254 
THE RURAL HEW-YORKER. 
APRIL 44 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National J ournal for Country and Suburban Home 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. CARMAN. 
Address . 
THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 1888. 
In response to many inquiries, our read¬ 
ers are invited to read what is said, under 
What Others Say, about Lucerne or Al¬ 
falfa. 
The professors and others are telling us 
in the farm press that if slices of potatoes 
are soaked in Paris-green water and scat¬ 
tered over the field before the potatoes 
are up, the potato beetles will be killed. 
It is not the Rural’s experience. In the 
first place, the beetles dpn’t appear in 
large quantities before the potatoes are 
up. Afterwards they will not eat a Paris- 
greened slice if they can get the leaf. 
The blizzard destroyed hundreds of 
miles of fencing in the Eastern and Middle 
States. The kinds which suffered most 
were the old-fashioned post and-rail and 
the lighter board fences. The various 
forms of wire fences were not materially 
injured. Coming, as the storm did, so 
close upon planting time, very little has 
been done toward repairing this damage 
to the fences. As soon as the spring rush 
is over the work of repair will be begun. 
In most cases wire fences will take the 
place of the old wooden ones and the 
posts and rails will do duty along the 
back lots or be consigned to the wood 
pile. 
There is quite an outcry against the 
exorbitant charges made for school books. 
We have had experience with these books 
as teacher, purchaser, and agent for a 
publishing house. The school books have 
been costing entirely too much. They 
can be printed and published at consider¬ 
ably less than the publishers’ rates. We 
know of numerous instances where school 
boards have been induced to change the 
school books for no other reason than 
that they could not shake off an importu¬ 
nate book agent. This tax for new school 
books falls heavily upon a class of people 
who are not able to stand it. It is all 
wrong. The State should print a series 
of books and sell them at cost. 
The Rural proposes to raise Red Caps 
and White Wyandottes this season. Our 
Downies are clever birds, and we have 
little doubt that, after careful selection 
and breeding, they will be recognized as 
valuable fowls—valuable for an empha¬ 
tically distinct appearance as well as for 
the good qualities of the Plymouth Rocks, 
of which the Downies are a sport. From 
the Rural’s experience we can not praise 
the Patagonians. Our birds are all differ¬ 
ent, and anything like a description of 
the breed from them is quite out of the 
question. Still, a neighbor has a flock 
quite uniform in appearance, and he re¬ 
gards them with much favor. They are 
hardy, rather small, contented birds, 
maturing early and laying a goodly num¬ 
ber of fair-sized eggs nearly white in color. 
It is growing harder and harder to get 
good milkers on farms where but few 
cows are kept. Milking seems to be get¬ 
ting more and more the work of a special¬ 
ist. Good milkers on dairy farms are 
generally sure of the best wages. They 
get more milk than careless or indifferent 
hands would, consequently they represent 
so much cash saved to their employers 
Some men are naturally good milkers. 
They have a firm yet gentle hand, and a 
way of getting the cow’s best confidence. 
No man can be a good milker until he 
does get the cow’s confidence. Such men 
naturally work towards the large dairies 
where their skill will be most appre¬ 
ciated. On farms where few cows are 
kept the milking is too frequently regarded 
as an unpleasant chore—to be gotten rid 
of as quickly as possible. Where the 
milking is regarded as a job to be dodged 
if possible, it is no wonder that we find 
bungling or unskillful work. 
We notice that our Northern readers 
are this year more than ever inclined to 
move South after future homes. The 
blizzards and the snow make a beautiful 
frame for the pictures of orange groves 
and perpetual sunshine which Southern 
residents are fond of drawing. Many let¬ 
ters come asking for an opinion as to var¬ 
ious sections of the South, the kind of 
people to be met with, church and school 
conveniences, climate, etc., etc. We can¬ 
not answer these questions. No person 
can locate a satisfactory home by proxy, 
or by the advice of a disinterested party. 
There are many places at the South where 
Northern people can find happy homes. 
The only way to find them is to go there 
in person and look the country over care¬ 
fully. Those who buy land at the South 
or anywhere else without examining it 
will run a serious risk of disappointment. 
The Farm Journal says: “Of course, 
the R. N.-Y. will tell exactly how he does 
it, and we will copy his method into the 
Farm Journal, so that the whole world 
will know—except those Scotch people 
and Prince Edward folks who have been 
flooding our markets with potatoes—we 
will try and keep the knowledge from 
them. Now, Brother Rural, get things 
ready, cut your potatoes and go ahead.” 
We read the above April 2. Last year, 
as also in 1886, our potatoes were planted 
April 12. At present the soil of the po¬ 
tato plot is hard with frost and a snow¬ 
bank three feet high still rests on the ad¬ 
jacent land, and would still rest on the 
plot itself but for the fact that it was 
shoveled off. It will be many days yet 
before the soil can be worked, so that we 
do not need “to cut the potatoes” quite 
yet. But we propose to take the season 
as it comes. No matter how unfavorable 
it may prove, a failure to raise the stipu¬ 
lated quantity will be an entire failure all 
the same, in so far as the “contest” is 
concerned. But the trial may still be of 
value to farmers, and that is the first con¬ 
sideration with both journals. 
The refreshing, delightful vapory cool¬ 
ness of the foliage of a tree top in hot, 
dry days of summer is very familiar— 
observed and welcomed by all. Fruits 
freshly plucked from a tree have the same 
fresh coolness, while those that have 
fallen are unpleasantly and unrefreshingly 
warm. Few think of the cause of the 
constant coolness of leaves and fruit while 
on the tree. It seems as great a mystery 
of nature as the constant unvarying 
warmth of animals. It is the crude, 
watery sap absorbed by the roots in the 
cool soil and carried so rapidly to the 
trunk and then up the trunk and out 
along the branches and into the leaves, 
all so rapidly that it still retains its cool¬ 
ness when exhaled from the stomates of 
the leaves, suffusing the air with its 
agreeable refrigeration. The great won¬ 
der is how the sap reaches the tops of tall 
trees so rapidly as this evidence proves it 
to do. It must traverse millions of separ¬ 
ate cells on its way, and it seems to ascend 
Against gravity even more freely than it 
extends along horizontal branches. No 
satisfactory solution to this problem has 
yet been given. 
The Manitoba troubles with thie Do¬ 
minion Government are amicably adjust¬ 
ed. Negotiations between the latter and 
the Canadian Pacific Railroad Company, 
for the surrender of its monopoly, have 
been completed. According to this 
morning’s telegrams from Ottawa, the 
basis of the settlement is a Government 
guarantee of the land-gratt bonds of the 
company bearing interest at three or three 
and a half per cent. As a protection for 
this guarantee, the Government takes back 
all the unsold portion of the company’s 
land,amounting to about 13,000,000 acres. 
The company will also be responsible for 
interest on the bonds, which will become 
a charge on its surplus earnings, in the 
event of the receipts from the land sales 
proving inadequate; but there will be no 
mortgages on the railroad proper. With 
its largely increased capital, due to this 
arrangement, the company will increase 
its earning capacity by large purchases of 
rolling stock and generally improving the 
condition of the line. The farmers of 
Manitoba have won a signal victory, and 
this morning’s telegrams from Winnepeg 
promise that three different railroad con¬ 
nections will be made with the United 
States before midsummer. The people of 
the Province are enthusiastically jubilant 
at their hard-won victory. 
THE PLEURO-PNEUMONIA CONTEST. 
T he consideration of the Palmer pleuro¬ 
pneumonia bill, though put down 
for Monday last in the Senate, was 
not brought up till Wednesday. The 
bill does away with the Bureau of Ani¬ 
mal Industry under charge of the Com¬ 
missioner of Agriculture, and creates in its 
place a commission to be appointed by the 
President and to consist of two practical 
stock-growers and a veterinary surgeon, 
who are to be under the direction of the 
Commissioner of Agriculture. The Board 
is to investigate and report on the condi¬ 
tion of domestic animals in the United 
States, their protection and use and also 
to inquire into the causes of contagious 
and infectious and communicable diseases 
or conditions which may convey disease 
among them. The members are author¬ 
ized in person or by duly accredited 
agents to enter any place within any State 
or Territory where they have reason 
to believe any disease or “diseased con¬ 
dition” exists. On the discovery of the 
existence of any disease the Board is auth¬ 
orized to establish a quarantine and to de¬ 
stroy diseased and exposed animals, pay¬ 
ing the owner three-quarters of their 
appraised value; but not more than 
$160 for any pedigreed animal or 
more than $60 for any unpedigreed 
one. The Board is also authorized 
to establish rules and regulations for the 
speedy and effectual extirpation of dis¬ 
ease and to invite State authorities to 
co-operate in the enforcement of the rules. 
Commissioner Colman is strongly opposed 
to the bill,-and petitions from 34 differ¬ 
ent States have been filed with the Senate 
against it. The bill has not the cordial 
support of either the Senate or House 
Committee on Agriculture. Yesterday the 
further consideration of the measure was 
postponed till Thursday. The amend¬ 
ments recommended by the Senate Com¬ 
mittee on Agriculture were agreed to, and 
that body will be allowed to shape the 
measure as it may see fit. Glanders in 
horses and tuberculosis in cows are to be in¬ 
cluded in its scope. A strong opposition 
to it is expected in the House. The 
entire matter has been so thoroughly can¬ 
vassed both in the Senate and House, and 
the supporters and opponents of the meas¬ 
ure are so earnest and vigilant, that 
whichever side gains the victory, the 
work of extirpation of these disastrous 
diseases is likely to be carried on with 
more vigor and honesty than ever before, 
because it will be subjected to closer 
scrutiny. However, the contest may turn 
out, therefore, the vast stock-raising in¬ 
terests of the country are sure to be bene¬ 
fited by the discussion. 
THE POTATO CONTEST. 
A n intelligent and exceedingly consci¬ 
entious subscriber writes us as fol¬ 
lows: 
“I am sorry the editor was beguiled into 
making the potato wager. In my humble 
opinion the turning of the stakes to benevo¬ 
lent use does not change the principle involved; 
neither will it counteract the influence on the 
minds of others ” 
The R. N.-Y. is always pleased to be 
set right, always glad to be criticised by 
its readers, and its thanks are extended 
to the above correspondent. Suppose 
that Mr. Atkinson, or any other person 
who desires to promote the interests of 
agriculture, had said to the R. N.-Y., or 
to any of the experiment stations: “If 
you will raise on a certain plot of land at 
the rate of over 700 bushels of potatoes to 
the acre, I will present you with $100.” 
“Very well,” replies the R. N.-Y. or the 
experiment station, “we will try it.” 
Would that be a bet or wager in the usual 
sense of the word? If the party making 
the trial succeeds in raising the required 
amount of potatoes, he receives the re¬ 
ward ; if he fails, that is the end of it. 
Suppose the Government offers $5,000 
for the simplest and safest method of ex¬ 
terminating the potato beetle. A hundred 
persons contest for the prize and one re¬ 
ceives it. He wins the prize. Would 
the Government lay itself open to re¬ 
proach on the score of encouraging the 
practice of betting? In this case the 
Government pays the money; but the peo¬ 
ple pay the Government and it may also be 
said that the people receive the benefit 
of the discovery. In our own case it is 
intended that farmers should receive the 
benefit of our trial, while one of two indi¬ 
viduals pays the money. It is simply a 
contest suggested and to be carried out 
for the purpose of throwing light upon 
the improved cultivation of one of our 
most important crops. It may be said 
that the trial might be conducted just as 
well without any wager at all. So, in¬ 
deed, it might have been, but we are con¬ 
vinced that the trial would never have 
provoked any considerable amount of in¬ 
terest, any more than our previous trials 
of the same kind have done. As it is, 
the project has been published through¬ 
out the land. Hundreds will try the Ru¬ 
ral’s Trench Method where one would 
have tried it had not the proposed con¬ 
test been announced in a way to attract 
public attention. We believe that by 
this method the potato yield can be profit¬ 
ably increased and largely, so that it or 
some modification of it will be recognized 
in the near future as having bestowed on 
agriculture a substantial aid, the same as 
our persistent advocacy during 10 years 
past of level cultivation, shallow cultiva¬ 
tion, surface fertilization and drill plant¬ 
ing of corn has worked a general recogni¬ 
tion of the advantages of such means. 
All of our readers will agree that the 
object of this potato racket is a good one. 
Upon that there can be room for but one 
opinion. Well, if there is an objection 
to the word “wager,” let us change it to 
“contest.” a 
brevities. 
M. M. Crawford writes: “I was pleased to 
see the Rural’s account of the Summit and 
Crawford strawberries. Its estimate is as 
nearly right as it could be. I hope it will 
have them in perfection this season. I have 
great faith in the Crawford.” 
If we desired to supply food to grape-vines 
or fruit trees, we should not hesitate to use 
potash and phosphoric acid, either in the 
form of ashes, or muriate or sulphate of pot¬ 
ash for the former, and bone or S. C. rock for 
the latter. But we should hesitate to use ni¬ 
trogen in any quickly-soluble form. 
We request each of our readers whose pota¬ 
toes are usually scabby, to sift sulphur flour 
over the seed pieces. We tried this four years 
ago and every year since, on a portion of the 
seed of our trial plot. Those receiving the 
sulphur gave clean yields; the others were 
scabby. It may not be a remedy in other 
soils, nor even in this. We merely call atten¬ 
tion to the facts. 
Mr. H. E. Van Deman, Chief of the Divis¬ 
ion of Pomology in the Department of Agri¬ 
culture at Washington, requests that all those 
who have received the circular of the Division 
calling for information as to their interests in 
fruit growing, will at once respond, if they 
have not already done so. All who respond 
will have their names placed on the perma¬ 
nent list and will receive all the pomological 
publications of the Department.# 
Poultry fanciers are just about as slow to 
take hold of a new idea as any other class of 
people. We fancy it is only a matter of time 
before whitewashing poultry houses will be a 
process of the past, and that the Rural’s 
method of spraying them with kerosene will 
have taken its place. Whitewash does not 
kill lice, neither does it prevent them in any 
way from infesting the poultry. It is a tedi¬ 
ous business to whitewash, and takes much 
time. A house 10 feet square may be kero- 
sened in less than five minutes with bellows, 
and in less time with 51 pump and Cyclone or 
Climax nozzle. 
Claus Spreckels has decided to build a 
large sugar refinery in Philadelphia, and the 
contracts for the building, machinery, etc., 
were made a few days ago. The purchased 
property which cost $500,000,includes between 
nine and ten acres on which there are three 
large wharves, 80 feet wide, and it has a front¬ 
age of 460 feet on the Delaware River. The 
capacity of the proposed refinery is put at 
7.000 barrels or 2,000,000 pounds of sugar per 
dav. The cost of the plant is estimated at 
$3,000,000 and the annual output at $35,000.- 
000. Several prominent Philadelphians 
are said to be interested with him in the en¬ 
terprise,the capital of which will be $ 5 , 000 , 000 , 
nearly the whole if which will be contributed 
by Mr. Spreckels. It is to be entirely inde¬ 
pendent of the great Sugar Trust monopoly, 
which has a capital of $35 000,000 and which 
has already begun an exterminating war on 
the new enterprise. 
Arbor Day in Missouri came this year 
on Friday, April' 6 . During this month and 
thereafter the day will be observed in a great 
many other States. We trust that all over 
the country Arbor Day will be celebrated 
with unprecedented enthusiasm. Every 
member of our State Boards of Agricul¬ 
ture, county horticultural and agricultural 
societies as well as farmers’ clubs should take 
an interest in the due celebration of the day. 
So should school boards and school teachers. 
Make it a holiday for the children, devoting 
part of the day to tree planting, or if there is 
no ground for that, to the decoration of the 
school house. Let each head of a family mark 
the day by planting at least one tree for each 
member of it. The Elm, the Maple, (especially 
the Sugar Maple), the Ash, Box-Elder and the 
Tulip tree are among the best of our native 
forest trees to set out. For Missouri, Secre¬ 
tary Goodman recommends the Red Cedar, 
Norway Spruce and White Pine for ever¬ 
greens; but other selections would be no doubt 
better for other places, and the Rural has 
frequently made suggestions as to the best. 
Yesterday’s cablegram tells us that Bal¬ 
four, Chief Secretary for Ireland, has just 
drawn up a new bill for hurrying up the busi¬ 
ness of Irish land courts. These courts were 
established at different periods for the relief 
of indebted Irish landlords as well as tenants, 
by enabling them to get rid of their indebted¬ 
ness on unusually favorable terms by dispos¬ 
ing of their claims upon the land. Now there 
are three separate tribunals in the country for 
the administration of the various land laws, 
and in some respects they are antagonistic to 
each other. There is the Landed Estates 
Court, an old institution, the Land Commis¬ 
sion of 1881 and the Purchase Commission of 
1885. The joint result of the labors of the 
Commissions has been a reduction of rents in 
Ireland amounting to upwards of $10,000,000 
a year: while the total cost has been less than 
$2,500,000. The Commissions have, however, 
unwittingly been neutralizing each other, for 
the more work the Purchase Commission did, 
the less the Land Commission did, and there 
have been many other conflicting features. 
Balfour’s bill extends the commission of the 
Land Commission another seven years and 
gives it practically complete control of the 
“land” question, and, after all, the land ques¬ 
tion is at the bottom of all*the Irish^troubles.* 
