92 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
FEB! 0 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
ANatlonal Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
EGBERT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1SS9. 
Bucephalus Brown presents a poultry 
eye opener this week. 
“Horn any dairyman that can take a 
pencil land put two and. two together, can 
feed cows 150 days without any return, is a 
mystery I am unable to explain-, for I find it 
costs nearly as much to feed a dry cow as 
one in milk, to make her good for anything 
when she comes in; for what one saves m the 
meal bin will be lost out of the hay-moiv.”— 
H. C. M., page 90. 
The Rural New-Yorker for 1889, will 
be, as hitherto, invariably, $2.00 a year for 
single subscriptions, and $1.50 in clubs 
of five or more. 
Next week’s R. N.-Y. will be, in part, 
given up to a consideration of commercial 
fertilizers. Should any of our readers 
desire that we send this number to any 
of their neighbors or friends, we shall be 
only too pleased to do it. Send in the 
names. 
“ Lime is still plentifully used and the 
same guantity of manure is made and ap¬ 
plied, but the residt is not the same as 
formerly. The farmers themselves differ 
greatly in opinion as to the cause. Of course 
the decreased revenue points unmistakably 
to some cause, whatever that may be. With 
these latter facts at hand, the use of lime to 
me is a vexed question .”—A. T. T., page 90. 
It is suggested to R. N.-Y. readers that 
they do not order their seeds or plants 
of any kind until the publication of the 
Rural Special, which will be devoted in 
great part to a consideration of the best 
of the new and old varieties offered by 
seedsmen and nurserymen. The subject 
will be treated by specialists fully com¬ 
petent to treat it in a comprehensi ve way. 
“ Now with all the poultry journals, the 
poultry departments, the constant pressure 
of sanguine people into the business for 
years, pray tell me why, among all 
lines of country profit-seeking, poulti-y is the 
one only line that cannot be overdone f”—B. 
Brown, page 86. 
- -» .« -» «♦ ♦■- 
It has been provided in the bill mak 
ing appropriations for the Department 
of Agriculture, that henceforth the free 
distribution of seeds, about which there 
has been so much complaint, shall be 
transferred from Congressmen to the 
National Experiment Stations in the 
various States. This is a step in the 
right direction, which has been earnestly 
advocated by the Rural. 
“ The greatest improvement that could be 
devised for a harrow would be an attach¬ 
ment that would make it impossible to use it 
off the farm, and thus prevent its being worn 
out by borrowing neighbors ”— John Gould, 
page 86. 
Mr. Lawson Valentine writes as fol¬ 
lows: 
“I do not know when I was so well 
pleased with anything in a farm journal, 
as with the articles in this week’s Rural 
on “Help.” In my opinion, that is one 
of the most important questions to dis¬ 
cuss, if not the most important. I have 
said for years that I would buy, on spec¬ 
ulation, as many farms as I could find 
captains to manage, and I say it this 
morning seriously. I am going to read 
every word of the articles on “Help,” 
and that is something I have not done for 
years, with articles on any other subject.” 
-^ ■ ■ » . ■ - 
“ The experiment stations have demon¬ 
strated that a four inch-wide tire will not 
draw as heavily in loose ground as a two- 
inch tire. I would suggest that some one of 
our manufacturers try a four-inch wide tire 
on a two-horse corn cultivator and separate 
the shovels so that they should work sep¬ 
arately. ”—S. B. H., page 87. 
At present the importation of nursery 
stock from Canada is free, and although 
similar importations from the United 
States into the Dominion are also nominal¬ 
ly free, it is charged that the Canadian au¬ 
thorities have already thrown such re¬ 
strictions about the business and pro¬ 
pose such regulations that the American 
producer is discriminated against,and the 
advantages of a free exchange are n^t 
reciprocal. It is suggested as a remedy 
that a duty be placed on nursery stock 
imported from Canada. Representative 
Baker, who represents Monroe County, 
New York, in Congress, is now in com¬ 
munication with the nurserymen of the 
country with regard to this matter, and 
is preparing a brief to be submitted to 
the House Finance Committee advocating 
protection for our nurserymen against 
any unfriendly legislation by the Canadian 
Parliament. One-sided reciprocity is no 
more relished by nurserymen than by the 
rest of the community. 
- OI»H »-- 
That is a very remarkable report just 
published by Mr. Henderson, Commis¬ 
sioner of Agriculture for Georgia. In it 
he shows that during last year the 
farmers of the State paid only at the rate 
of 78 per cent, per annum interest, against 
108 per cent, in 1887, and this reduction 
he attributes to the efforts of the Farm¬ 
ers’ Alliance. He shows that the average 
cash price of bacon in Georgia last year 
was 9 71 cents per pound; while the 
credit price was 12.3 cents. The cash 
price of corn was 77 cents per bushel; 
the credit price 98 cents. The average 
length of credit was four months. The 
advance in price is about 26 per cent, for 
one-third of a year, or 6.5 per month, or 
78 per cent, per annum. A reduction 
from 108 to 78 per cent, in a single year 
is quite encouraging, still isn’t 78 per 
cent, a trifle high even for the South? 
Ten per cent, would startle an average 
merchant, and 15 per cent, would start 
him on a quick road to bankruptcy; but 
he has no conscience in charging the poor 
farmer over five times that exorbitant 
rate. After all, wouldn’t it be better 
to borrow money, even by mortgaging 
the farm, and pay cash for supplies? 
SANITATION FOR THE COUNTRY. 
I N 1596 Sir John Harrington, of Lon¬ 
don, England, published a pamphlet 
which, under the cover of a biting satire 
upon things in general, contained the 
plans for a crude water-closet. Up to 
that time the pamphlet was the best 
argument in favor of house sanitation 
that had appeared. The subject was 
handled in such a way that Queen 
Elizabeth forbade the author from ap¬ 
pearing at court, but the evils at which 
he directed his sarcasm w T ere so evident 
and crying that it may be said that his 
volume fairly started the discussion of 
sanitary methods. While this discussion 
has had to do mainly with the wastes of 
large cities, of late years considerable at¬ 
tention has been given to the condition of 
country houses. The great increase of 
suburban residences has added to this 
interest, and many farmers are consid¬ 
ering the advisability of adding water- 
closet fixtures to their houses. There is 
one point in this connection that demands 
attention. The system of washing wastes 
out of the house by means of a stream ot 
water, is the cleanest and most convenient 
method known. In most country houses 
the water supply can be readily obtained 
and stored in tanks. But the water 
system carries with it a dangerous risk. 
There is no condition more dangerous to 
health than an accumulation of such 
wastes in the vicinity of the house. Un¬ 
less the drainage is so perfect that such 
wastes can be at once removed to a safe 
distance, the water closet is a disease 
trap. The success of such fixtures in the 
city, is due to the fact that a vast capital 
can be employed to conduct a complete 
system of sewerage, through which mil¬ 
lions ©f gallons of water run daily. In 
not one location in 50 in the country, can 
we depend upon a perfect drainage for 
a water closet. In the great majority of 
places the common earth cioset is the best 
arrangement that can be devised. 
RAILROAD BOND-VOTING IN THE 
WEST. 
P ROBABLY the most remarkable of 
the extraordinary powers conferred 
by the Legislatures of various States upon 
municipal corporations,is the authority to 
aid in the construction of railroads by 
subscribing to their stock, issuing negoti¬ 
able bonds to pay their subscriptions, and 
taxing the inhabitants or the property 
within their limits to pay the indebted¬ 
ness thus incurred. It-has been settled 
by a long line of legal decisions, includ¬ 
ing seve-al by the United States Supreme 
Court, that Legis'atures, unless restrained 
by the State constitutions, have power to 
confer this authority on municipalities. 
Many of the charters provide that the 
Jatter shall not contract debts beyond a 
certain percentage of their valuation, or 
that they shall do so only upon certain 
conditions, and in some States this object 
is secured by constitutional amendments. 
Under such circumstances those who con¬ 
tract with any municipality, do so at their 
peril; for if the percentage is exceeded, 
or the conditions have not been complied 
with, they must suffer the consequences. 
It has even been held by several of the 
States and by the Supreme Court of the 
United States that this rule is applicable 
to bona-fide holders of negotiable bonds 
issued for value received, even where the 
holders live in distant States or foreign 
countries, and have had no means of as¬ 
certaining when the constitutional or 
charter limit of indebtedness was reached, 
or whether conditions of a local character 
were unfulfilled. 
The wisdom of aiding railroad con¬ 
struction in this way is more doubtful 
than its legality. The policy has been 
followed much more in the West than in 
any other section, and in the early settle¬ 
ment of the territory it was justified by 
the growth of the country and the rate of 
increase in property valuation, due to the 
transportation facilities afforded by such 
inducements to railroad construction. In 
several of the States, however, it seems 
certain that the policy has been car¬ 
ried too far. The indebtedness in the 
form of railroad bonds outweighs the 
benefits from the construction of so many 
lines. In some cases, no doubt, where 
roads were likely to be profitable, they 
would have been constructed even if aid 
had not been given; but in a majority of 
instances, they were built for the bonds 
rather than with a view to make them 
profitable as regular business enterprises. 
In his recent message Governor Martin, of 
Kansas, speaks very emphatically of the 
evils of this policy in his own State. In 
that and in many others, frauds, 
corruptions and abuses have followed the 
granting of this power. There has often 
been a wide spread belief that flourishing 
cities might be created almost anywhere 
simply by building railroads; and there 
has been an “epidemic of insanity” in 
running hopelessly in debt for such pur¬ 
poses. This has led to the bankruptcy 
of hundreds and the serious crippling of 
thousands of towns and counties, as well 
as to shameless attempts at repudiation 
of honest debts, resulting in unmerited 
financial losses' to thousands of investors 
and financial dishonor to hundreds of 
municipalities. Isn’t it time to take 
Governor Martin’s advice, and call a halt? 
A MOVE AGAINST THE DRESSED 
MEAT MONOPOLY. 
T HE Beef Producers’ and Butchers’ 
National Association proposes to 
have introduced into all the State Leg¬ 
islatures this winter, a bill requiring that 
all animals producing meat for human 
consumption in any State must be in¬ 
spected there before they are slaughtered. 
This is a move against the Chicago 
dressed beef monopoly. Governor 
Martin, of Kansas, has just recommended 
such legislation, and the Legislatures of 
several States, notably those of Pennsyl¬ 
vania, Ohio, Kansas and Colorado, 
are seriously considering it. The op¬ 
ponents of the measure claim that it is 
almost entirely in the interests of the 
butchers and stock-yard owners who have 
lost nearly all their trade because 
Western cattle, sheep and hogs are now, 
for the most part, slaughtered in Chicago 
and other Western points instead of being 
shipped “on the hoof” to give employ¬ 
ment to stock-yards and shambles in other 
parts of the country. These are not the 
only parties aggrieved, however, for the 
monopoly is just as bitterly denounced 
by range and other Western cattle-men 
who claim that while keeping up the 
price of meat to the consumers, it unduly 
keeps down the price of live stock to the 
producers. Moreover, the vast supplies 
of meat it sends to all parts of the coun 
try greatly depress the prices of local 
meat stock, so that in wide sections it no 
longer pays to raise cattle for beef. Pro¬ 
bably the most weighty objection to the 
proposed legislation is that the courts are 
not unlikely to declare it unconstitutional, 
on the ground that it would interfere 
with interstate commerce, on which Con¬ 
gress alone can constitutionally legislate. 
It bounds the home markets by State 
lines, which, it is claimed, is contrary to 
the spirit of our institutions. 
The advocates of such legislation in¬ 
sist that many diseases which render 
meat unwholesome can be detected only 
by close inspection of the live animals 
which supply it; that a proper regard for 
the health of the people places such in¬ 
spection within the police powers of each 
State; and that, therefore, legislation to 
that end is not in violation of the Nation¬ 
al Constitution, and they point to the 
acknowledged constitutionality of the 
oleomargarine laws of various States in 
support of their opinion. They further 
charge that it is a notorious fact that large 
numbers ot animals unfit foi human food 
are constantly sold and slaughtered at 
Chicago and the other great centers of 
the dressed meat and canning business, 
and that the deleterious flesh of these is 
shipped to markets in all parts of the 
country. The dressed-meat men deny 
that they have anything to do with this 
business. They point to the fact that the 
Chicago Board of Health keeps three in¬ 
spectors at the stock- yards all the time, who 
have authority to kill all live stock in¬ 
tended for slaughter for human food and 
to send their carcasses to the rendering 
establishments, if they are found unfit for 
human consumption. They show that 
the Live Stock Commissioners of the 
State have established a thorough inspec¬ 
tion of the yards; that the State of Illi¬ 
nois has also stationed at the yards an 
agent of the Humane Society whose busi¬ 
ness it is to look after maimed and 
“downed” animals which may be un¬ 
loaded from the cars, and to see that no 
unfit cattle are sold for human food; and 
that after inspection has been made by 
all these public officers, the slaughterers 
have inspectors of their own who reject 
any diseased cattle which may, by any pos¬ 
sibility, have run the gauntlet of the other 
inspectors. Moreover, they demand the 
appointment of inspectors by the National 
Government, “ to make assurance doubly 
sure.” It is a fact, however, that both 
the producers and consumers of meat 
throughout the country are bitterly dis¬ 
satisfied with the aciion of the greedy 
meat monopoly of the “Big Four,” and 
State and, perhaps, Federal legislation 
must ere long check its exactions. 
brevities. 
The R. N.-A .’s notices and reviews of seeds¬ 
men’s catalogues received up to that date will 
appear next week. 
It is with much regret that we learn that 
the large and finely equipped shops of the 
Moseley & Stoddard Manufacturing Com¬ 
pany, at Poultney, Vermont, were burned on 
January 18. One ware house filled with fin¬ 
ished creameries and churns, was saved, so 
that tor the present they can promptly fill all 
orders, and they have already made arrange¬ 
ments to continue manufacturing so that 
there will be no interruption in the business. 
The most thankless job on the farm—or 
anywhere else—is that of cleaning out the 
J irivy vault. We have done this job for the 
ast time, we hope. We dug the vault out to 
a depth of five feet. It was then filled with 
itones and gravel. We shall never use the 
vault again. Large iron coal hods rest on the 
floor under the seats. A plentiful supply of 
coal ashes or sand will be kept constantly on 
hand in a box, to be used whenever required. 
A door at the back will enable us to remove 
the hods whenever it is necessary to empty 
them. We will have no more vaults. 
Our valued contributor E. S. Goff, of the 
New York Agricultural Station at Geneva, 
has been elected to take charge of the horti¬ 
cultural department of the Wisconsin Experi¬ 
ment Station, and also to fill the Chair of 
Horticulture in the University of Wisconsin, 
at Madison. While regretting that the New 
York Experiment Station is to lose the valu¬ 
able services of Mr. Goff, we congratulate the 
University of Wisconsin on having secured 
them. Professor Goff is one of the most un¬ 
tiring and conscientious experimenters we 
know of. 
The bill creating a new Department of 
Agriculture has, for some time, been before 
conferees of both Houses, as they disagreed 
on some points. The conferees have just ac¬ 
cepted the bill cs it passed the Senate, and in 
a short time it will go to the President for his 
signature. It provides for the appointment 
ot a Secretary of Agriculture who is to have 
a seat in the Cabinet, and an Assistant Secre¬ 
tary, who must be a practical farmer, together 
with other officers. The House wanted that 
the Weather Bureau of the Signal Service 
should be transferred to the new Department; 
but this has not been insisted on. 
In South Carolina there are two kinds of 
f hosphate rock—river and laud phosphate. 
u the European markets the former is pre¬ 
ferred. In 1888,190,274 tons of it w ere dredged 
from the beds of the rivers, and of this 
amount only 29,381 tons were retained in the 
United States. Of the land rock 259.330 tons 
were mined last year, and only 3,650 tons 
were exported. Though the soil of South 
Carolina is rather thin and sterile, her remark¬ 
able abundance of phosphate rock, besides ren¬ 
dering her own fields more productive, con¬ 
tribute materially to the fertilization ot farm 
lauds throughout the country. The State 
levies a tax of $1 a ton on the product, so that 
last year she obtaiued a revenue of $449,504 
from this source. 
