468 
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MARCH 40 
THE 
RURAL- NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. CAEMAN, 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 1888. 
A hedge, be it of arbor-vitae or hem¬ 
lock, except for ornament, is a poor in¬ 
vestment. A live hedge of any kind is 
in the end the costliest of fences in the 
Rural’s estimation. 
Don’t forget the Rural’s pet method 
of raising corn, and don’t forget that it 
is the Rural’s method: Shallow cultiva¬ 
tion—no hilling up—surface fertilization — 
drill planting. 
In truth we shall be disappointed if 
we fail in our next season’s trial to raise 
at the rate of over 700 bushels of potatoes 
to the acre. But as many make fools of 
themselves when they strain to appear at 
their best, so the Rural may slip up in 
its effort. There is many a slip twixt the 
cup and the lip, but we feel tolerably 
sure that we shall get there. If we fail, 
we propose to double the wager and with 
a steadier hand, try again. 
Several years ago, it may be remem¬ 
bered, the R. N.-Y. expressed the opin¬ 
ion, founded upon plot experiments, that 
cutting off the tassels of the corn plant 
before they bloom was conducive to the 
formation of setts and a consequent greater 
product of ears and grain. It is probable 
that as many as half the tassels could be 
removed without endangering a sufficient 
supply of pollen for the whole field. A 
question bearing upon this subject is 
answered in the Farmers’ Club of this 
week. 
The season for electing road-masters 
and supervisors is close at hand. In a 
few months the annual “working on the 
road” will begin. Bad roads are a curse 
to any community. They keep down the 
price of property and discourage neigh¬ 
borly feeling and intercourse. Good 
roads always denote an intelligent, enter¬ 
prising and prosperous community. The 
Rural believes jn good roads as a neces¬ 
sary part of good farming and good citi¬ 
zenship. We shall publish, in a few 
weeks, another special number, devoted 
to Road Making. The articles will give 
much information and suggestion, and 
the pictures will spur up many commu¬ 
nities. 
Either the Inter-Ocean, of Chicago, or 
the Free Press, of Detroit, with the Ru¬ 
ral, one year, for only $2.50. The New 
York World and either the History of 
England or History of the United States 
and the R. N.-Y., $2.60, which includes 
postage on the book chosen. The Cour¬ 
ier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.) and the R. 
N.-Y. one year for $2.75. Subscriptions 
sent to this office will he forwarded at once. 
Send to those papers for specimens if de¬ 
sired. 
A week ago Senator Cullom, of Illi¬ 
nois, introduced a resolution into Con¬ 
gress asking the Government for informa¬ 
tion about the embargo placed by France 
on imports of American hog products, 
and also as to the invitation received 
from France asking our Government to 
participate in the international exposi¬ 
tion, to be held in Paris next year. 
The President has recommended that 
the invitation should be accepted, and 
a bill is now before Congress making 
.an appropriation to defray expenses. 
In view of the persistent prohibitory posi¬ 
tion of France against the American hog, 
efforts are likely to be made to prevent 
any appropriation of money by Congress 
in the interest of the exposition and in 
other ways to discourage American par¬ 
ticipation in the enterprise, unless the 
French Government promptly abrogates 
its unfair decree against American meat. 
It was M. Tirard, who as Minister of Ag¬ 
riculture and Commerce, seven years ago, 
issued the edict against the American hog. 
M. Tirard is now Premier, and it is only 
right that he should undo the wrong he 
committed inJ1881. 
^From Boston this morning comes the 
announcement that a stock company has 
been formed there, which expects to con¬ 
trol the entire sorghum crop of the coun¬ 
try through the use of a new patent pro¬ 
cess, the nature of which is not stated. 
The company claims, however, to be able 
to produce sugar from sorghum cheaper 
than cane sugar, even if the latter should 
be admitted free of duty. In addition to 
the sugar works now at Fort Scott, Kan., 
the company proposes during the coming 
summer to erect three new factories—one 
of them at Topeka. The locations of the 
other two have not yet, we are told, been 
selected. We are strongly opposed to a 
monopoly; but we are strongly in favor 
of some means by which farmers can 
make money by raising sorghum for sugar, 
sirup, or even as a lubricant! There is a 
sad need of the general introduction of 
some rew “money crop.” Wheat raising 
in the North and cotton raising in the 
South are too much overdone for a reason¬ 
able margin of profit to the producer. 
At the Riverhead (Long Island) farm¬ 
ers’ institute this question was found in 
the question box: “Why should we not 
have a branch of the New York Experi¬ 
ment Station located on Long Island?” 
The idea is rapidly gaining ground that 
local experiment farms scattered about 
the State would do more good than a sin¬ 
gle central station. New York is a big 
State. It contains as great a diversifica¬ 
tion of soils, climate and market demands 
as several European nations. Long Is¬ 
land farmers would starve on a system of 
farming profitable in St. Lawrence Coun¬ 
ty. St. Lawrence County farmers could 
never afford to pay the money that the 
Long Island farmer is forced to pay for 
manures and fertilizers. Nearness to 
market and improved transportation facil¬ 
ities determine the style of farming most 
profitable. These things show the diffi¬ 
culty in attempting to make one station 
conduct experiments exactly suited to all 
parts of this great State. If we ever do 
have a dozen experiment farms in this 
State, as we ought to have, one of them 
should be placed on Long Island. There 
is no farming section in the State where 
such a farm would be more highly appre¬ 
ciated. 
There are reports that negotiations are 
under way between representatives of 
millers in the United Kingdom and far¬ 
mers in the Northwest with a view to the 
direct shipment of wheat to the former 
from the growers in Manitoba, Dakota and 
Minnesota. It is claimed that this is the 
only way to save English millers from 
ruin by competition with the manufactur¬ 
ers of flour at Minneapolis and other points 
in the Northwest. It is estimated that 
a saving of at least 10 cents per bushel 
can be made in handling the grain, that 
being only two-thirds of the present cost 
of having it handled by middlemen. Some 
think the whole 15 cents could be saved, 
and that the saving of five cents a bushel 
would enable the English miller to com¬ 
pete with his American rival, while the 
rest would help to swell the pockets of 
the producers of grain. The scheme 
includes not only the dispensing 
with Minneapolis flour in the English 
markets, but the avoidance of St. 
Paul and Duluth as shipping points. 
Apart from the saving in the cost of 
handling, the present interpretation of 
the Inter State Commerce Law favors 
such a project; for while “through” 
rates of freight to the seaboard must be 
proportionate to those to intermediate 
points, lower rates can be given on 
“through” shipments to Europe. More¬ 
over, if the grain should be diverted to 
Canadian roads, still lower rates -would 
probably be obtained. Congress, how¬ 
ever, is likely to legislate on this discrim¬ 
ination against our seaboard cities and 
against American railroads at the present 
session. 
“THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DARK SIDE.” 
S ee this week’s Woman’s Department. 
“ There may he and. there is a dark side 
of farming; hut its darkest shade ishrilliance 
itself as compared with the dark side of 
city life as seen in the squalid tenements , ’’etc. 
THE RURAL’S WAGER ACCEPTED. 
everal notices of the following im¬ 
port have appeared in these columns 
during the past six weeks : 
“ The R. N. Y. stands ready to wager $50 
or $100, or more, that it will raise, next sea¬ 
son, on a part of its special potato plot, at the 
rate of over ^700 bushels of potatoes_to the 
acre, let the season be favorable or unfavor¬ 
able, the winner to devote the money to some 
charitable purpose. We make this offer to 
show our good faith in tbe Rural’s method 
of culture, and also to show the possibilities 
of profitable potato culture. It is proposed 
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.” One hundred and fifty or more 
hills planted one by three feet apart will con¬ 
stitute the trial. The varieties to be planted 
will be the Rural New-Yorker Seedlings Nos. 
2, 3 and 4, with the Rural Blush, or some 
other well known kind for comparison. 
THE WAGER ACCEPTED. 
The following is a part of a letter 
dated February 21, from Mr. Wilmer At¬ 
kinson, the editor of the Farm Journal : 
‘ ‘ Of course, as you say you have grown 
potatoes at the rate of 700 bushels per acre, 
and can and will do so again the coming sea¬ 
son, I am bound to believe both statements. 
But I am forced to the painful confession 
that you have done what I have never been 
able to do, and what I will probably not 
accomplish next summer, though I shall 
strive with all my might. I shall be happy if 
I can get 300 bushels per acre on my best 
land. 
Should you not succeed in getting any one 
to knock the chip off your hat, and your ina¬ 
bility to do so will stand in the way of your 
showing the nations the “possibilities of profit¬ 
able potato culture,” you may put me down 
for $50, the money to go to any charity you 
wish to help.” 
ADULTERATION OF LARD. 
T here is no subject before Congress 
which of late has received so much at¬ 
tention as the adulteration of lard. It has 
been investigated by a committee which 
is still continuing its labors, and has been 
repeatedly discussed in the House of Rep¬ 
resentatives. Several bills have been in¬ 
troduced with regard to the matter, and 
considerable sectional feeling has been 
evoked. The business is of comparatively 
recent date and is altogether in the hands 
of a few millionaires. It isn’t many years 
ago since it was nearly impossible to 
obtain 1,000 barrels of lard of uniform 
quality. Then one firm conceived the 
idea of re-rendering the lard to make 
it uniform. Competition in this line 
grew so rapidly that manufacturers sought 
something with which to cheapen the 
product, and used water to such an 
extent that buyers rejected it. Then 
they looked about them for some 
other adulterant and fixed upon cotton¬ 
seed oil, which combines readily with lard 
and costs much less. The addition of oil 
necessitated hardening the substance with 
stearine,and in course of time several other 
ingredients have been used. Nowadays 
oleomargarine stearine is generally em¬ 
ployed. This was first made from the 
kidney fat of cattle, but now gut fat is al¬ 
so used, and indeed that from any part 
of the body. The proportions of the 
different ingredients vary, but'in every 
100 pounds of prime adulterated lard 
there are about 60 pounds of lard, 25 
pounds of oil and 15 pounds of stearine. 
In a multitude of cases, however, the pro¬ 
portion of foreign ingredients in “refined 
lard” is much greater, and in one case be¬ 
fore the Congressional Investigating Com¬ 
mittee not a trace of genuine lard was 
shown by chemical analysis. It has also 
been proved that some refiners use the fat 
from hogs that have died from disease, 
or from various causes other than the 
butcher’s knife. The Cotton-seed Oil 
Company of the South and its congener, 
the Standard Oil Company of the North, 
are the chief sources of supply. Very lit¬ 
tle care seems to be taken in handling 
the cotton-seed oil in a cleanly man¬ 
ner. The Standard transfers its coal oil 
south in hugh tanks which are there 
filled with cotton-seed oil for cheap 
transportation north. Experts say lard 
adulterated with such oil is unwholesome. 
The advocates of impure lard insist that 
any interference with their trade is an in¬ 
terference with a legitimate business. 
Webster defines lard as “the fat of swine 
after being melted and separated from 
the flesh.” This is the general accepta¬ 
tion of the word, and any other substance 
sold under the name of lard is a fraud on 
the purchaser. The production of cotton¬ 
seed oil is a legitimate industry; but its 
use as an adulterant of lard is a deception, 
and an injustice, not only to the consum¬ 
er, but to every hog raiser in the country 
and every manufacturer of pure lard, 
whose honest business is injured or ruined 
by competition with a cheaper counter¬ 
feit product. The lard-producing indus¬ 
try of the country should be supervised 
in the same way as oleomargarine produc¬ 
tion, and the requirements as to truthful 
brands and labels should be rigidly en¬ 
forced. 
brevities. 
It may pay you well to test your seed 
corn. 
Buy, beg, borrow or steal for each one o 
your children a rose-bush. 
Unusually interesting catalogue notices 
will be found on pages 166and 167. 
The Rural’s advice: “Don’t use super¬ 
phosphate in the hill as a ‘starter’ for corn.” 
It is unaccountable that neither seedsmen 
nor florists sell the Rose Mallow, (Hibiscus 
Moscheatos.) 
Would you like to have any of your friends 
see the R. N.-Y.? The R. N.-Y. would be 
pleased to make their acquaintance. Name? 
Do you know that the Rural thinks roses 
should grow in every farm garden? Every 
one. There is no foolishness or extravagance 
about that. 
We learn that Professor F. A. Gulley, of 
the Mississippi Agricultural College, is to 
take charge of the Texas Experiment Station. 
Good for Texas and bad for Mississippi ! 
We hauled our summer’s fire-wood last 
week. It is being sawed and split now. No 
stopping in hoeing or harvest time to cut fire¬ 
wood for us. How is your wood-pile? 
On a great many farms the buck saw is a 
despised implement. Some farmers cut their 
entire wood supply with an axe. We use the 
buck-saw Picking up chips is hard work. 
We are partially convinced that the 
Rural’s advice not to sow nitrate of soda, 
or even sulphate of ammonia, until the 
plants are up, is sound. Please note. 
When we put our plows away last fall 
every one of them got a coating of grease. 
Now they are as bright as need be. Not much 
sympathy for the farmer with the rusty 
plows. 
Why is it that our vine Actinidia poly- 
gama does not bloom? It was planted five 
years ago, makes a wonderful growth every 
season, but bears neither male nor female 
flowers. 
As between Red-top and Blue Grass for 
lawns, remember that the Rural's trial last 
year showed that the Red-top will start first 
and that it will sooner carpet the soil with 
green. 
We should think thatour friends Northrup, . 
Braslan & Co., the seedsmen, of Minneapolis, 
Minn., might have given the Rural credit 
for the picture of the “Farmer Feeding 
the World,” which appears upon the first 
page of their catalogue. 
Complaint is made from one or two States 
that the farmers’ institutes are losing in popu¬ 
larity. Whispers also come from these same 
States that whenever the farmers get together, 
a band of lawyers, politicians and tariff ora¬ 
tors are sure to appear upon the scene. Any 
connection between these two facts? 
We are desirous of procuring statistics as 
to the loss of human life or of valuable stock 
from the careless handling of insecticides. 
Our readers will kindly send us any facts per¬ 
taining to this matter they may possess. We 
shall be glad, too, to have them tell us of any 
success they may have had in fighting injur¬ 
ious insects. 
Mr. J. H. Drevenstedt, of Orange Co., N. 
Y., wrote Feb. 14, that his Andalusian pullets 
averaged 3.5 eggs per week. At the same 
time and with the same care and feed B. 
Leghorns laid 2.8 per week and Wyandottes 
3.7. The weights averaged as follows: An¬ 
dalusians eight to the pound, Wyandotte eight, 
B. Leghorn 10,2 and P. Rock 8.4. 
Farmers have noticed that oat straw 
makes a better fodder at some seasons than 
at others. This is particularly noticeable when 
the straw and grain are fed together. It ap¬ 
pears that the quality of the straw is greatly 
determined by the character of the weather. 
As a rule, cold, damp seasons will produce 
better straw and poorer grain than bright, 
clear weather. 
In our new asparagus bed we shall prac¬ 
tice what we preach, and set the roots two 
feet apart in trenches four feet apart. We 
propose to set out about two rows each of the 
various kinds now offered, though we have 
no more faith to-day that there Is any real 
difference in these so-called varieties than 
we had years ago, when we raised the Red 
Dutch, Argentueil, etc., side by side in the 
same plot. 
The R. N.-Y. has raised the so-called Blount’s 
White Prolific Corn for about 12 years, 
every season cutting off the tassels of faulty 
plants and saving seed from the best. But 
the improvement as judged from last year’s 
crop, is slight, Previous to last year we 
thought it was growing more productive* 
that there were fewer barren stalks; that it 
was earlier; that the ears were borne lower. 
Congress, even during the present politi¬ 
cal-capital-making session, should make pro¬ 
vision for an adequate force of United States 
Judges to dispose of the fast-accumulating 
business coming before the Supreme Court of 
the United States. According to Justice Har 
lan there were before that Court in 1803 only 
51 cases; in 1819, 131, of which 53 were decid¬ 
ed during the term. In 1860 there were 310, 
of which 91 were decided; in 1870, 636, of 
which 280 were disposed of; in 1880, 1,202, of 
which 365 were decided, and in 1886, 1. 396, of 
which 451 were settled. Thus the Court is 
constantly getting farther and farther behind 
in spite of its best efforts to clear away the 
docket. All classes are great sufferers by 
these intolerable delays in litigation. Had 
Green’s driven well patent been tried earlier, 
farmers and other users of the device would 
have been saved millions of dollars, and this 
is only a single case out of hundreds. Let us 
have more judges, and then let each of them 
do^an^honest, year’s work. 
