FEB 
m 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Homo . 
Conducted by 
U 1.1> K II T 8 . CARMAN. 
Address 
THK RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 I’ahk Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1888. 
AN OFFER. 
R. N.-Y. stands ready to wager 
' $50 or $100, or more, that it will 
raise, next season, on its special potato 
plot, at the rate of over 700 bushels of po¬ 
tatoes to the acre, let the season be fa¬ 
vorable or unfavorable, the winner to de¬ 
vote the money to some charitable pur¬ 
pose. We make this offer to show our 
good faith in the Rijral’h method of cul¬ 
ture, and also to show the possibilities of 
profitable potato culture. We propose 
that the crop shall be dug and weighed 
in the presence of half a dozen well- 
known persons, who will sign an affidavit 
as to the result of the trial. 
Red Caps, Jersey Blues and Andalu¬ 
sians. In reply to a number of inquiries 
Mr. Jacobs presents his views respecting 
these fowls on page 110. 
The Rural New-Yorker can not try 
seeds or plants sent designated by num¬ 
bers. The names by which they are to be 
known must be given in all cases. 
We have still a considerable supply of 
our four cartoons printed on heavy white 
calendered paper. These we shall be 
happy to send without charge to any of 
our readers. 
A decided objection to the otherwise 
desirable Golden Japan Retinispora 
(plumosa) is its liability to be spread 
apart and be injured by snow. To prevent 
this we have been obliged to hold the 
branches of our largest specimen together 
by cords bound around it. 
Those of our contemporaries who have 
doubted that we have raised and can raise 
at the rate of over 700 bushels of potatoes 
to the acre may now give evidence of 
their faith by accepting our proffered 
wager of $100 or more, the amount to be 
donated to some bcnovolent purpose 
whichever party wins. 
From trials made at the Rural Grounds 
with poultry houses in which the windows 
are in the south in some and in the east 
and west in others, we greatly prefer the 
latter. They get the morning and after¬ 
noon sun, while the others get only the 
midday sun. The temperature during 
the entire day is more equal. With win¬ 
dows in the south, the houses are warmer 
during mid-day and colder in the morn¬ 
ing and evening during cold weather, 
while in the summer, during mid-day 
they are as hot as an oven. 
The distance apart that corn should be 
planted for ensilage purposes will depend, 
of course, upon the size of the variety. 
If we were planting the Rural Thorough¬ 
bred Flint for the purpose—and that is 
the kind we should choose—we should 
plant as far as two by four feet apart, al¬ 
lowing but one plant to grow in the hill 
or to two feet of drill. The smaller, 
less-suckering kinds, according to West¬ 
ern experimenters, are planted in drills, 
about six inches apart—the dribs about 
8feet apart. We should also allow the 
grain to glaze before cutting the plants. 
A poor horse eats as much as a good 
one; scrub cattle as much as grades or 
thoroughbreds; mongrel poultry as much 
as grades or pure breeds. Then why 
keep inferior stock? If this be sound rea¬ 
soning in regard to animals, why may not 
the same reasoning be applied to trees 
and shrubs? The rare and beautiful 
forms of evergreen and deciduous trees 
take up no more space and cost no more 
to grow than the inferior kinds every¬ 
where seen and nowhere prized. In the 
one case we have variety which is ever 
pleasing to the eye, and which always 
stimulates thought and inquiry. In the 
other case wo have a thrice-told tale, 
which no ono cares to listen to. 
If we may judge from the New York 
market, the Northern Spy apple is every 
year becoming more popular. All authori¬ 
ties agree that it is in appearance as at¬ 
tractive as any apple, while in quality it 
is of that sprightly, sub-acid flavor that 
satisfies the taste of most people. “A 
fruit of unrivaled beauty and excellence” 
says Mr. Barry; “a fruit of the highest 
quality” says Mr. Thomas; “one of the 
most delicious, fragrant and sprightly of 
all dessert apples,” says Downing; “best” 
says the American Pomological Society. 
This fine apple, whose only failing is that 
the trees do not bear early, succeeds first- 
rate in the following places; Vermont, 
Maine, New York, Michigan, Ontario, 
(Ca.), Indiana, Illinois, Colorado and 
Nova Scotia. It succeeds fairly well in 
the following States: Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island, Connecticut, Oregon, Penn¬ 
sylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, 
Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska, Utah, Cali¬ 
fornia and Alabama. 
A patent has been granted to a resi¬ 
dent of Madison, Indiana, for the manu¬ 
facture of maple sugar by mixing an 
extract of hickory with ordinary sirup, 
such as cane-sugar or sorghum sirup. 
The inventor says that he has discovered 
that the hickory tree will yield the pre¬ 
cise flavor of maple sugar; and therefore 
he has sought the indorsement of the 
Government for perpetrating a fraud on 
the public. The avowed object of the 
patent is to impose on the people a bogus 
article for a genuine one, not for the ben¬ 
efit of the public, but for that of the in¬ 
ventor and middlemen, whether manu¬ 
facturers or dealers. Should the Govern¬ 
ment sanction such a fraud? Should it 
reward the “inventor” of it, by giving him 
a monopoly of swindling the public by 
means of it? The patent laws should 
be amended. Already numerous farmers’ 
associations are appealing to Congress 
urging prompt action in the matter. 
Every farmer in the country and every¬ 
body else who is anxious for “the great¬ 
est good of the greatest number,” should 
write at once to the Representatives from 
their respective Districts and the Sena¬ 
tors from their States to urge them to 
take speedy action in this matter. 
Farmers are being told that city horse¬ 
men prefer Eastern raised horses because 
their feet are better than those raised in 
the West. At present it appears that 80 
percent, of the heavy horses used in this 
city come from the West. There seems 
to be a settled idea that slow, heavy 
horses are the legitimate product of the 
corn country, ami that lighter and more 
active horses go with wheat and oats. 
The feet of Western horses give out soon¬ 
est, mainly because of the great weight 
of the animals, and because they are put to 
the hardest work. It is true that the hoofs 
of the animals raised on hard, hilly land 
are generally firmer than those of ani¬ 
mals raised on soft and level pastures, but 
the difference is not so great as might be 
supposed. As a matter of profit, heavy 
draught horses will generally come from 
the sections where beef cattle are most 
profitable. The lighter driving or ex¬ 
press horses will generally come from a 
dairying or mixed farming section. East¬ 
ern farmers will be wise to let draught- 
horse raising go to the West. There is a 
good market in this city for first class 
driving, express and coach horses, that 
Eastern farmers might profitably enter. 
Again for 1888 the catalogues are crack¬ 
ing up the so-called Australian oats under 
no less than six different names. During 
the last seven years, at least, we have 
taken a great deal of trouble to sow side 
by side the “new” oats as they have been 
announced. And year after year we have 
told the public that many of these oats 
are the same. The seedsmen know it. 
At least it is their business to know it; 
and yet, regardless of truth, indifferent to 
accuracy as well as to the farmer’s inter¬ 
ests, they still talk of these half-a-dozen 
kinds as if they were as distinct as a flint 
and dent corn. Seedsmen, of all people, 
should wish to instruct and guide those 
to whom they look for support. As soon 
as it appears that the same variety is ad¬ 
vertised under two different names, they 
should give the name to which the variety 
is entitled by priority and the other or 
others as synonyms. But they don’t do 
it, and they prefer not to do it in so far 
as the Rural has observed. As to the 
oats in question, “Welcome” is their right 
name, since, although they were first test¬ 
ed at the Rural Grounds under the name 
of Australian, they wei^i first advertised 
and sold in this country as Welcome oats. 
They did not originate in Australia at all, 
but are a standard English variety. 
W One of the most egregious errors that 
inexperienced people fall into in planting 
evergreen hedges is that the plants are set 
too close together. Take a hemlock spruce. 
A tree in 12 years will grow, if not inter¬ 
fered with by any other trees, 14 feet 
high, with a diameter at the ground of at 
least eight feet. Suppose the young 
plants in a hedge are set two feet apart. 
In a few years— say 10—the roots inter¬ 
mingle and take possession of every par¬ 
ticle of the soil. They become root-bound, 
and are at the mercy of excessive droughts 
and severe winters. Such hedges may 
last for 15 years or even more. But they 
can not live as long or endure as much as 
if the plants were set further apart. Our 
experiment of ascertaining how great a 
circumference a single arbor-vitai plant, 
if kept cut low, would make, comes to an 
end this year because of the nearness of 
othcr'plants of more value. A specimen 
about 18 inches high was set 10 years 
ago and yearly cut back so that it is not 
over three feet high. It is now not less 
than 18 feet in circumference. Why set 
the plants in a hedge nearer than from 
four to six feet apart? The reason why 
such hedges begin to die at an early age 
is not because of the cold, or drought, or 
age, but because they are starved to death. 
There is likely to be a fierce fight in 
Congress over the contagious pleuro-pneu- 
moma matter. The Consolidated Cattle 
Growers’ Association, Armour & Co., and 
the other members of the “oleo” syndi¬ 
cate, the Chicago stockyard clique and 
the Western dressed beef monopoly are all 
earnestly urging the appointment of a 
Commission of three men, of whom the 
Commissioner of Agriculture shall be one, 
to take charge of the work, and they want 
$1,000,000 to complete it. Their wishes 
are embodied in the Palmer Bill. Com¬ 
missioner Colman and the vast body of 
cattle owners throughout the country 
want the Bureau of Animal Indus¬ 
try to continue its labors, which 
have hitherto proved satisfactory. The 
plague has been extirpated west of the 
Alleghanies and, it is claim'd, is now 
confined to limited areas around New 
York and Baltimore, while $289,451 still 
remain unexpended out of the $500,000 
appropriated by the last Congress for the 
work. There have been a great many 
complaints, some of them apparently well 
founded, against the Bureau; but it has 
had much experience in the business; it 
is supported by the great majority of 
those interested in its work, its oppon¬ 
ents are the very men who have persist¬ 
ently been hampering its labors and sel¬ 
fishly opposing the intorest of the dairy¬ 
men and ordinary stock owners of the 
country, and farmers generally will hard¬ 
ly approve of the proposed transfer of 
authority. 
WHICH ? 
O ne of the foremost agricultural teach¬ 
ers of this country writes us as fol¬ 
lows: 
“L have taken pleasure in heartily praising 
your paper. With much less pleasure 1 have 
to say that—recognizing the good intention— 
in my opinion your cartoon representing the 
farmer tied to a tree and the recent one (Jan. 
28) will do more harm than good. I believe 
in looking on the encouraging side rather 
than the discouraging. It is a humiliation to 
me to have the typical farmer represented as 
helpless in the hands of swindlers, politicians, 
etc. I believe it would do more good to rep¬ 
resent the intelligent, self-reliant farmer, 
looking with contempt on the attempts of 
confidence men etc., to entrap him.” 
Wo beg to disagree in part with our 
much respected friend while thanking 
him for his criticism. The R. N. Y. is 
oftener helped by criticism than by praises. 
We want the typical as well as the 
ideal farmer to be just what our friend 
would have him and that is just what we 
are striving for—heart and soul. How 
shall we effect it ? If wo wanted to 
make a donkey of a child, wc would tell 
him of his good looks, praise his words 
and acts and “pass his imperfections by.” 
The good, true farmers of our country 
don’t need the fulsome, indiserminate 
praise of politicians or of anyone. It sick¬ 
ens them when they see themselves set up 
as saints and gods of power. They can’t 
afford to be represented as self-reliant, or 
to look with contempt upon the ever- 
existing and successful schemes of all 
kinds of swindlers to rob them, or to ac¬ 
cept the proffered aid of wily politicians 
—aid that costs far more than it is worth. 
Broadcast, promiscuous praise may serve 
to still futher inflate the slip-shod, never- 
do-well, always-behind, know-all farmer, 
but it will never stimulate him to steady 
industry or any real sense of his worth¬ 
lessness. 
What would be thought of a preacher 
of the Gospel were ho to dwell in his ser¬ 
mons chiefly upon the virtues of his con¬ 
gregation, and set them up as beyond 
temptations, and fully secure in this self- 
reliance ? No, the Rural would like to 
teach the truth and if it sometimes pre¬ 
sents it in a needlessly unpalatable or 
discouraging guise, we trust that right- 
judging farmers will pardon our injudi¬ 
cious zeal, 
' BREVITIES. 
The effects of salt. See page 108. 
CUE A MERY NUMBER NEXT WEEK. 
Our annual advice—sow oats early. 
Medium-sized Florida russet oranges sold 
last week at $8 per box, 200 in the box. 
Larger sizo $2.50 per box, average of 128 to 
the box. 
We have tried salt on various crops both at 
the Long Island Farm and the New Jersey 
fields and gardens It has in no case increased 
the crops, 
Rome wise poultrymen near New York 
have discovered that beef hearts are better 
for poultry food than haslets. The hearts 
can be bought for 10 cents each. When boil¬ 
ed and chopped fine, the hens enjoy thorn 
greatly. 
Will not a boy who graduates at an agri¬ 
cultural college, where he has to work in the 
fields ami shop, and afterwards studies law, 
be a better friend of agricultural interests 
than the boy who knows nothing of agricul¬ 
tural education? It seems so. 
The Rural’s “air-space” method of keep¬ 
ing celery is serving us finely thus far. This 
method differs from any we have ever seen 
described. If it preserves the celery as well 
as we hope it may, a fully illustrated descrip¬ 
tion will be given in due time. 
It is reported that peach buds are killed all 
through the Hudson Valley. The mercury went 
to 18° below zero in most favored localities. 
Other fruits are probably injured, especially 
the tender varieties of grapes that havo not 
been protected by laying down or covering. 
Among the best foliage-plants over raised at 
the Rural Grounds were the ornamental 
beefs. The leaves are of very bright colors 
of purple, red and black, whilo the veins, ribs 
and stalks are of various colors which, when 
the different kinds are massed together, give 
a lively, bright and beautiful effect. 
A friend informs us that ho proposes to 
haul his manure out on a sled and spread it 
on the snow—which is now 18 inches deep. 
Into every load ho proposes to scatter a quan¬ 
tity of salt. His theory is that the salt will 
“cut” the snow and enable the manure to sink 
at once to the ground. What do you think of 
this plan? 
You who like the Rural’s trench system 
of raising potatoes are asked to join us in 
making the experiment of sowing potato fer¬ 
tilizer under and over the seed pieces in alter¬ 
nate trenches. Our theory is that the fertili¬ 
zer over should give the best yield. But the 
trials of last summer, though made in a care¬ 
less way, pointed to the under fertilization as 
giving the best yield. It is a quostion which 
may and should be answered. 
Many analyses of dung liquor, or wator 
that has soaked through manure heaps in 
barn yards, have been made. A fair average 
of this water gives 0.18 per cent of nitrogen 
and .58 per cent, of potash. In other words, 
every ton of water that soaks through the man¬ 
ure and runs down hill into the brook carries 
with it8^ pounds of nitrogen and seven pounds 
of potash. This is expensive watering. This 
leached manure is poor stuff. How many 
winters would it take to wush out value 
enough to pay for a covered yard ? 
Commissioner Colman has receivad a con¬ 
signment of choice silk worm eggs from 
Europe, which he will distribute gratuitously 
to all persons who desire to raise silk worms, 
and who are so situated that they can do so 
satisfactorily. Before the sericulture season 
opens, be will also be able to furnish books 
gratis, giving free instructions in the business. 
For two seasons ho has been purchasing co¬ 
coons of Amercan growers at an average price 
of 95 cts. per pound, and will continue to do 
so in order to obtain a supply to carry on the 
experiments being made in Washington 
in the reeling of silk from the co¬ 
coons. All therefore who may desire to ex¬ 
periment in the production of silk cocoons will 
find a market for them in Washington, and 
will be furnished with all sorts of informa¬ 
tion on the sub ject, as well as with silk-worm 
eggs, free of charge, on application to Hon. 
Norman J. Colman. Commissioner of Agricul¬ 
ture, Washington, D. C. 
The recent decision of the Michigan 
Supreme Court to the effect that notes given 
in payment of grain sold in accordance with 
the usual terms made by the Bohemian Oats, 
Red Lino Wheat and similar swindling con¬ 
cerns, are void, and that such contracts are 
fraudulent and not binding on the victims, is 
one of the most important rendered by any 
Court in recent times, especially to farmers 
who are almost invariably the dupes of such 
swindles. The decision logically covers a 
multitude of other cases in which notes are 
obtained on fradulent pretences. Farmers 
all over the country should club together to 
defray the legal expenses of contesting the 
validity of such notes. There are thousands 
of them abroad to burden* the hearts and 
worry the brains of our friends, and this 
Michigan decision should encourage them all 
to resist the fradulent exactions. For over 
eight years'the"ItURAL New-Yorker has 
fearlessly exposed such frauds in all parts of 
the country several times] each"year. This 
Michigan swindle was denounced by name— 
“The Bohemian Grain and Cereal Company of 
Ypsilanti. Michigan”—in the issue of Novem¬ 
ber 20, 1880, page 781. Whoever pays careful 
attention to^the Rural’8 exposure of frauds 
will never experience the loss and mortifi¬ 
cation of a dupe. 
