1889 
run RUBAI WEW-YORKIR. 
179 
But in England, for example, there are some 
32,000,000 acres of land and some 25,000,000 
people, not quite one and a-third acre to each 
inhabitant, scarcely enough to give sustenance 
to the people even if all the land were de¬ 
voted to agriculture. But ten thousand men 
own two-thirds of all this land, and keep much 
of it in parks, game closes and the like, to the 
exclusion of agriculture, population, schools, 
churches and social life, to the increase of 
poverty and crime and to the serious damage 
of society. These ten thousand landed aristo¬ 
crats own, each, on the average, five thousand 
times as much as each of the rest of the 
people can own on the average unless they 
emigrate. This outrageous inequality dates 
back to the Norman Conquest when the king, 
so to speak, carved up the island and dished 
it out to favored courtiers and captains, who 
with their descendants did their best to hand 
down the outrage aud make it permanent by 
ingeniously devised laws of primogeniture, 
entail and difficult land conveyancing. 
Such facts gave rise to Herbert Spencer’s, 
and later, to Henry George’s, views to the 
effect that all individual ownershi p of laud is 
fundamentally wrong, a robbery of society. 
But manifestly government may control in¬ 
dividual land-ownership to any extent needed, 
without destroying it. The fact that such 
ownership has not always been properly con¬ 
trolled in the interests of human progress does 
not prove that it cannot be, or that it is 
wrong per se. Since property is the result of 
labor wisely expended on material, aud since 
land is material, philosophy seems to show 
that property may vest in improved land as 
justly as in other improved material, while 
history Seems to show that individual owner¬ 
ship of land, as of other things, is best if 
properly controlled; that it is the best incen¬ 
tive to individual effort, to the creation, dis¬ 
tribution, preservation and rational enjoyment 
of wealth, to human progress and to the high¬ 
est and best civilization. 
Henry George’s Plan —In this coun¬ 
try the original distribution of land by 
the Government to actual settlers was, on 
the whole, wisely plauned to correct the 
great evils of English land tenure, though 
it has not always been so wisely executed 
Measures may yet need to be taken to prevent, 
or even break up without injustice, the own¬ 
ership of large tracts of contiguous land by 
individuals, companies or syndicates, especial¬ 
ly non-re3idents. Ou the whole, however, the 
tendency of our laws of inheritance, laud 
tenure and transfer, and the drift of our free 
institutions, is to break up large landed es¬ 
tates rather than to accumulate them. Mr. 
Henry George's plan of practically confis¬ 
cating land values to the State, by removing 
all tax from all other property of every sort, 
and putting it all on laud values in form of 
rent paid to the State, does not seem just. It 
will not meet the approval of the millions of 
small farmers who nave put into their im¬ 
proved farms, in purchase cost and subse¬ 
quent labor and expense, all that the farms 
would sell for now. They do not like to buy 
their farms of the State, aud afterwards, by 
ex-post facto law, be forced to pay rent on 
them to the State, while railways, steamships, 
city blocks and palaces, and all other prop¬ 
erty of every sort go untaxed. Tnac in sub¬ 
stance is Mr. Henry George’s plau. Farmers 
and all just-minded men should, I think, re¬ 
sist this. They should just as earnestly resist 
all tendencies towards a piouopoly of land in 
the hands of a landed aristocracy. 
State Agricultural College, Ames, Iowa. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Delaware. 
Dover, Kent Co., February 20.—February 
20, and not a sleigh ride yet, and but a very 
small amount of ice has beeu housed. This is 
enough to as onish the oldest inhabitants and 
cause them to take a retrospective view of the 
last decade or so, to produce its equal. Jan¬ 
uary was mostly warm aud pleasant weather; 
but February so far has beeu better winter 
weather. We have had several light snow¬ 
falls, but not enough snow for sleighing. 
The mild winter seems to have a depressing 
effect on the market for farm produce. 
Never liefcre do I recollect eggs being as low 
as 12 cents per dozen. Fruit prospects good 
so far. The cold weather this month kept the 
peach buds from starting This has been a 
tine winter for farmers to do work, but it 
seems that little is ever done till the usual 
time to start spring work, let the weather be 
what it may. Cattle are unusually high and 
in good demand. Dealers asking $300 aud 
$450 per pair for Western mules, and from 
$125 to $175 apiece for horses. Hay and 
other feeds are in demand. Wheat looks un¬ 
usually well. Farmers are looking up help 
for the coming season. Every year help 
>eems to be more scarce. I think this State 
would be a good place for many a strong 
young foreigner to come to, as the hired-hand 
question is certainly becoming a troublesome 
one to solve. It is almost impossible to get 
help in the kitchen also. a. g. s. 
Indiana. 
Pendleton, Madison Co., February 16.— 
Wheat has been continually exposed to the 
vicissitudes of the weather, there being no 
snow to protect it. The mercury has been 
down to zero only once during the winter, 
though there has been the usual amount of 
freezing and thawing. If the weather con¬ 
tinue mild, we may have average crops. 
Natural gas is so plentiful that all the towns 
in this region have fuel and lights in such 
abundance that factories are being located 
on an extensive scale, giving employment to 
many hands, and adding largely to the pop¬ 
ulation, and the home market. s. w. h. 
Michigan. 
Hart, Oceana Co., February 21.—So far, 
this has been a very mild winter—no snow 
for sleighing till February 1. Winter wheat 
was looking well when snow came. The ther¬ 
mometer has been at zero only twice this 
winter. Prospects for the fruit crops are 
good. Farm products of all kinds are very 
cheap, except hay which brings $10 to $20 
per ton. Oats, 34 cents; wheat, 80 to 85 cents; 
Corn, 35 to 40 cents; potatoes 18 to 20 cents, 
and no market at that. Plenty of snow at 
this time. M. a. i. 
Pennsylvania. 
Newcastle, Lawrence Co., February 21.— 
Last fall was very wet and winter brought no 
snow to amount to anything until within the 
last week. Now there are about six inches, and 
sleds and sleighs are running quite lively. 
Wheat looked well when the snow fell. There 
was not quite an average acreage on account 
of so much wet weather in the fall. Potatoes 
were a fair crop, but they rotted badly and 
there are still some in the ground, as it has 
been so wet that they could not be got up. 
They are 40 cents per bushel; eggs 20 cents 
per dozen; butter 25 to 30 cents per pound. 
E A. 
Missouri. 
Dunlap, Grundy Co., February 14.—I 
have read the Rural for nearly 20 years, and 
for two-thirds of that time, I have resided in 
Missouri. I realize that an unjust feeling is 
entertained against Missouri by the people of 
the East—a feeliug in which I shared once, 
before I came to this State. It is a fact that 
society here was at one time somewhat de¬ 
moralized. The James gang ran at large. 
But that has passed away. The State now 
eDjoys peace and prosperity. Civil, religious 
and educational privileges are as good here 
as they will usually be found auy where. The 
prairies are dotted with school and church 
buildings. We have live State schools on the 
Normal plan, tuition free, and nearly one 
hundred private schools of high grade. The 
population is largely made up of Eastern 
people. One neighborhood near me is said 
to contain 200 families from Ohio. A 
man can talk his politics as freely here as 
in New York and no one interferes. To 
be brief, we have nice, smooth, productive 
land, on which we can raise any crop that 
will grow in latitude 40 degrees north. Fruit 
is a certain crop, excepting peaches. Apples 
never fail and usually bring a good price. 
They are shipped to Idaho, Nebraska, Dakota, 
Colorado aud Texas. The prairies here are 
high and rolling and lie in strips. Tne 
streams are all skirted with timber. Land is 
very cheap, considering its quality and advan¬ 
tages. The fools are not all dead and we have 
our share of parties well fixed who want to 
sell out aud go West. People are just as res¬ 
tive here as farther east on that point. A 
man can buy a better farm here for a given 
amount than in any place 1 have seen or 
read of. G. w. F. 
Ohio. 
Xenia, Greene ICo., March 1.—We raise 
potatoes, corn, wheat, oats, rye, barley and 
some other cereals. Corn and wheat are 
our principal crops. Last year we had in 
about the usual number of acres. Corn 
was up to the average in bushels, but not in 
quality. Wheat was below the average in 
yield and poor in quality. Oats good. Hay 
below the average, but very good in quality. 
Fruits abundant. Potatoes good both in 
quantity and quality. We planted about our 
usual number of acres of wheat last fall. I 
do not think wheat ever looked so well at this 
time in the year. It is just about as green 
and thrifty as it was last fall. We never had 
a better prospect for good crops than we have 
now. D. D. M. 
Wisconsin. 
Appleton, Outagamie Co., February 12.— 
Lots of snow in this vicinity two feet deep 
or more. We have had no very cold weather 
yet this winter. Winter wheat was a full 
crop with us; spring wheat was spoiled by 
Chinch bugs. Oats were not a full crop; 
neither was com. Potatoes were good. Hay 
and other fodder crops are plentiful. Prices: 
wheat, 90 cents to $1; oats, 25 to 28 cents; 
corn, 40 cents; potatoes, 25 to 30 cents per 
bushel. Our farmers are going into dairying 
more extensively every year. Stock raising 
aud dairying are about the leading interests 
here now. Preparing fire-wood for home use 
and for market is the order of the day at pres¬ 
ent. Maple wood is woi th $5 per cord at Ap¬ 
pleton. E. N. 
.ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
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PRUNING APPLE TREES. 
A. A. C., Christiana, Del. —How should 
apple trees be pruned? How many branches 
should be cut off or left on? 
ANSWERED BY DR. T. H. HOSKINS. 
The art of pruning fruit trees is consider¬ 
ably simplified by a knowledge of its princi¬ 
ples. What is sought for in pruning are,—first; 
to preserve the health and prolong the life of 
the tree; second, to secure plenty of good 
fruit; and, third, to promote the convenience 
of the orchardist in regard to the position of 
branches. When a tree’s branches are ill- 
placed and crowded, there is a tendency with 
some of them to dwindle and die. In this way 
a tree becomes, to some extent, self-pruning 
Some orchardists regard this as sufficient, and 
only seek to aid nature by neatly removing 
branches that are beginning to perish. It is 
easy to be seen that these failing branches 
will produce but little fruit, aud that of infer¬ 
ior quality; so not ODly the first principle, but 
also the second, requires their removal 
These ill-placed, weak and unproductive 
branches are also much in the way of gather¬ 
ing the fruit. They are mostly either in the 
interior of the tree, or near the ground, in 
both cases being shaded by exterior and superi¬ 
or branches of more vigorous growth. If 
these principles are kept in mind from the 
first, and the owner has enough imaginative 
power to form in his mind’s eye a picture of 
the tree, as it will become in its successive 
stages of growth, he will be able to select for 
removal such growth as will clearly become 
injurious as the tree enlarges. In thus antici¬ 
pating the work of nature, he will be led to 
remove evidently ill-placed branches when 
quite small, thus obviating the necessity for 
large wouuds, which heal slowly, and mean¬ 
time give a chance for fungi to enter, and 
produce decay of the trunk. As he pro¬ 
ceeds with this work, he will be led to see that 
the trees he is operating upon often have their 
main branches improperly placed, either 
forming a forked trunk, (sure to split down 
under a load of fruit, and sometimes by its 
own weight, or the action of the elements,) 
or being too near together, and too numerous. 
The formation ot forks with a sharp angle 
should not be allowed, either in trunk or 
branches. The mam limbs should be few, and 
so placed that even when they become large 
they will not be opposite to each other, or too 
near together. Some trees have an erect 
habit of growth; others a low, spreading habit 
aud still others a straggling, irregular manner 
of growth. It is possible, to some extent, to 
modify these peculiarities by pruning; but it 
is not well to remove large branches for this 
purpose alone. Nature will have her way; 
and if we try too much to interfere with her 
purpose, she has a way of avenging herself by 
striking work, and leaving us wich a dead or 
comparatively worthless tree. Pruning for 
fruit is much treated of in the books., but in 
the ordinary way of managing apple orchards 
in this country, if the above named principles 
be adhered to, we have done about all that 
can be done to promote fruitfulness. With 
peaches and pears it is somewhat different. 
The peach especially requires severe cutting 
back, owing to its peculiarities of growth; 
while with the pear, pruning for fruit is more 
efficacious than with the apple. Pruning for 
a high trunk is insisted on for apple orchards 
by many; and in sections of the country 
where the climate is mild and equable, this 
convenience may be secured without other 
loss than what results from delayed fruiting. 
But where the winters are very cold, and es¬ 
pecially in spots where the sun’s rays reflected 
from the snow cause the destruction of the 
bark on the southwest side of the trees, low 
heads will often be preferred. As varieties 
best adapted to such localities are usually 
moderate growers, or short-lived, the disad¬ 
vantage of low branching is not so manifest 
as elsewhere. 
AZOTURIA IN A HORSE. 
A. P. G., Fennville, Mich. —My borse 
seemed all right when taken from the stable 
and he was driven at a moderate gait two 
miles with an empty wagon. He commenced 
sweating and when stopped, showed signs of 
sickness and on being immediately unhitched, 
he lay down. After a few minutes he seemed 
all right again except for a tendency to drag 
his hind feet as he walked. He was hitched 
up and driven more than a mile, when the 
movements of his hind feet suddenly became 
more difficult and he gradually bloated some¬ 
what. He then gave out entirely and had tc 
be hauled to the barn, not having any control 
of his hind legs. He was in intense pain and 
at times would stagger up on his feet and 
strain as though trying to pass water, stand 
ing on his hind toes as though unable to 
straighten the hoof down to its usual position 
when standing. His hind parts would then 
slowly settle, and he would suddenly fall and 
lie on his side, apparently exhausted for some 
time. He passed dung somewhat dry and 
hard, but he passed no water. I gave pain¬ 
killer to ease him and next day when he 
seemed to try to pass water I injected a de¬ 
coction of slippery elm back into the bladder. 
Urine passed after this and was very dark, 
almost black in color. His right hind leg 
then swelled from the hip to below the hock 
and a swelling extended from the flank, along 
the inside of the leg, being very sore to the 
touch as was the flank. At no time did he 
show any soreness along the back in the re¬ 
gion of the kidneys. On the night of the 
fourth day he got on his feet again and 
could walk fairly well, though the leg 
and flank remained very sore. He ate well, 
had condition powders in bran and seemed 
doing well for four days when he sud¬ 
denly gave out as before, but could not get 
on his feet at all this time. I gave him one 
dose of pain-killer and after twenty-four 
hours he got up and lias been up days appar¬ 
ently gaining. He was hungry all through 
the sickness. He is in good condition and has 
been in the stable most of the time for two 
weeks. He never had any sickness before ex¬ 
cept an occasional belly-ache. He is 23 years 
old. He did not show signs of intense thirst, 
but did not refuse water. What ails him and 
what treatment should he have had in the be¬ 
ginning and what now to aid in his recovery ? 
ANSWERED BY DR. F. L. KXLBORNE. 
The disease was azoturia. The attack was 
probably brought on by being exercised after 
standing idle in the stable a few days on a 
full diet. This high feeding during idleness 
overtoads the system, the liver is unable to 
perform the extra work thrown upon it and 
a form of blood-poisoning results. The high- 
colored urine was due to this condition of the 
system and not to disease of the kidneys. 
When first attacked the horse should have 
been quietly taken to a near stable and a dose 
of five to eight drams of the best aloes should 
have been administered to move the bowels 
and unload the system. Had this been done 
the horse would probably have recovered in 
three or four days with no farther treatment. 
After the second severe attack, the aloes 
might have been followed by one-ounce doses 
of liquor of acetate of ammonia with two 
drams of chlorate of potash every three or 
four hours. Until the animal was well on the 
road to recovery, very little food should have 
been given and that largely in the form of 
mashes or scalded oats. Now it might be well 
to give the following powder night and morn¬ 
ing. Pulverized nux vomica one-half dram, 
pulverized gentian root and ginger each two 
drams. The attacks of this disease can usually 
be avoided with a little care. When the 
horses are idle, reduce the feed, especially if 
they are being well fed. If this precaution 
has not been taken, the attack may still often 
be avoided by working the animal slowly for 
a few hours, after which an attack is not 
likely to occur. 
DROPSICAL SWELLING OF ABDOMEN IN MARE 
WITH FOAL, ETC, 
E. C. A., Aberdeen , Dak. —1. My 12-year- 
old mare, due to foal about April 1, has for 
some time had, in front of her bag, a slight 
swelling covering a surface as big as both my 
hands, 'and from one-half inch to an inch 
thick. Since Christmas it has swelled nearly 
all over the belly, extending to within a few 
inches of her front feet, and on each side to a 
line drawn from the front to the hind feet. 
When I press the point of my finger against 
it, a dimple is left for quite a while, and when 
