JUNE 2 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
ANatlonal Journal for Country and Suburban Homos. 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. C A.RM A N. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. S4 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 1888. 
TnE Rural’s hybrid rye-wheat and 
crossed wheat plants have never before 
made so rank a growth up to this time. 
All who see them say, “They will go 
down sure.” And that is our conviction. 
To what is it owing? First, to a favor¬ 
able season; second, to the mulch applied 
last winter. 
Note that the operation of dehorning 
as performed by Prof. Plumb and his as¬ 
sistants took all the way from 10 to 20 
minutes. A Mr. Johnson is reported by 
the Massachusetts Ploughman as having 
dehorned 50 head in 32 minutes! We 
have little faith in the latter statement. 
See What Others Say. 
The Editor of the Rural New- Yorker 
would esteem it a favor if all who are try¬ 
ing the Rural Trench System of raising po¬ 
tatoes would write us a postal stating: (1) 
The size of the plot; (2) the quantity of fer¬ 
tilizer used , the manufacturer and price; 
(3) the name of the variety of potato planted, 
and any other particulars they may choose 
to add. 
■ -- 
Luring the summer we shall publish a 
Special devoted to the Country School. We 
mean to malce this one of the most valuable 
treatises on education ever published. The 
subject is worthy of all the care and atten¬ 
tion that can be given it. Much of our 
school money is wasted. We are particular¬ 
ly anxious to place this paper in the hands 
of school officials, and we shall esteem it a 
great favor if our friends will send us the 
names of all the members of school boards 
that they can conveniently obtain. 
Our old-time and valued contributor, 
Mrs. Annie L. Jack, of the Province of 
Quebec, Canada, during a brief visit to 
the Rural Grounds, informed us that the 
Duchess Grape is hardy in her vineyard. 
It makes a fine growth and yields a bushel 
to a vine. The canes are laid down and 
merely covered with enough soil to hold 
them. It is hardier than the Niagara and 
Mrs. Jack ranks it first among white 
grapes. The grapes keep well until the end 
of January. The Duchess at the Rural 
Grounds is tender and has never yielded 
a perfect bunch of fruit. Pocklington is 
too late with Mrs. Jack. Brighton is 
splendid in every way. 
TnE Maine Experiment Station calls at¬ 
tention to the need of seed examination. 
It thinks that old and inferior seed is 
often, intentionally or without design, 
offered for sale. This causes a loss that 
is well known. Honest dealers are in¬ 
jured by the practices of unscrupulous 
seedsmen. At present there is no law in 
Maine requiring seed dealers to register, 
and no power is granted the Experiment 
Station to take samples for testing. Prof. 
Harvey thinks that if dealers knew the 
seeds they offer for sale were liable to ex¬ 
amination, much the same as fertilizers, a 
better grade of seeds would be found in 
the market. So do we, and we hope the 
Maine Legislature will act upon his sug¬ 
gestion and give the Station authority to 
exercise a seed control. 
light room to sprout would so change the 
flesh of the potato chemically that when 
placed in the soil, the sprouts would make 
no further growth. That was just what 
we had been doing, the object being to 
plant ortly such potatoes in the “Contest 
Plot” as, exposed to the light, should 
show a strong growth from one or more 
eyes. At first we were inclined to select 
other varieties, dig up our seedlings and 
start again. But we remembered that a 
part of the understanding was that theR. 
N.-Y. seedlings, Numbers 2, 3 and 4 
should be planted. Our fears proved 
quite groundless. The stand is perfect 
and the shoots, many of them already 
three or four inches above ground, are re¬ 
markably vigorous. When we desire to 
raise large yields again, we shall certainly 
try this same way of testing the strength 
of the eyes before planting. 
-» - 
Last Monday the Lower House of Con¬ 
gress passed the Hatch Bill establishing 
a Department of Agriculture with a Sec¬ 
retary of Agriculture having a seat in the 
Cabinet, by the overwhelming majority of 
283 to 13. Indeed, there was scarcely 
any opposition, the measure passing al¬ 
most without debate. The bill, it will 
be remembered, was passed by the last 
Congress, but shortly before adjournment 
it was sent back from the Senate with a 
few minor amendments, in which the 
House was to concur. The pressure of 
legislation, however, was so heavy at the 
close of Congress that it could not be 
again taken up, and hence it failed to be 
passed. There seems no doubt that the 
bill will pass the Senate, though in a slight¬ 
ly amended form. On Wednesday the 
Senate Committee on Agriculture report¬ 
ed it favorably shorn of the provision 
which looked to the transfer to it of the 
Weather Bureau, which is now attached 
to the War Department. General Greely, 
the Chief of the Weather Bureau, is known 
to favor such a transfer, but Secretary 
Endicott is opposed to it. There is no 
doubt that the new Department will be 
one of the most important and influential 
in the Government. 
by a Bureau in the Department of the In¬ 
terior or the new Department of Agricul¬ 
ture, and that the measure has been passed 
simply as a demagogic concession to pla¬ 
cate the “labor” vote. 
WASTE MANURE AND WASTE LANDS. 
T nERE are waste places where one 
would least expect them. Many 
Western farmers have a general idea that 
Long Island is one vast garden. They 
would be surprised could they travel 
over portions of it. It is quite probable 
that not much over one-half of the till¬ 
able land on the Island is cultivated. The 
census of 1880 showed that there were 
187,743 acres of unimproved land in 
Queens and Suffolk Counties. A great 
deal of this land is within 50 miles of 
the most densely populated section of 
America. This land is not exceedingly 
high-priced—much of it can be bought 
for $50 per acre. The natural fertility 
of the soil has been largely exhausted au<l 
the manurial elements needed to restore it 
are too high in price to render their use 
profitable. This state of affaijs. seems 
worse when we realize that millions of 
dollars’ worth of waste products are an¬ 
nually taken out of this city and dumped 
into the Bay at a great expense to tax¬ 
payers and a constant menace to the pub¬ 
lic health. Street sweepings, garbage and 
sewage must be removed from the city. 
If these products could be taken to those 
wasted lands on Long Island the public 
health and the public wealth would be 
promoted. Who will devise some means 
for transporting this material? Scientific 
men and engineers generally agree that it 
is just about as practical for the farmer to 
go with a team to pick up manure on the 
road as it is to try and utilize the fertil¬ 
izing materials in sewage. Must it always 
be so? 
bronzy-purple; those of the Beech a red¬ 
dish-purple, and those of the oak a gol¬ 
den color. All are surrounded by green- 
foliaged trees, both evergreen and decid¬ 
uous. We should not like to have all of 
our trees golden or purple; green wears 
better. But as flowers for a period great¬ 
ly add to the charm of all plants, so these 
bright leaf colors add a charm to the 
grounds, and are at once admired by all 
because they form a beautiful contrast 
with the prevailing color. A velvety 
lawn in itself is, perhaps, the most pleasing 
part of one’s grounds. But a lawn with¬ 
out relief becomes wearisome to look upon. 
In so far as we may select hardy and come¬ 
ly trees and shrubs of different species 
and varieties, giving the most conspicu¬ 
ous places to the choicest, in just so far 
we shall secure the first factor of an ever- 
changing beauty that is likely to increase 
with years, and to engage more and more 
our interest and affection— variety. 
DEATH OF JOHN CHALMERS MORTON. 
It seems as if the increase of the pea 
and bean weevil would ultimately render 
pea and bean culture unprofitable or im¬ 
practicable. The R. N.-Y. in order to 
preserve the seeds of its cross bred peas, 
has placed them in an atmosphere of bi¬ 
sulphide of carbon as soon as picked from 
the vines. This kills the larvae, though not 
until they have wrought some injury, but 
it impairs the vitality of the seed to such 
an extent that only about one-tenth will 
grow. As a consequence, we have deter¬ 
mined to leave the cross-breeding and im¬ 
provement of peas to others. During the 
present season we have received three lots 
of beans from as many different parts of 
the country, which were full of weevils 
and weevil holes. In several the writer 
counted between 20 and 30 holes; in 
many there were from 10 to 20. The 
highest numbers were found in the largest 
beans. Several years ago we sprayed our 
vines with Buhach water at the time the 
beetles were depositing their eggs. The 
spraying was repeated several times. 
Other vines were sprayed with a wash 
composed of carbolic acid, tobacco, and 
water. But the peas were infested all the 
same. Here we have a problem for the 
experiment stations to solve. A simple 
and effective remedy would be worth mil¬ 
lions to the country. 
Professor Plume’s dehorning bulle¬ 
tin bids fair to rival in popularity Profes¬ 
sor Henry’s celebrated record of the expe¬ 
riments in feeding for fat or lean. The 
success of these pamphlets shows how 
quick farmers are to appreciate the work 
of the stations when a topic that interests 
them is clearly discussed. Our contem¬ 
poraries are publishing the reports of these 
dehorning experiments, and making use 
of the cuts showing the structure of the 
horn. It will be remembered that the Ru¬ 
ral was the first to illustrate this matter. 
We gave pictures of a variety of horns 
some months ago. We consider the de¬ 
tails of Professor Plumb’s experiment of 
much importance, and have therefore giv¬ 
en his story of how the operation was 
done and what effect it had upon the ani¬ 
mals under “What Others Say.” 
Some iweeks ago we were told by a 
friend,'a most successful potato grower, 
that to place_seed potatoes in a warm, 
Last Tuesday a Bill establishing a De¬ 
partment of Labor, which was passed by 
the House some time ago, was passed by 
the Senate, with some minor amendments. 
The duties of the proposed new Depart¬ 
ment wfll be to acquire and diffuse among 
the people of the United States useful in¬ 
formation on subjects connected with 
labor in the most general and comprehen¬ 
sive sense, and especially upon its rela¬ 
tions to capital, including information re¬ 
garding the hours of labor, the earnings 
of the laboring classes, and the means of 
promoting their mental, social, intellec¬ 
tual, and moral prosperity. The officers 
of the Department are to consist of a Com¬ 
missioner, to be appointed by the Presi¬ 
dent, by and with the consent of the 
Senate, who is to hold office for four years, 
and receive a salary of $5,000 a year; a 
chief clerk, stenographer, and various 
minor clerks, copyists, and messengers. It 
will be seen,therefore,that the new Depart¬ 
ment is to be of the same kind as the pre¬ 
sent Department of Agriculture, having 
at its head a Commissioner without a seat 
in the Cabinet, instead of a Secretary 
with a seat there, as in the case of all the 
other Departments. The general impres¬ 
sion is that the institution is unnecessary; 
that the work can be more efficiently done 
T nE announcement of the sudden death 
of Mr. John Chalmers Morton, the 
able editor of the (English) Agricultural 
Gazette, on Thursday, May 5,.at the age 
of 07, is a cause of shock and bereave¬ 
ment, not only to the farmers of the 
United Kingdom, who have long been 
benefited by his teachings, but to those of 
the world at large, who have lost one of the 
most indefatigable workers and brightest 
lights in the industry in which they are 
engaged. He was born in 1821, and was 
the son of John Morton, agent for upwards 
of 50 years, of the Earl of Ducic, on his 
Gloucestershire estates. After attending 
college and university at Edinburgh, he 
joined the agricultural classes started by 
Professor Low; but before reaching his 
nineteenth birthday he was summoned 
home to take charge of a large farm un¬ 
der his father’s direction. In 1844 he be¬ 
came editor of the Agricultural Gazette 
just started by the proprietors .of the 
Gardener’s Chronicle, and ever since he 
has been identified with it, making it, by 
tireless labor, constant application 
and great experience and knowledge, one 
of the best agricultural papers not only in 
the United Kingdom, but in any part of 
the world. In 1855, with the assistance 
of about 50 of the most eminent men in 
I their several lines, he brought out the 
Encyclopedia of Agriculture, which has 
supplied a model and vast stores of infor¬ 
mation for all subsequent works of the 
kind. Modest, unassuming, kindly, sym¬ 
pathetic, always hopeful, always just, a 
hard worker and an upright man, he had 
a multitude of friends in life and leaves 
a multitude of mourners in death. Agri¬ 
culture can ill afford the loss of such a 
man as John Chalmers Morton. 
A FIRST FACTOR. 
brevities. 
T nERE are those among our best author¬ 
ities in landscape gardening, as it is 
called, who deem 'the employment of col¬ 
ored-foliage as not quite in keeping 
with good taste. Trees and shrubs 
should have green foliage, they 
say. It may not be in keeping with Na¬ 
ture to select for ornament the exceptions 
which she gives us instead of the rule she 
lays down, or to admire what man has 
perpetuated from Nature’s freaks. The 
Rural regards variety as among the first 
charms of a well planted country home, 
and to contribute to this variety the best 
of the so-called colored-foliaged trees 
should find a place. We are looking as 
we write upon the Golden Oak, Purple 
Birch, Purple Beech and Schwerdler’s 
Maple growing within 20 feet of each 
other, and forming as to position the four 
points'of a diamond. 
•f The leaves of the Schwerdler are a dark 
purplish’amber j^those of the Birch a dull, 
Dehorning. 
A. L. Crosby takes the other side. See 
page 365. 
For poultry food we prefer and have plant¬ 
ed the Pond Corn. 
One of our contemporaries calls it the Ru¬ 
ral French system. 
Up to this date (May 24) we'have seen hut 
one beetle on the leaves of potatoes. They 
are late this year. Currant worms, also, 
have not as yet appeared in old-time force. 
We find it economy to use an 18-inch lawn- 
mower. The lawn-mowers of to day run so 
easily and do such thorough work that an 18- 
inch machine is not too heavy for an able- 
bodied man. 
If you want to hold loose soil firmly, use 
the Canary Grass, Phalaris arundinacea. It 
spreads like wild fire, and takes complete 
possession of the soil, enduring the severest 
droughts without flinching. 
Next week the country girl will have her 
innings. A strong cartoon will picture many 
l scenes in such a girl’s life and some of our 
best writers will deal with a subject that 
should be dear to every true fanner’s heart. 
Dr. Kilborne’s remarks in regard to de¬ 
horning. on page 365, are conservative.'and his 
instructions as to how the operation should be 
performed may be regarded as embodying 
the most trustworthy information we have 
upon the subject. 
Prof. C. S. Plumb has shown commendable 
enterprise in issuing his dehorning bulletin. 
This is a subject of great importance to far¬ 
mers generally and Prof. P. is first in the 
field with scientific and accurate experiments. 
Farmers will appreciate such experiment 
work. 
In the first number of the Rural not a 
word is said about chemical fertilizers. No 
estimate of their value is made in the census 
of 1850. The census of 1880 gives the cost of 
the fertilizers purchased in 1879 at $28,586,3(17, 
and New York State farmers alone purchased 
$2,715,477 worth, ranking third in the list. 
Georgia came first with $4,346,920 worth and 
Pennsylvania second, with $3,525,336. 
As to Prof. Massey’s remarks on page 369, it 
may be stated that at the Michigan College, 
the members of the senior classes are placed 
in charge of gangs of other students and thus 
get this very executive training that Prof. M. 
I desires. We believe it does a boy good to 
know how to use tools. Certainly the man 
who can work himself is the best qualified to 
get work out of others. 
“The Rural is in a great measure to blame 
for my changing my life. It has given me a 
love for rural life and things, that made close 
office duties distasteful to me. So I have 
come back to West Camp Station where I 
have time to plant potatoes after the Rural’s 
plan, and I can enjoy country life—the best 
life of all. The Rural cannot do much harm 
if it should have many more to “blame” it for 
the same cause. Let the good work go on!” 
A CORRESPONDENT writes from New Jersey 
the following good news: “The blizzard of 
last March did more good than harm. It kill¬ 
ed the English sparrows about here so com¬ 
pletely that where we used to see hundreds 
we now see only two or three.” This illus¬ 
trates an oft-repeated proverb about an ill 
wind. Our friend is hopeful. If we did not 
know how tough the English sparrow is we 
might feel as he does. We are forced by the 
facts, however, to think that the sparrow will 
survive many blizzards. 
On another page a correspondent calls at¬ 
tention to the fact that Indian corn is not an 
important crop in England. This will sur¬ 
prise many American farmers, to whom corn 
is bread, meat, cash and clothing. But a few 
weeks ago, Prof. James Long, the great Eng¬ 
lish dairy authority, issued a circular calling 
upon all farmers who had raised maize or in¬ 
tended to try a crop, to communicate the_ re¬ 
sults. He thinks the plant will prove the best 
in existence for a forage cropl How long 
ago did American farmers learn this? 
In 1880 more money was spent for chemical 
fertilizers'in Bergen Co., N. J.. than in the en 
tire State of Wisconsin. One of the first bul¬ 
letins to be issued by the new Wisconsin Ex¬ 
periment Station is a pamphlet teaching toe 
principles of chemical fertilization, 10 
world moves!” Chemical fertilizers will not 
hurt Wisconsin farmers. In studying the 
subject we hope they will not begin by call¬ 
ing them all “phosphates.” That word has 
hopeless!} mixed many good men. It is ap¬ 
plied to manylmanures'that.dojiot contain an 
ounce of phosphoric acid. 
