RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Home-. 
Conducted by 
KI.BKRT S. CAR XjLI> 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Parr Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, JULY 14, 1888. 
“ That art on which a thousand millions of men are 
dependent for their sustenance, and two hundred mil¬ 
lions of men expend their daily toll, must be the most 
importantof all—the parent and precursor of all other 
arts. In every country, then, and at every period, the 
investigation of the principles on which the rational 
practice of this art is founded, ought to have com¬ 
manded the principal attention of the greatest minds. 
—James F. W. Johnson. 
The Rural New-Yorker for the com¬ 
ing campaign desires to be represented at 
all the leading fairs, farmers’ institutes, etc. 
in the country, and to have active, relia¬ 
ble agents in every county. Liberal terms 
will be granted upon application. 
We (July 3) carefully dug up (with a 
spade) several plants of the Rural Blush 
Potato to find that the tubers are just be¬ 
ginning to form. Early potatoes are now 
about as large as small hen’s eggs. With 
the late potatoes, roots were found 18 
inches long extending from trench to 
trench. As we have before stated, it is 
difficult to see how these roots can be 
disturbed, as they are in hilling up or 
deep cultivation, without lessening the 
power of the plants to withstand the dry 
weather that is no doubt before them. 
Every year there is more or less dis¬ 
cussion as to the amount of manure a 
single animal will produce. Most of 
the letters we get on this subject are from 
those who wish to know how many bar¬ 
rels of manure they may expect from a 
given number of hens. Such questions 
are always hard to answer, because so 
much depends upon the methods employed 
in preserving hen manure. Some mix it 
with earth or coal-ashes, while others 
merely sprinkle it with plaster. We know 
that a bird will produce a surprisingly 
large amount of manure during the year. 
When we moved on to the new farm two 
months ago we noticed that a small flock 
of doves made their home in the barn 
cupola. From this place we cleaned 
nearly three barrels of pure manure of 
the finest quality. 
The following comparatively new 
wheats are now ripening at the Rural 
Grounds : Wyandotte Red, Patagonian, 
High Grade, Dietz Longberry, New Mon¬ 
arch, Golden Eureka and Fullcaster. Il¬ 
lustrations of medium-sized heads will 
be given of each. During the past 12 
or 14 years the R. N.-Y. has grown 
as many as 250 varieties of wheat, not, of 
course, including its own cross-breeds. 
These alone would amount to as many, 
though most of them have been rejected 
as inferior to, or no better than, those in 
cultivation. 
Since our notes in regard to the Rosa- 
rugosa-Harrison’s-Yellow hybrids were 
written, a second plant has bloomed. 
The leaflets are long, rather narrow, and 
of a light-green color, quite different 
from either parent. The flower was quite 
small (inch and a-half in diameter) of the 
color of its mother, with 10 petals, the 
inner row bSing somewhat rudimentary. 
The first plant which will be described 
and illustrated on the first page of next 
week’s issue is well worthy of preservation. 
Every succeeding flower seems larger and 
to last longer. But this second infant 
might as well not have been born. 
We believe that Prof. Short’s method 
of determining the amount of fat in milk 
will prove very valuable to creamery men 
and even private dairymen. As a first 
lesson in chemistry, it will create an in¬ 
terest in that science among those who 
have heretofore looked upon it as a deep 
mystery, to be solved only by the select 
few. The fact of the matter is, that there 
are dozens of little chemical tests and 
analyses that an intelligent farmer can 
work out at home. We do not mean 
that a farmer can afford the time or the 
money needed to fit up a complete labor¬ 
atory and make elaborate analyses, but we 
do mean that any man who can study opt 
an ordinary arithmetic can acquire a suf¬ 
ficient knowledge of chemistry to enable 
him to make fairly satisfactory qualita¬ 
tive analyses. Prof. Short’s pamphlet is 
a step in the right direction, and we hope 
it will be appreciated. Such work as 
this from the experiment stations is very 
satisfactory. 
The R. N.-Y. often finds reason for feel¬ 
ing gloomy as one or another class of its 
investigations comes to naught through 
no fault of its own. We are just now 
thinking of the disease which has attacked 
our raspberry plants, rendering anvthing 
like a fair trial of the many kinds”being 
tested out of the question. The canes 
of the current season, grow strong and 
apparently healthy. These canes the next 
year, just after blossoming, develop small 
black patches which increase until con¬ 
siderable portions are covered. The leaves 
turn yellow, the fruit dries up and the 
canes die in mid season. Even our rasp- 
berry-blackberry hybrids are thus affected. 
What is the matter ? We have vainly 
striven to find the cause or remedy. 
In reply to the R. N.-Y.’s question, the 
Dep’t of Agriculture writes.: 
“The diseased canes are infested with 
a fungus known as Sphsera Hendersonia. 
It usually attacks only dead or dying 
canes. Doubtless the canes in question have 
been injured in some other way. The 
full history of the fungus is unknown.” 
In Mr. Woodward’s description of an 
English fair last week, he mentioned two 
features that Americans ought to copy— 
the horse-shoeing contest and the dairy 
contest. Both of these features would be 
sure to take well here. Farmers would 
enjoy the blacksmith contest, and the man 
who wouldn’t run to see a dozen bright 
American dairymaids compete for a prize 
at butter-making doesn’t deserve to be 
called an American. In these two matters 
John Bull is ahead of Uncle Sam and Miss 
Bull is beating Miss Sam. Here is a chance 
for Secretary Woodward. Let him come 
home and arrange for these contests at the 
coming State fair and at the institutes this 
winter. 
The Road Special of the Rural did 
considerable good, it appears. We learn 
of a number of townships where road ma¬ 
chines have been bought and where a sys¬ 
tematic effort is to be made to work the 
roads into something like shape. We 
drive over a road every day where the sins 
of the last road-master are coming to 
light. He dug out the road and then laid 
stones loosely in and covered them 
with dirt. Through the winter the frost 
slowly threw these stones out. The 
dirt settled under them. The little earth 
above them dried out. A heavy rain 
came and washed the dry dirt away. 
Now we go bumping over sharp stones. 
Pleasant isn’t it? Within a mile from our 
farm an American and a German were dis¬ 
cussing. “This is the finest country in 
the world” said Uncle Sam’s son. “The 
safest government, the best society, most 
freedom and grandest institutions.” The | 
An Iowa subscriber is so much pleased 
with our facsimile of the first page of the 
old Moore’s Rural New-Yorker, that he 
sends sample pages of the Genesee Farmer 
dated May, 1851, Volume 12, No. 5, and 
The Farmer’s Cabinet of October 15, 1836. 
This latter paper was published at Phila¬ 
delphia, Pa. The leading article in this 
paper is entitled “Washington’s Agricul¬ 
tural Notes.” These are extracts from 
the letters of George Washington to his 
farm overseer. The following was written 
by farmer Washington nearly 100 years 
ago. It is truer now than it was then: 
“Economy in all things is as commendable in 
the manager, as it is beneficial and desirable 
to the employer; and, on a farm, it shows it¬ 
self in nothing more evidently, or more essen¬ 
tially, than in not suffering the provender to 
be wasted, but, on the contrarv, in taking 
care that every atom of it be used to the best 
advantage; and likewise, in not permitting the 
plows, harness, and other implements of 
husbandry, and the gears belonging to them, 
to be unnecessarily exposed, trodden under 
foot, run over by carts, and abused in other 
respects.” 
Speaking of the recent meeting of the 
American Association of Nurserymen at 
Detroit, a well-known fruit grower writes: 
“The reduction of freights secured by the 
society last year is worth 10 times more than 
all the money expended by the society since 
its organization. Nurserymen cannot afford 
to stay away from such meetings. Four of 
my fellow travelers communicated to each 
other valuable information enough on pack¬ 
ing, etc., before reaching Detroit to more 
than pay all of our expenses. One member 
related to me information worth $500. The 
social features are also worth all the trip 
costs. I do not doubt that new and attract¬ 
ive features will be introduced at the next 
If this man, who is supposed to be a 
teacher of horticultural methods, can learn 
so much, how valuable must such a meet¬ 
ing be to a scholar in horticulture! The 
meetings of the association are held at the 
wrong season. It is too hot. 
Next year, the meeting will be held 
during the first week in June. Then it is 
hoped the weather will be cooler. If a 
quiet and comfortable room cannot be 
secured in Chicago next year, a steamer 
will be chartered on which the society can 
board, lodge, visit and hold sessions, away 
from the roar and rattle of noisy streets. 
-♦ •»- 
A gigantic scheme has been proposed 
by which the canons of the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains are to be dammed up from the Cana¬ 
dian line to Mexico, in order to form vast 
reservoirs of water to be used in the irri¬ 
gation of arid lands, and so prevent floods 
in the Missouri and lower Mississippi. 
Major Powell, Director of the National 
Survey, estimates that at least 150,000 
| square miles of land might thus be re- 
[ claimed—a territory exceeding in extent 
one half of the land now cultivated in 
the United States! The plan is to build 
dams across the canons in the mountains, 
large enough and strong enough to hold 
back the floods from heavy rains and 
melting snows, and then let the water 
down as it is needed upon the land to be 
reclaimed. In view of the vast irrigating 
works of ancient Egypt, India and other 
countries, there is no doubt that such a 
plan is quite feasible to modern engineer¬ 
ing skill. Indeed it is very likely that 
some scheme of the kind will be put in 
practice when land becomes more valuable 
as population becomes denser. Who 
shall say that the great Western “desert” 
shall not be transformed into rich arable 
lands by this means by the second centen- 
nary of American Independence? 
The Public Land Bill now before Con¬ 
gress is of great importance not only to 
the residents on the Western frontier, but 
to all who may in future settle on the pub¬ 
lic domain, Briefly its provisions are as 
follows:. The first section classifies all 
the public lands as agricultural, timber, 
mineral, desert and reserved. Section 
three allows every citizen or person who 
has declared his intention to become a cit¬ 
izen to enter 160 acres of iron and coal 
land at a price of $10 per acre. The next 
six sections forbid the sale of timber 
lands, but allow the timber to be sold 
under proposals. Settlers are to be al¬ 
lowed to take, for domestic use, timber 
not commercially valuable. The Presi¬ 
dent is authorized to set apart tracts of 
forest lands as public reservations. Sec¬ 
tion eleven provides for the sale of isolated 
tracts of less size than 160 acres for not 
less than $1.25 per acre. Sections twelve 
to seventeen relate to desert lands. They 
authorize any person to enter 320 acres of 
such land by affidavit that it is for his 
own benefit and not for a corporation, 
and that he intends to cultivate it by ir¬ 
rigation and upon payment of $5 to 
$20 according to the size of the entry. 
Any person who has not previously had 
the benefit of the homestead and pre¬ 
emption laws, and who has failed to per¬ 
fect title to a tract entered by him, is to 
be permitted to make a second entry on 
agricultural land in lieu thereof. A sec¬ 
tion of the bill makes it unlawful for any¬ 
one to cut and wantonly harm or destroy 
what may be necessary for clearing the 
land for cultivation by settlers. 
They are all the more to be feared be¬ 
cause they appear to be utterly irrespons¬ 
ible, as it is very doubtful whether, 
owing to their peculiar form of organiza¬ 
tion, they are controllable by the laws of 
any State in the Union, and it is certain 
that the existing laws of the great major¬ 
ity of the States have no hold upon them. 
For nearly two years the State of Louisi¬ 
ana has been trying legally to break up 
the oppressive Cotton-Seed Oil Trust 
within her borders, and has not yet suc¬ 
ceeded, and it is a trifle doubtful whether 
she ever will under her present laws 
No doubt should be permitted to exist 
about the subjection of these associations 
to the laws of every State, and wherever 
any doubt exists on the matter at present 
prompt legislation should remove it. 
THE R. N.-Y.’S WHEAT CROSSES AND 
RYE-WHEAT HYBRIDS. 
NEED OF ANTI-TRUST LEGISLATION. 
T he Attorney-General of New York 
State has decided, after much delib¬ 
eration, to bring an action against the 
North River Refinery, one of the firms in¬ 
cluded in the Sugar Trust. A fter careful 
consideration of the evidence, he is of 
opinion that the present laws are quite 
sufficient to secure necessarv redress 
against the monopolistic extortion and op¬ 
pression of trusts, and he thinks it proper 
and necessary that the charges made 
against this particular trust should be 
judicially investigated. It is also under¬ 
stood that he will at once begin action 
against the Sugar Refineries Company, 
commonly known as the Sugar Trust, 
which is the ch?ef offender. As far back 
as the middle of last May arguments were 
made before him urging him to bring an 
action in behalf of the State against the Su¬ 
gar Trust and the corporations represented 
in that. organization; but it is understood 
that it is the late boycotting action of the 
monopoly that has incited him to take 
action just now. “ Trusts,” as at present 
organized, are the most dangerous, per¬ 
nicious and tyrannical form of monopoly, 
that has ever existed in this country! 
^^TE are now selecting some of our 
cross-bred wheats with a view to 
propagating them for, first, distribution 
among our subscribers and, second, in¬ 
troduction to the wheat-growing public 
at large in some other way. We have se¬ 
lected some six varieties that are now 
quite well fixed for the first distribution 
and their propagation for that purpose 
will be begun this fall. Next year prob¬ 
ably as many more varieties will have be- 
j come fixed, and the year after as many 
more and so on; so that for a number of 
years to come the distribution of these 
wheats will be continued, 
It may now be stated that several of the 
rye-wheat hybrids are assuming definite 
characteristics so that their propagation 
also will be begun the present year, while, 
it is heped, others will assume fixed 
forms and prove worthy of introduction 
in later years. 
These cross-breeds and hybrids, as our 
older readers are aware, are the result 
of some 11 years of diligent labor. 
The work of crossing and hybridizing is 
still going on and may end only with the 
lives of those who are carrying it on. In 
how far these crosses and hybrids may 
prove superior to the varieties now in 
general cultivation can be known only 
after they have been tried in various parts 
of the country and by those who are not 
biased by interested motives. The R. N.- 
Y. freely admits that it—like other par¬ 
ents—may look at its children, so to 
speak, through convex glasses. 
Exact pictures from photographs will 
be presented in a few weeks of the six 
cross-bred wheats to be first introduced, 
and of several heads of the rye-wheats, 
which will show the progress made with 
these hybrids, 
, > 
BREVITIES. 
The Bright Side. 
Bagging grapes can hardly be delayed 
much longer if we would derive much benefit 
from the bags. 
The rank weeds that have not come to a 
head,might just as well be cut now and put on 
the compost heap. 
“It is impossible for a farmer to make money 
on the farm and read the daily papers,” is what 
a Western friend writes us. Do you believe it? 
The experiments with young turkeys which 
Mr. Jacobs records, would indicate that we 
| have been favored with a good deal of value¬ 
less information on poultry matters.. 
In the estimation of the R. N.-Y., there is 
no other occupation on earth whose bright 
side is half so bright as the bright side of 
farm life. And there is no other occupation 
whose dark side is more endurable and less 
gloomy. 
Why are many farmers afraid to feed rye 
to poultry? We have been told a good many 
times that rye would poison all fowls that ate 
it. This is quite a popular superstition in 
some localities. We have been feeding it for 
the past two weeks to a flock of hens. They 
did not eat it readily at first, but none of them 
have been poisoned. 
Gas-lime is a substance that deceives many 
farmers or gardeners who are searching for 
cheap fertilizers. The odor of this substance 
is surely strong enough, but its use on the soil 
will be sure to thicken the truth of the rude* 
saying that the nose is a poor thing to use ini 
analyzing manure. Don’t make the mistake 
of supposing that because gas-lime smells badly, 
it is a better fertilizer than plaster. It is not.l 
