508 
THE RUSAL HEW-YORKEB. 
SETP 3 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Home . 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1888. 
NOTIFICATION. 
r day appointed for harvesting the 
potatoes of the “ Contest ” plot is 
Friday, the 28th inst. The judges have 
been notified to that effect. 
Train boats leave Pavonia Ferry (Erie, 
foot of Chambers street), 9.50-11.15 A. 
M. It is desired that all who can will 
take the 9.50 boat. Excursion tickets 
should be purchased to River Edge, N. J. 
& N.Y. R.R. Return trains leave nearly 
every hour in the afternoon. The distance 
from the station to River Edge is one and 
one-eighth mile. Conveyances will be 
furnished for the committee and for others 
as far as possible. 
£ Premium List Number next week. We 
have a new proposition to make to agents 
this year. It will be very popular. 
THE CONTEST. 
fT^HE season for potatoes has been 
almost perfect and the yield about 
the Rural Grounds has been, and will 
be exceptionally large where the vines 
have not been injured by the Flea-beetle. 
In some cases this insect has nearly des¬ 
troyed the crop; in most cases it has in¬ 
jured it more or less. 
The leaves of the R. N-Y. No. 3, which 
takes two-fifths of the “Contest” plot, 
were killed before the earliest potatoes 
began to mature, and the yield will be 
very small. Probably most of the hills 
will not yield 100 bushels to the acre. 
The leaves of the R. N-Y. No. 4, (also 
two-fifths of the contest plot) were attack¬ 
ed later and killed, for the most part, 
some three to four weeks before their 
time of maturity. A few of the plants 
were less injured and died later. Most 
of the plants of the R. N-Y" No. 2, (one- 
fifth of the plot) are still alive, having 
been less injured than either of the others. 
What then is the prospect of raising at 
the rate of over 700 bushels to the acre, 
which we set out to do regardless of the 
season or accidents of any Tcindl Well, 
perhaps there is still a little chance of 
victory. 
It is still our belief that the No. 2 and 4 
will yield over 700 bushels to the acre. 
In how far the comparative failure 
of the No. 3 will reduce the entire yield 
below 700 bushels, can only, at this time, 
be guessed at. At any rate we are con¬ 
fident of showing the Committee that the 
Trench System is by no means a failure, 
and that, after all, is what our readers are 
mainly interested in. 
A farmer near the Rural Farm has 
raised Early Ohio potatoes for 12 consecu¬ 
tive years. He carefully selects his own 
“seed” and raises better crops now than 
from his purchased seed. ^ ... 
Under date of August 25 Mr. J. A. 
Foote writes us that Mr. Thos. J. 
Matthews, of Cynthiana, Posey Co., Ind., 
reports a yield of Poole wheat of 57 bush¬ 
els to the acre. The area is not stated. 
P. H. Jacobs talks sensibly regarding 
poultry at the experiment stations, on 
page 596. Mr. J. has overlooked one 
very important item of poultry value, viz: 
the manurp. We estimate that the value 
of the hen manure produced in this 
country during 1880 was over $19,000,000. 
The total value of the commercial fer¬ 
tilizers manufactured during the same 
year was $23,650,795. 
Mr. J. A. Foote’s article on wheat 
culture, and the popular varieties in his 
part of the country (Crawfordsville 
Indiana) will be read with interest by 
wheat-growers. It appears on page 591. 
Mr. Foote, though not much of a wheat- 
grower, is a wheat dealer, and has a better 
opportunity of learning about the dif¬ 
ferent sorts and can form a better opinion 
of their relative merits than can the 
R. N-Y., or individual experimenters in 
a single section. 
A new source of danger to pedestrians 
is discovered in many New England 
towns. Many of the streets of such 
towns are lined with glorious elms, often 
a century or more old. These trees are 
slowly dying. During a high wind they 
are liable to fall or drop heavy branches 
into the streets. The crash may come 
without warning. It is liable to carry 
death with it. A partially decayed tree 
is a dangerous thing to retain where liv¬ 
ing beings are liable to pass. Such dead 
material should always be removed. 
The Republicans of Wisconsin have 
done well in making Mr. W. D. Hoard, 
editor of Hoard’s Dairyman, their candi¬ 
date for Governor. When Governor Rusk 
declined to run again, there was a large 
number of aspirants for the honor; but the 
choice fell on the most prominent promo¬ 
ter of the dairy interests of the West. 
Mr. Hoard is hardly known in politics, 
but he has long been an excellent speaker 
at farmers’ institutes and other agricul¬ 
tural meetings, and his election appears a 
foregone conclusion. 
Note. —The heading of Domestic Econ¬ 
omy, in our last issue, instead of being 
placed on page 583, should have been at 
the top of first column, page 582, thus 
making the department three columns 
long, instead of a few inches, as by the 
mistake it is made to appear. The article 
headed “Something About Soap,” on page 
581, should have been continued on page 
582, of course, instead of being completed 
on 588. The illustrated article entitled 
“ Corn Envelope ” is concluded on page 
582 instead of on 583, as it ought to have 
been. 
We much regret these several transfers. 
We are in receipt of a letter from a per¬ 
son purporting to control “ the exclusive 
privilege for the distribution of advertis¬ 
ing matter of every kind upon the Wiscon¬ 
sin State Fair Grounds.” He proposes to 
stop the distribution of sample copies of 
agricultural papers, because such distrib¬ 
ution interferes with his privilege. He 
says, however, that he will cheerfully agree 
to such a distribution if the publishers of 
agricultural papers will agree to cut out 
all advertising matter. This is the cream 
of delicate humor. Without any adver¬ 
tising ! A model ‘ ‘sample copy ” such a 
paper would be ! What is the matter 
with the managers of the Wisconsin State 
Fair ? 
A treaty to operate for ten years from 
September 1, 1891, has just been signed by 
Great Britain, Germany, Australia- 
Hungary, Belgium, Italy, The Nether¬ 
lands, Russia and Spain, the adhesion of 
France being left open for six months. 
It provides for the abolition of bounties 
on the manufacture and exportation of 
sugar in these countries for the above 
period. When, three years hence, it goes 
into effect, the artificial cheapness of beet 
sugar will be ended. This industry, one 
of the greatest supported by artificial 
means in Europe, will stand or fall 
on its own merits, and the production of 
cane sugar in Cuba, as well as in this and 
other countries is sure to receive 
an enormous impetus. 
The farmers of Manitoba have gained a 
signal victory over the Northern Pacific 
railway. For months it has been bitterly 
opposed to their efforts to secure more 
ample railroad facilities and transporta¬ 
tion competition by the construction of the 
Red River Valley line, connecting with the 
railroad system of the United States. The 
monopoly was backed up by the Dominion 
government, and it was only when serious 
agitation and trouble were threatened 
that due attention was paid to the de¬ 
mands of the Manitobans. Now the 
railway company will buy and complete 
the Red River road, and yield all the 
other demands of the Provincial govern¬ 
ment, even to the use of the tracks by 
other roads. Extortionate grain rates will 
now cease to be among the grievances of 
the farmers of the Canadian Northwest. 
The appropriations made by Congress 
for the encouragement of silk culture 
during the present fiscal year was $30,000; 
$20,000 of which is to be expended by 
the Department ot Agriculture; $5,000 
by the Women’s Silk Culture Asso¬ 
ciation of the United States at 
Philadelphia; $2,500 by the Ladies’ 
Silk Culture Society of California, and 
$2,500 by Joseph Neumann of California. 
This is a large sum to be wasted, and 
wasted it will certainly be so far as the 
public is likely to be benefited. The 
worst of such appropriations is that they 
are credited to agriculture instead of to 
impractical enthusiasm or imposture. If 
there were even a remote chance of any 
good resulting from such outlay to any 
deserving class of the community, we 
might tolerate such extravagance with 
some degree of patience; but there are no 
such grounds for the exercise of that 
virtue. Some papers that strongly object 
to any appropriation for this object, base 
looid denunciations on an appropriation 
of $150,000 said to be asked for or grant¬ 
ed. The amount granted is stated above. 
Mr. Thompson of California, in the House, 
and Mr. Chandler of New Hampshire, in 
the Senate, perfunctorily introduced a bill 
asking for a much larger sum, but it will 
never leave the committees in which it 
was very appropriately buried. 
It may be fairly supposed that since the 
“war” no subject has caused such general 
and deep interest through every section 
of the Cotton States as the recent action 
of the Jute Bagging Trust, which has 
put up the price of jute bagging to 
12 X A cents per yard, though it can be laid 
down here, duty paid, at three cents per 
yard. When the Trust was formed, in 
the spring, the price was seven cents a 
yard, but since then it has been raised 
5K cents, and yesterday before the Con¬ 
gressional Investigating Committee, An¬ 
derson Gratz, the chief organizer of the 
combine, boldly asserted that they 
could “to-morrow” put up the price to 25 
cents per yard and still control the market. 
It appears that the total supply of the 
outside world available for covering the 
present cotton crop of this country is only 
1,500,000, while the usual yearly demand 
is 45,000,000 yards. All through the 
South the cotton farmers are refusing or 
hesitating to pay the extortionate de¬ 
mand, and are shipping their staple bound 
up in cotton cloth, old bagging, pine 
boards and shingles. 
These substitutes are rejected, however, 
by the Exchanges, as. the rules say that 
bagging has to be used. The only remedy 
for the cotton planter seems to be for Con¬ 
gress to put jute bagging on the free list, 
and it is very doubtful whether even this 
measure would afford any substantial 
relief during the present season. 
LEVEL VS. DEEP CULTIVATION. 
S oil cultivation for this season is about 
over. Mistakes with the crop of 
1888 will have to stand. We can only re¬ 
member them and resolve that we will 
cut them away for the crop of 1889. One 
thing is sure. The effects of a good or 
bad system of cultivation will never be 
more plainly visible than they now are. 
How did you cultivate the corn? Read 
the following note from a Western corres¬ 
pondent, and tell us what you think of it! 
“ Last season was as dry as a mummy. 
This one is exactly opposite, being as 
juicy as a melon. Last year most of the 
corn when full-grown stood four to five 
feet high; this season eight to 12. 
There has been precious little time between 
showers for its cultivation, and the man 
who used light surface-stirring imple¬ 
ments, and slashed along at the rate of 
six to eight acres a day, went over his 
fields three or four times and kept the 
weeds down until the corn was large 
enough to smother all that came up. 
Now his corn-field is comparatively free 
from weeds, the stalks are big and rank, 
and bid fair to yield an immense crop. On 
the other hand, the man who cultivated 
with the deep-running, horse-killing, 
gouges, managed to get over his fields 
about once, and the ground is now matted 
with Crab-grass, Smart-weed and other 
trash, while the corn seems to be some¬ 
what affected with jaundice, or some 
other liver complaint.” 
NEEDLESS LOSS OF FERTILIZERS. 
O NE of the things which troubles the 
R. N.-Y. and in which a “reform is 
needed” is the quantity of fertilizers 
which farmers waste while sowing them. 
Fine bone and the high grade “complete” 
fertilizers are usually very dry. The 
finest particles—those which are the most 
soluble—are wafted off in clouds, no mat¬ 
ter how careful one may be in sowing it. 
This fertilizer-dust will float in the air 
even if perfectly quiet and be carried a 
long way from just where it is wanted. 
The writer, a few days ago, was watching 
a farmer—a poor farmer, too—sowing fer¬ 
tilizer on a field for turnips. He could see 
with every handful sown a little cloud of 
dust float away in the air to an adjoining 
wood. The wood did not need it—the 
turnip-field did. 
At no great cost this difficulty can be 
avoided. Spread the fertilizer out in 
layers in a sheltered part of the field, or, 
if necessary, construct a temporary shelter 
of boards. As one man spreads it out an¬ 
other should evenly sprinkle every layer 
with water, by the use of a sprinkler or 
flower-pot. 
When the mass has been so treated, it 
should be shoveled over twice. The fer¬ 
tilizer readily absorbs the moisture, and in 
this way becomes so evenly moist that it 
may be sown without any loss whatever, 
while it is not moist enough to aggregate 
into wet lumps. 
By a trial made a few days ago, the 
writer, with one assistant, moistened 800 
pounds of fertilizer in just one hour. It 
was sown immediately after in a brisk 
wind, upon half-an-acre of land, and not 
the slightest loss could be detected. 
BREVITIES. 
Save the potato balls. 
Most dealers in agricultural implements 
seem to consider it too small business to keep 
bee-hives for sale. 
On another page a correspondent gives 
some good reasons why the farmer should 
take an agricultural paper. 
A Subscriber wishes to procure back num¬ 
bers of the Rural which we cannot supply. 
Those having such copies to dispose of may 
communicate with us. 
We have found the easiest way to get rid 
of plantain in the lawn is to pull it up after a 
soaking rain. Gather all the leaves in the 
hand and give a steady pull. 
As a contribution to the “ Dark Side of 
Farm Life” series, “Biddy O’Laffertj’s” 
letter in this issue is not bad. The young 
dry-goods clerk was to be pitied because he 
had not had the advantages of bis country 
cousins! 
If you were to save a potato ball of any 
variety—say the Rural Blush—and raise 100 
seedlings from it, probably every erne of the 
seedlings could be distinguished from the 
parent. There would at least be some differ¬ 
ences in color, depth of eyes, shape, time of 
maturing, growth of vine, size of leaf, color 
of leaf, etc. 
When first the Lady grape (white) came 
into bearing, we were pleased with it for its 
earliness and productiveness. It was per¬ 
mitted to bear all it would the first and sec¬ 
ond seasons, since which it has never borne 
a perfect bunch. The vine makes a thirfty 
growth, but the berries are small, rotting 
considerably, ripening unevenly. 
In years past we have, at times, been dis¬ 
posed to wonder how one setting of eggs could 
be worth $5, while another setting can be 
bought for $1. Since this year’s experiment 
with our “new breed” of poultry, described in 
the F. C. of this issue, we can understand 
much of the care and patience needed to pro¬ 
duce eggs which one can guarantee. 
The “Farmer”, a weekly hitherto pub¬ 
lished at St. Paul, Minn, and a very respect¬ 
able paper it has been, too, says that the 
field in that State isjhardly large enough yet to 
sustain a first-class weekly agricultural journal 
It has therefore been sold to Mr. Orange Judd, 
the recent editor of the Prairie Farmer, who 
will publish it in Chicago, Ills, under the 
name of The Orange Judd Farmer. 
If we were to say that a few years hence 
Mr. Colcord's “ patent silage ” will be the only 
kind of silage made by progressive dairy-men 
we might be accused of making a foolish 
statement. Wait and see ! We would like 
to have our experiment stations take hold of 
this process and show farmers wherein this 
“patent” product differs from that made in 
the usyal way. They will find it a most in¬ 
teresting study. 
There is a first-class fruit stand on Broad¬ 
way that we pass every day. All sorts of 
fruits are offered for sale. There has not 
been a day during the past 365 when apples of 
some kind or variety are not to be found on 
this stand. The introduction of new varieties, 
the rapidly developed transportation facilities 
which place us within a few days of Califor¬ 
nia apple trees, and improved methods of 
preservation all contribute to help keep this 
stand supplied with apples. 
