434 
THE RURAL NEW-Y9B8CER. 
JUNE 30 
THE 
RURAL NEW'YORKER, 
A Nat ional Journal for Country anil (Suburban Home'. 
Conducted by 
K1BERI S. CARKAIf 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-fORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, JUNE JO, 1888. 
There has been less discussion than 
usual this year as to the relative values of 
early or late-cut hay. The advocates of 
dried grass, or hay cut and cured early 
in the bloom, have gained ground of late. 
They have a good cause and one that is 
sure to gain friends whenever tried. 
One reason for the apparent lack of inter¬ 
est in the subject this year lies in the 
fact that in a great many communities 
work is about three weeks behind on ac¬ 
count of the surprisingly wet May. So 
it happens that farmers will actually not 
be able to cut their grass as early as they 
would like. 
New York is now an Arbor Day State, 
our Arbor Day being the first Friday after 
the first of May. In one respect the New 
York law differs from that of other States 
—it makes it the duty of the authorities 
of each public school “to assemble the 
scholars in their charge on that day in the 
school or elsewhere” and hold “such ex¬ 
ercises as shall tend to encourage the 
planting, protection and preservation of 
trees and shrubs and an acquaintance with 
the best methods to be adopted to accom¬ 
plish such results.” This duty is im¬ 
perative—there is no choice about the 
matter. 
A correspondent, in another part of this 
paper, wants to know at what age a per¬ 
son can secure a farm, tools, stock, etc., 
without going in debt. We have not 
lived long enough to know. We have 
not come to that age yet. The above 
remark is brought out by a reference 
made by the Rural to the farmer in the 
Dark Side Story. This man had the 
farm, stock and tools left him—he cer¬ 
tainly had a good enough start in life. 
He had nothing in the world to do but to 
keep down his expenses, avoid debts and 
keep out of speculations. He did not do 
either one—he allowed his expenses to 
largely overtop his income, he became an 
habitual borrower, and he carried specula¬ 
tive farming to the extreme. Had he 
been in debt for his farm, forced to plan 
and save in order to meet his payments, 
he might have been forced into habits 
of economy that would have saved 
him. 
The Southern Cotton Seed Oil Com¬ 
pany, the welcome rival of the monopolis¬ 
tic Cotton-Seed Oil Trust, has attained a 
year’s growth, and in spite of many sinis¬ 
ter prophecies, holds a strong position. 
The stockholders held their first annual 
meeting in Philadelphia on Wednesday, 
and mutual congratulations were the or¬ 
der of the day. The energetic, upright 
management of the company during the 
year lias resulted in a fair margin of pro¬ 
fit, and it was a question whether the 
surplus should be used for paying divi¬ 
dends or kept as a means for the further 
enlargement of its business. The latter 
proposition met with the hearty approval 
of a large majority of the stockholders, as 
it was deemed unwise, in the face of strong 
and unscrupulous competition, to use up a 
surplus on one year’s existence of the com¬ 
pany. It was thought at first that this or¬ 
ganization would be either absorbed or 
crushed by the more powerful Cotton- 
Seed Oil Trust, which formerly held a 
monopoly of the business; but from present 
indications the new company has come to 
stay as a thoroughly independent as¬ 
sociation. 
In order to show the effectiveness of 
the Rural’s trench system of raising pota¬ 
toes and the philosophy of it, a number of 
experiments are being carried on. Most 
of them have been tried again and again 
before, but not with the view of compar¬ 
ative results. 
In about 20 different trenches 33 feet 
long, seed pieces were placed at different 
depths—all the way from 10 to four inches. 
We claim that to secure the full benefit of 
the trenches, the seeds should be planted 
much deeper than in ordinary culture, 
thus securing all the advantages of hill¬ 
ing-up without its disadvantages. There 
is such a thing as planting potatoes too 
deep, of course, but the depth as we be¬ 
lieve is, to an extent, to be regulated by 
the mellowness, the porosity of the soil. 
We are carefully lifting potato plants to 
show the root and tuber formation and 
growth at different stages; to show the 
differences which exist between such plants 
deep-planted and shallow-planted. The 
difference reminds us of a house one-story 
high and another, of the same base, six 
stories high. In the one case we have the 
capacity of one floor; in the other of six 
floors, without increasing the land area. 
We are also continuing our experiments 
to find out whether it is economy to sow 
the fertilizer under or over the seed pieces. 
It is quite likely that the results would vary 
with the season. In a very dry season one 
would expect the fertilizer below to give a 
better yield than during a wet season. 
The recent rise in the retail price of 
beef once more calls attention to the 
operations of the Chicago dressed beef 
ring. It is a well known fact that 
while the prices paid to the cattle raisers 
of the West for their live stock have been 
steadily pushed down by the combination 
of five butchers and packers at Chicago, 
the retail prices to customers have been 
steadily advanced. The whole beef trade 
east of the Windy City is at the mercy 
of this unscrupulous ring which is hand- 
in-glove with the railroad traffic associa¬ 
tions to crush out competition and perpet¬ 
uate the monopoly. A telegram from 
Chicago on Thursday says there are well- 
founded rumors that a hostile outbreak 
in the dressed beef rates is about to 
occur. The Grand Trunk Railroad of 
Canada gives specially low rates on beef 
to the East, and the other trunk lines are 
about to cut to the same figure, at least 
two of them having already done so. Are 
the public in the East likely to gain by 
the lower rates of freight? Judging by 
past experience in the case of this oppres¬ 
sive monopoly, we hardly think so. The 
United States Senate has appointed a 
committee of five members to investigate 
the extortionate action of this permanent 
corner in a food product so generally 
used; but it will not report till next 
session of Congress, and then little good 
will result from its investigations unless its 
recommendations are vigorously supported 
by indignant public opinion. 
A royal commission representing the 
colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, 
South Australia, Queensland, New Zea¬ 
land and Tasmania, was recently appoint¬ 
ed to inquire “as to whether the intro¬ 
duction of disease among rabbits by 
inoculation or otherwise, or the propa¬ 
gation of diseases natural to rabbits for the 
purpose of destroying them or promoting 
their destruction, would be accompanied 
by danger to human or animal life,” and 
has held a number of sittings at Sidney. 
It has taken a large mass of testimony, 
and has decided to hold a series of ex¬ 
periments at Sidney to test the nature of 
the various diseases which it is proposed 
to communicate to the rabbits, and to as¬ 
certain how far, if at all, other animals 
are likely to be affected by them. Sheep, 
horses, goats and a variety of other ani¬ 
mals will be experimented on to discover, 
whether they are liable to take any of the 
diseases or not, and the experiments will 
be of as thorough a nature as the circum¬ 
stances of the case will permit, in order 
that the whole question of rabbit diseases 
may be put on a practical basis. Victo¬ 
ria some time ago passed a very stringent 
law for the extermination of the pests, 
and appropriated $100,000 in aid of the 
project; but it is now conceded on all 
hands that no good has been effected, and 
that the money has been uselessly lost. 
The rabbit plague is a far more serious 
and disastrous matter with Australasians 
than even Chinese immigration, and one 
much harder to combat; and the pest is 
also becoming a grievous nuisance in 
wide districts in California and New 
Mexico. 
The New York Legislature has passed an 
act “to promote agriculture and im¬ 
prove the quality of butter and cheese,” 
and the bill has been approved by the 
Governor. By it the Dairy Commis¬ 
sioner is directed to employ expert 
butter and cheese makers not exceed¬ 
ing five in number, -whose duty it 
shall be, under his directions, to ex¬ 
amine and inspect butter and cheese 
factories and the methods empoyed there¬ 
in, and attend at such agricultural fairs, 
institutes, meetings and conventions with¬ 
in the State as shall be designated by the 
Commissioner, to impart thereat inform¬ 
ation as to the best methods of making 
butter and cheese. The compensation of 
these men is to be fixed by the Commis¬ 
sioner who will audit their expense ac¬ 
count, and the bill is to be paid by the 
State Treasurer on a warrant by the Comp¬ 
troller. Five thousand dollars have been 
appropriated for the purpose, and the en¬ 
tire outlay must not exceed that sum. On 
or before December 15th next the Com¬ 
missioner must report the number of 
experts employed under the act together 
with their compensation and expenses, 
and must include the whole in his annual 
report. Another appropriation of $2,500 
has been made to theState Dairy Association 
to be expended in holding a number of dairy 
conferences in various parts of the State 
to illustrate butter and cheese-making. 
At these conferences, which will be held 
at creameries or factories, the entire pro¬ 
cess of making either butter or cheese 
will be performed by experts in view of 
all who wish to attend, and all inquiries 
will be satisfactorily answered. Similar 
methods have been practiced in Canada 
and Ireland with excellent results, and 
the Rural has for years been a strong 
advocate of such methods of instruction 
in this country. Now that New York, 
the greatest dairy State in the Union, has 
set an example, it is to be hoped that it 
will be followed in other States where 
dairying is already an important indus¬ 
try as well as in those which are well 
suited to the business. 
POTATO RATINGS BY THE VINES. 
H ere are some figures, thoughtful 
readers of the R. N-Y., that go to 
show among other things the effective¬ 
ness of experiments on a poor soil. The 
number 10 indicates the largest and thrift¬ 
iest tops. First we give the ratings, as 
judged June 21, of the tops of potatoes, 
half of which were planted over and half 
under the fertilizer. 
Fertilizer under —10, 9, 10, 6, 9, 8, 
8, 7, 0, 8,—making in all a rating of 8 1-8. 
Fertilizer over— 8 , 10, 8, 9, 8, 8, 10, 
9, 9,—a rating of 8 7 9. We should there¬ 
fore look for a somewhat better yield from 
those trenches in which the fertilizer is 
placed over the seed pieces. 
DEPTH. 
4 inches depth ; rated 
8 
8 “ 
44 
44 
6 
4 “ 
u 
4 4 
8 
10 “ 
4( 
44 
9 
10 “ 
44 
44 
10 
8 “ 
(4 
44 
< » 
8 
4 “ 
4 4 
44 
7 
10 “ 
44 
4 • 
8 
8 “ 
44 
4* 
10 
It appears therefore that the potatoes 
planted four inches deep are rated 7 2-3. 
Those planted eight inches deep are rated 
eight. Those planted 10 inches deep are 
rated nine. Would you have thought it, 
readers? Herein we may may see, per¬ 
haps, zpartol the benefit to be derived 
from deep trenches. 
FERTILIZERS. 
220 Pounds to 
acre, 
Rated 
4 
44 
44 
44 
44 
44 
5 
44 
44 
44 
44 
44 
4 
440 
44 
44 
44 
44 
7 
44 
44 
44 
44 
44 
7 
44 
44 
44 
44 
44 
7 
880 
44 
• 4 
44 
44 
6 
44 
44 
44 
44 
44 
7 
44 
44 
44 
44 
44 
8 
1,320 
44 
44 
44 
44 
9 
44 
44 
44 
44 
* 4 
9 
1,760 
44 
44 
44 
44 
10 
4t 
44 
44 
44 
44 
9 
Nothing, 
4 4 
..•4 
.. 3 
The average shows that 220 pounds of 
fertilizer to the acre are rated 4 1-3 ; 440 
pounds, 7; 880 pounds, 7 ; 1,320 pounds, 
9 ; 1,760 pounds, 9 1-2 ; no fertilizer, 
3 1-2. 
Let us see in how far the yields will 
correspond to these careful ratings. It 
will be remembered that in all our ex¬ 
periments in years past, the ratings of 
their condition have been proportionate 
to their yields. 
COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS AT THE 
WEST. 
T he question raised by Mr. B. F. 
Johnson, on another page, is sure to 
meet with considerable adverse criticism 
from Western farmirs. Three years ago, 
in the Rural’s Fertilizer Special, West¬ 
ern farmers expressed themselves about as 
follows: “Why buy commercial fertili¬ 
zers when it would be cheaper to make 
needed manure by raising more live stock 
and saving what manure we now make?” 
What is Mr. Johnson’s argument? Briefly 
this: 1. The average crop-yield on the 
black soils is decreasing. 2. The soil is 
still strong enough in the elements main¬ 
ly supplied by stable manure—it lacks, 
if anything, phosphoric acid. Supply 
this in the form of a bone phosphate and 
the balance of the fertility is restored, at 
a saving of labor and time. 3. These 
bone phosphates should be made and 
used where the cattle are fed. Here is 
the ideal plan. Corn grown on this black 
soil; this corn fed to range cattle; cattle 
slaughtered at near-by points and shipped 
as dressed beef; the bones and offal made 
into fertilizers which are to be used on 
the very lands from which the original 
corn was grown. It is safe to say that 
many Western farmers are ready to 
acknowledge that there are sound points 
in this reasoning. There will be a great 
many more of them 10 years hence. A 
good many farmers are prejudiced—al¬ 
most superstitious—about the use of chem¬ 
ical fertilizers. The same thing was 
once true of New York farmers who now 
use tons of chemicals with profit. In 
New Jersey farming without chemical 
fertilizers would be a ruinous business. 
This state of affairs will never be reached 
in Illinois, but the time will come when 
it will be found profitable to use the pre¬ 
pared bones and offal as well as the 
manure of the stock raised on Illinois 
farms. The time will never come again, 
in any civilized portion of this country 
when a farmer can afford to throw away 
manure, and a well-grounded idea of the 
true value and the place in agriculture that 
chemical fertilizers occupy will be an 
aid to any progressive Western farmer. 
It is just as wise to urge Illinois farmers 
to make use of the bones and offal of their 
cattle as it is to urge Wisconsin farmers to 
feed out the bran shipped through their 
State to Eastern markets. The Wiscon¬ 
sin Experiment Station directors with 
their usual clear-sightedness see this fact 
and have already issued a bulletin stating 
the primary facts regarding the use and 
abuse of chemical fertilizers. 
brevities. 
Our last planting of sweet corn was made 
last Tuesday, June 20. We planted Ever¬ 
green. Early varieties may well be planted 
yet for two weeks. 
Among the many who are trying the 
Rural’s Trench System is the venerable Mr. 
A. B. Allen. No doubt, after this season, 
this method will stand on its own merits or 
fall for want of them. 
The Connecticut Board of Agriculture will 
hold their strawberry exhibition at the home 
of P. M. Augur, Middlefield, Conn., June 28. 
Those who go will be enabled to see and eat 
some of the finest strawberries grown. 
The papers are full of “Hot Weather Hints.” 
We can only give the advice we gave last 
winter: “Keep your head cool, your feet warm 
and your bowels open.” This is harder to 
carry out than it was in December, but it cov¬ 
ers the ground. 
Dry, very dry weather. Potatoes are suf¬ 
fering. The season seems to be growing 
favorable for showing up the drought-resist¬ 
ing effects of the Rural’s Trench System. 
It is to be hoped, however, that the weather 
will not carry things too far, you know. 
The vinegar business is a pretty profitable 
one for many farmers. Too many apples are 
wasted, and too much adulterated vinegar 
finds its way to city tables. We are going to 
tell the whole story about vinegar-making in 
a few weeks, or, rather, men who make vine¬ 
gar for a living are going to tell it for us. 
It will be remembered that the vote in the 
Massachusetts State Senate on the “Oleo” 
bill was a draw—20 to 20. Secretary Brig¬ 
ham, of the Massachusetts Grange, who 
worked hard for the bill, writes as follows : 
“ We do not call a draw a defeat, but it lost 
us the bill. We shall settle the question at 
the polls next autumn.” 
What is the matter with the hens? They 
are not doing their duty, or else our people 
are eating more eggs than ever. Eggs are 
higher in price now than for many years at 
this season. At our home market last year 
we sold “14 for a quarter.” Now we get the 
quarter for only 10. Something is wrong 
with the American hen! 
Judging from the Rural Grounds it is a 
mighty insect season. Potato beetles were 
never more plentiful; rose-bugs exist in 
swarms. Plum trees, the tips of grape-vine 
canes and many ornamental plants are alive 
with aphides, and some of them, like plums 
and euonymus, are disgusting, unsightly ob¬ 
jects. 
We may now sow strawberry seeds in drills 
made in clean, rich soil of the garden. Keep 
the bed moist aud shade it during the middle 
of the day. Select the finest berries and 
separate the seeds by mashing the berries and 
drying the pulps. The seeds will soon germi¬ 
nate. Protect them next fall, and transplant 
next spring to their permanent beds. 
Great Britain is evidently resolved to let 
American adulterated food products severely 
alone. During the past week there have been 
three convictions at Liverpool of agents of 
American firms who sold adulterated lard, 
and in each case a heavy fine was inflicted. 
This will be a warning, which will doubtless 
greatly decrease the quantity of adulterated 
lard exported by Armour & Co., and our other 
adulterating capitalists. British imports of 
American cheese are also steadily declining. 
In 1887 the imports amounted to 759,463 cwts., 
against 1,345,745 cwts. in 1878. The cause of 
this great falling off is said to be the whole¬ 
sale adulteration of American cheese with 
lard, cotton-seed oil, and skim-milk. All Eng- 
ish dealers selling this adulterated product are 
liable to prosecution under the recent Mer¬ 
chandise Mark Act. It is not at all unlikely 
that American makers and shippers of fraudu¬ 
lent agricultural products will soon be made 
tq learn that “honesty is the best policy.” 
