers there was a decided disagree¬ 
ment with regard to the tariff on wool, 
but a decided unanimity with regard to 
the tariff on woolen goods, which all 
thought ought to be raised. After pro¬ 
longed discussion, however, the manufac¬ 
turers recognized the fact that without 
the aid of the farmers, the duty on im¬ 
ported woolens would probably be les¬ 
sened rather than increased. Finally the 
conference unanimously adopted a wool 
tariff schedule, substantially the same as 
that of 1867, with modifications removing 
inconsistencies and abuses which have late¬ 
ly crept in through customs decisions The 
general effect of the new schedule, if 
adopted, would be a slight increase in the 
tariff both on wool and woolen goods. 
The conference requested Congress to pass 
immediately a joint resolution correcting 
the present erroneous classification of 
worsteds by directing that they be classi¬ 
fied as woolen cloths, and favored the pas¬ 
sage of the “Aldrich Bill” to suppress 
undervaluations of imports. For a long 
time five out of the 13 manufacturers on 
the Committee on Resolutons opposed the 
declaration for the restoration of'the tar¬ 
iff of 1867, and reluctantly consented to 
sign it at last. Most of the manufactur¬ 
ers of New England are against it, and 
are organizing to oppose it. In return 
for the advantage of free raw material 
they are willing to consent to a slight re¬ 
duction of the present duties on manufac¬ 
tured products. So long as they can get 
wool cheap they care nothing, of course, 
for the welfare of the wool-growers. 
brevities. 
Bucephalus Brown’s Notions and Ideas, 
always good, are exceptionally so this week. 
A series of three illustrated papers en¬ 
titled the “Hen vs. the Incubator,” will be 
commenced next week. 
Among the newer grapes for trial in vari¬ 
ous parts of the country, we recommend F. 
B. Hayes, Empire State, Eaton and Ulster. 
Look out for the Crpamery Special in three 
weeks. No effort will be made to “boom’ the 
creamery system particularly. We hope to 
tell the truth—to show up the advantages and 
the disadvantages of the creamery. The pic¬ 
tures will be a strong feature. 
“Spring” lambs are already in the market, 
and selling at prices that almost take one’s 
breath away. This high-priced flesh is made 
from the same food that enters into the com¬ 
position of mutton that will sell for one-fourth 
its price in April. It’s the knowing how to 
get ahead that does the business. 
Cheeseine is the latest dairy product placed 
on the market by enterprising manufacturers. 
It is described as “skim-milk and fat or 
grease or oil or other extraneous matter.” It 
is difficult to detect it by taste. Strange to 
say its origin is not due to American ingenu¬ 
ity. nor was it first made in Chicago. It is 
an English product and made its first appear¬ 
ance in London. 
Teosinte 'is again being talked of in the 
West as a great forage plant. Catalogues of¬ 
fer it and people plant it, and report the re¬ 
sults to some agricultural paper. It is another 
case of Pearl Millet—only worse. It will not 
mature seeds in the North,nor will it in the run 
of seasons give as large a crop of stalks and 
leaves as some kinds of Indian corn. Rural 
readers will remember our trial of eight years 
ago. 
We say plant the Rural Thoroughbred 
Flint Corn for ensilage purposes. We say 
this because, having raised nearly every kind 
of corn, including those most popular for 
ensilage, we still believe that the above- 
mentioned variety is not preferred to all others 
because it is not well enough known. North 
of this climate it is rather late. The Rural 
never sells anything, and is pressing the Thor 
oughbred upon its readers because it believes 
in it. 
The Forestry Division of the Department of 
Agriculture issues a circular to railroad man¬ 
agers, in which it is claimed that the contin¬ 
ued demand for White Oak for cross-ties is 
rapidly decreasing the available supply of that 
wood. Attention is called to the Chestnut 
Oak (Quercus prinus) millions of feet of 
which are left to rot in the forests, after be¬ 
ing stripped of the bark. Careful experi¬ 
ments have been made to determine the rela¬ 
tive strength, elasticity and resistance of the 
various oaks, and the Chestnut Oak* has been 
proved superior in all respects to the White 
Oak. If railroad managers can be made to 
heed these suggestions, a new field will be 
opened for timber. 
The New Jersey Ag. Ex. Station, New 
Brunswick, N. J., has just issued a bulletin 
(XLIII.) which contains a report of the chem¬ 
ical composition of upwards of 100 different 
fertilizers together with the manufacturers’ 
guaranteed analyses and the station’s estimate 
of their commercial value. These are the re¬ 
ports which all who use chemical fertilizers 
should examine. The value of the present 
bulletin is much lessened by the fact that the 
manufacturers’ prices are not appended. The 
station, it would appear from a note in the 
bulletin, finds considerable difficulty in ob¬ 
taining these prices, in all cases, for which 
reason they are omitted entirely. Those 
manufacturers who intend to put up a first-rate 
article will not object to having the price 
mentioned, and injustice to them as well as to 
show at a glance the desparity between the 
prices and the value of inferior fertilizers, the 
selling price should be given in all cases. 
Those who wish to examine the present bulle¬ 
tin should address the Director, k Geo. H. Cook. 
