482 
THE RURAL NEW-YCMER. 
MAR 46 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Home% 
Conducted by 
KfcBEKT 8. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 1889. 
NOTICE TO THOSE WHO DESIRE 
TO ENTER FOR THE R. N.-Y.'S 
WOMEN’S NATIONAL POTATO 
CONTEST: 
All who desire to enter for the 
Women’s Potato Contest are respect¬ 
fully requested to send in their names 
before the 20th inst Full instruc¬ 
tions and a list of the contestants 
will be published at about that da f e. 
Read what Mr. Crawford says of the 
Potter, Jessica and Woodruff Red grapes. 
“ I still think the Delaware our best grape" 
says Mr. Crawford. 
If there is an Orange quince which is 
distinct from the Apple quince, and we 
believe there is, then the so-called Meech’s 
Prolific quince is the Orange. 
Prof. Munson,oj Texas, says that the Seed¬ 
less apple is probably the most unique and 
desirable novelty of the decade. It is bloom- 
less, coreless and seedless. It is of good size 
and quality and a good keeper. 
Read Pres. Chamberlain’s article— 
“New Legislation Needed Concerning 
Monopolies the first of a short series 
on a topic of absorbing interest. 
“ The world does not, I think, ‘ owe every 
man a living .’ It does, however, owe him a 
fair and equal chance to earn one if he can 
and will" Pres. Chamberlain's article, 
page 178. 
We like Red-caps for their beautiful 
plumage and shapely forms. But the 
immense pea-combs of the roosters are, 
without doubt, a decided objection to the 
breed. They are so large and heavy that 
the birds can only see laterally, while they 
seem to cause the roosters to keep up a 
perpetual twitching of the head. 
State (Conn.) Pomologist, P. M. Augur, says 
elsewhere that a highly organized variety of 
fruit, capable of giving the best results 
under appropriate treatment, is more likely 
to jail under neglect than one oj less than 
half its real capacity—even, as a 74-pounder 
with a small charge of powder would be a 
failure. 
Prof. Munson, of Texas, says that of 
all the very recent kinds of strawberries, 
the Parker Earle is the most distinct in 
characteristics and at once the finest in 
plant, berry and productiveness. This 
is not the variegated-leaved variety intro¬ 
duced under the same name. This has 
been discarded as unworthy of intro¬ 
duction. 
--*• - 
“ Fortunately we have a few faithful sen¬ 
tinels who tell the truth, unvarnished and 
unadulterated, about new fruits as they ap¬ 
pear, stripping them of all the false and 
fanciful claims made for them by those 
directly interested. No one has rendered 
more efficient service in this direction than 
“The Rural New-Yorker .” It has fought 
vigorously and valiantly for truth, right and 
justice, regardless as to whom its action 
hurt or offended." A. B. Coleman, page 
178. 
A Canadian subscriber suggests the 
following: “I would like all the ladies 
who try for the potato prizes to send their 
photographs to the Rural so that their 
likenesses may be given in the form of a 
pamphlet to be sold to all of the Rural 
subscribers on as ea-y terms as possible.” 
That would be a souvenir worth having ; 
but we doubt if all the ladies would be 
willing to have their pictures printed. 
-^ - 
For 15 years past the R. N.-Y. has 
tritd every kind of new strawberry it 
could hear of. Some seasons over 100 
different kinds have been under trial. 
Reports have been made every season. 
The Sharpless, Hilton, Cumberland and 
Bubach are the ones that, at this time, 
we can recall as improvements over older 
kinds. During all these years we have 
raised a great number of 'seedlings not 
one of which has shown that it was 
worthy of introduction. 
Matthew Crawford, of Cuyahoga 
Falls, Ohio, says that the Jessica is with 
li m the best of all white grapes—a good 
growler, perfectly hardy, very prolific, 
very early; the berries never drop from 
the clusters, and it is of the most de¬ 
licious flavor. The Vicks, of Rochester, 
also speak in high terms of this grape. 
There seems little doubt that the 
Jessica is well worth a trial in different 
parts of the country. It is worthless at 
the Rural Grounds. 
result ? Snyder and Taylor are the hard¬ 
iest, though the berries are small. Early 
Harvest is the earliest blackberry, but it 
is killed to the ground about every other 
season. It is a feeble grower. The ber¬ 
ries are perfect in shape and of fair qual¬ 
ity. Wilson Jr. is the same as Wilson’s 
Early, except that it is a little hardier. 
The Lucretia dewberry is worthless where 
standards will thrive. Crystal White is 
tender. Kittatinny is the best variety 
for the climate of New York. Minne- 
waski promises to be hardier. In other 
respects it is not superior to the Kitta¬ 
tinny. The Cut-leaved, largely adverti-ed 
two years ago, is worthless. The Dor¬ 
chester is hardier than the Kittatinny, but 
less productive. The Erie resembles the 
Lawton, and is said by some to be the 
same. It appears to be hardier ami a 
trifle earlier at the Rural Grounds. Thus, 
we have told you, good reader, in a few 
lines, what the experience of many years 
has taught us. 
Notv that considerable is being said 
about the cause and remedy of scab in 
pot a oes, it may be well to remind our 
leaders that six or eight years ago our 
trial potato plot was, in part, covered 
with a thick spread of leaves that had 
been gathered the preceding spring. 
The potatoes raised on that part of the 
plot were absolutely worthless. They 
were covered with scab caused by the 
wire-worms with which the soil was alive. 
The potatoes on the rest of the plot were 
not unusually scabby. 
H«<w is the pa’h from your tront door 
to the gate ? Mud ? Does it give your 
friends a good idea of your hospitality to 
make them wade through mud in order 
to reach your door ? You i ught to make 
a minia'uie macadam road of that path— 
you people who live in a country where 
stones abound. Dig the path out to the 
frost depth, put in stones and ram them 
down hard and cover them with gravel. 
The person who, years ago, fitted up~the R. 
N.-Y. New Jersey Farm, laid out a sines 
of wide flag-stone walks. We believe 
such walks are condemned by most land¬ 
scape gardeners. We notice, however, 
that in this muddy weather visitors are 
very glad to walk on them. 
For the first four days of the past week 
millers representing the winter-wheat 
States held a secret meeting in St. Louis 
for the purpose of forming a •* combine” 
to control the flour output and influence 
the price of wheat. Missouri, Kansas, 
Iowa, Arkansas, Texas, Illinois, Ten¬ 
nessee, Minnesota and Wisconsin were 
represented and delegates from the South 
ern States joined the meeting on Wednes¬ 
day. Tne men deny that they have 
formed any Trust, and while this is true 
in so far that the profits will not be di vided, 
it is equally certain that an organization 
has been formed to control the flour and 
manipulate the wheat markets. Indeed, 
it is stated that for some time back the 
millers, by agreement, have been influen¬ 
cing the price of wheat, especially of the 
winter sort, and no doubt their action 
has had no small effect on the great and 
steady depression in the market of late. 
So Ohio born, 59-year-old,ex-Goveruor 
Jeremiah McLaui Rusk, of Wisconsin, a 
man of herculean stature, with shaggy, 
iron-gray hair and beard, deep blue eyes, 
broad shoulders and heavy tread, and the 
simple and unaffected manners of a child, 
is the fiisi Secretary of Agriculture whose 
action can justify the creation of the new 
Executive Department of the National 
Government. In early life he struggled 
on a farm for a livelihood for a widowed 
mother and two sisters. When 23, he 
moved to Mount Vernon County, Wis¬ 
consin, where he has since lived. He 
has always been a farmer, though inci¬ 
dentally a stage-line and hotel owner, a 
sheriff, a soJdier, State bank controller, 
twice a member of Congress, and twice 
Governor of his adopted State. A man of 
wide experience, great determination, 
resolute action and unimpeachable record, 
the farmers of the country appear to have 
reason to be satisfied with their repre¬ 
sentative, and to expect a fair degeee of 
success in his administration. 
Farmers, who have more intercourse 
witn Nature and with the dumb creatures 
of the fields and the woods than with 
mankind at large, are sometimes inclined 
to feel ashamed of the simplicity of their 
own honest ways, when they go to town 
and encounter the gay chatter, the fluent 
blarney, the smoothness and quickness, 
and the stereotyped smile of the lively 
throng, where only tokens of ease and 
content are allowed to come to the sur 
face. But let the farmer adhere to his 
rugged virtue, his sincerity, his straight- 
for ward “yes” and “no,” and his partner¬ 
ship with Nature’s own self. Not only 
does he feed and clothe the well-kept 
bodies ot the butterflies as well as the 
bees of the town, but it is from his ranks 
that their force is recruited, and it is his 
brave and simple honesty that keeps 
moral and political virtue from perishing 
among men. A gentleman of Spring- 
field, who sent 100 postal-cards to as 
many of the most conspicuous business 
men of that city, inquiring about their 
homes during the first 15 years of their 
lives, received answers from 88, and 74 
of them had been raised on farms. 
Just before the adjournment of Congress, 
the House of Representatives passtd a 
resolution in favor of a commercial Union 
with Canada whenever the latter shall ex¬ 
press a willingness to conform its tariff 
to that of the United States. A large 
proportion of the Canadians—no doubt a 
majority—regard such a proposition— 
which would discriminate against im¬ 
ports from even the “ Mother Country ” in 
lavor of the United States—as a bid for 
political union also, -which, they say, 
would be the inevitable sequence of its 
acceptance. Agitation for free trade 
between the two neighbors, or, at any 
rate, for a cutting down of import duties, 
has hitherto been confined chiefly 
to the other side of the frontier, 
and most of the strongest supporters 
of such a measure have been farm¬ 
ers. When it comes to a matter nearly 
touching or likely to touch their own 
pockets, however, they are very like 
farmers on this side of the line, or, indeed, 
men in general —they look out for what 
they suppose will directly promote their 
own interests in a particular case, regard¬ 
less of their views on a general line of 
policy. This accounts for the signatures 
of 3,000 Canadian farmers to a petition 
presented the other day to the Dominion 
Government for the exclusion of “Amer¬ 
ican ” pork products. 
IIE TAKES IT BACK—A CAUTION. 
As files of the li. N.-Y. will show, 
nearly every kind of blackberry has been 
placed under trial at the Rural Grounds 
during the past 16 years. What is the 
I T is inexpressibly annoying to the 
R N.-Y. to see such statements as 
the following in print: 
“The Green Mountain potato, as tested 
by the Editor of the R. N.-Y., on a poor , 
worn-out soil , yielded almost 1,400 bus 
rate per acre.” We copy word for word. 
Again: “ Cream of the Field, as tested 
in the Rural Grounds, in a poor soil, rate 
of yield over 1,000 bushels to the acre.” 
The italics are ours. 
What must intelligent farmers think of 
such stuff! Fourteen hundred bushels 
of potatoes to the acre on a poor soil 1 
The circular from which we are quot¬ 
ing is being distributed by a Mr. Alfred 
Rose. He was one of the parties who, 
in an adroit way, virtually claimed, in 
the earlier part of the year, that the 
R. N.-Y. No. 2 was in reality one of his 
seedlings. Not until of late have we 
been able to induce him to contradict the 
statement. He offers the R. N.-Y. No. 2 
at $3.50 per bushel. Neither he nor any 
other person or firm can supply the genu¬ 
ine No. 2 at that price. Our readers arc 
cautioned accordingly. 
PROSPECTIVE IRRIGATION OF THE 
“ARID REGIONS.” 
L AST year Congress appropriated $250, 
000 for the purpose of investigating 
the extent to which the “ arid regions” of 
the West can be redeemed by irrigation. 
It is proposed to dam up the canoDS of 
the Rocky Mountains so as to lorm im¬ 
mense ieservoirs of water from the melt¬ 
ing snows and heavy rainfalls of the 
region, to be used for the irrigation of 
the arid lands west of the 100th merid¬ 
ian, embracing an area of 150,000 
square miles. The location of the reser¬ 
voirs and the selection of the courses of 
irrigating canals are under direction of 
the originator of the gigantic scheme, 
Major Powell, of the Geological Survey, 
and wiil ultimately cost between three 
and four million dollars, while the con¬ 
struction of the works must entail an 
out'ay of hundreds of millions of dollars; 
but, in return, it is estimated that the full 
realization of the plan will reclaim for 
profitable agriculture an area equal to 
tmir fifths of the present cultivated land 
in the United States. 
The first appropriation was made 
chiefly to obtain more data for determin¬ 
ing -whether the scheme was so feasible 
as to justify further expenditure. Con¬ 
gress has now virtually committed the 
country to the execution of the project 
by making another appropriation of 
$250,000 for continuing the survey. The 
Governors of all the Territories to be first 
and chiefly benefited by the project, 
speak loudly in favor of at least the 
present work, and urge local co-operation. 
The Governor of Wyoming, in his last 
annual report, declares that the most im¬ 
portant subject for legislation for that 
Territory relates to water storage, and he 
urges additional surveys of public lands 
for that purpose. The Governor of Utah 
states that all the lands granted in that 
Territory for University purposes had 
been selected during the year, but that 
they were “almost valueless without 
irrigation,” and recommends further leg¬ 
islation on the matter. The Governor of 
New Mexico says the two most urgent 
needs there, are the settlement of Tand 
titles, and the storage of water. He 
thinks that of the 79,000,000 acres in that 
Territory, 60,000,000 can be rendered fit 
for profitable agriculture by irrigation on 
a grand scale. The Governor of Ari¬ 
zona, in urging the need and advantages 
of irrigation in that Territory, says that 
recent discoveries have shown the exist¬ 
ence of ancient irrigating canals which 
sustained so extensive an agriculture as 
to support, in prehistoric times, a dense 
population in a region now almost unin¬ 
habited. 
Indeed, other recent discoveries go to 
prove that a great population once in¬ 
habited what is now called the “arid 
region,” and that a gigantic system of 
artificial irrigation was in practice there. 
Whatever may have been the extent and the 
results of artificial irrigation in that vast 
region in bygone days, there is now 
little doubt that the not very remote 
future will see there a system ot irrigation 
transcending net only that of the ancient 
Indians, but even that of the old Egyp¬ 
tians, Romans, Hindoos and Chinese. 
BREVITIES. 
There is no thornless blackberry worthy of 
cultivation in the R. N.-Y.’s opinion. 
The Princess Louise, illustrated and de¬ 
scribed in the R. N.-Y. of January 7, 1888,is a 
flue Christmas dessert apple. It will keep 
until February. It has the excellent flavor of 
the Fameuse and a beauty excelling that of 
the Maiden’s Blush. 
“1 can see no gain in the varieties of black¬ 
berries introduced during the past 10 years. 
During that time, however, the Agawam lies 
been coming to the front and many have 
found out that it is perfectly hardy, wouder- 
fully productive, of the very best quality, 
quite early,larger than the Snyder and almost 
as large as the Taylor.” Here is tip-top praise 
from an impartial and authoritative source. 
See M. Crawford’s article, page 170. 
As soon as the great Russian mulberry was 
announced, the R. N.-Y. hastened to procure 
half a dozen trees. In three years some of 
them fruited. We pronounced the tree worth¬ 
less. Others fruited later. It was then found 
that they werd of different kinds (seedlings 
probably) very inferior to the Downing for 
fruit. The trees are perfectly hardy in our 
climate, but what of ihatf The Russian mul¬ 
berry was still boomed and the R. N -Y. was 
scoffed at by several boomers. 
The best road or drive-way on the Rural 
Farm, in New Jersey, during this muddy 
weather, is one upon which large quantities 
ot pine needles fall every year. Tne mud is 
seldom bad here and the road is never rough. 
In all the books on road-making, road officers 
are informed that straw, hay or pine neeales 
are most useful for protecting sandy roads in 
summer or deep clay roads in spring. This 
drive-way on the R. N.-Y. Farm is the best 
possible proof of the truth of such statements. 
