200 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
MAR 23 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
ANatlonal Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
ELBERT 8. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1889. 
A SWINDLE. 
M R Alfred Rose, of Penn Yan, N. Y., is 
said to be over 70 years of age. He is 
reputed as having been a successful potato 
grower for 30 years or more. For reasons 
best known to himself, be began early in the 
year to circulate among the chief seedsmen of 
the country and others a report that the R. 
N.-Y. potato No. 2 was in reality one of his 
seedlings. With adroitly-worded sentences 
and a shrewd avoidance of laying himself 
amenable to the law, although not stating 
it positively, the person or parties addressed 
w r ere led by his cunning statements to infer 
that they were. 
Mr. Rose was well known to the R. N.-Y. 
and to several other journals as one who often 
sought to advertise his potatoes by sending 
for publication articles which in one part or 
another would rarely fail to mention in high 
words of praise one or more of the kinds he 
sought at the time to sell or to popularize. For 
this reason the more conservative and careful 
editors of the farm press were wont to reject 
his communications without even reading 
them. 
When Mr. Rose first made the claim that 
the R. N.-Y. No. 2. was the same as one of 
his productions, we wrote him in an emphatic 
though kind ly way that he was mistaken. We 
pointed out how he could easily ascertain 
they were different; that it was absurd to 
say they were the game from any real or fan¬ 
cied resemblance of his potato to the R. N.-Y. 
illustration , (necessarily his only basis for 
the claim) and finally that he must write to 
those whom he bad misled and frankly con¬ 
fess his error. This he failed to do for a con¬ 
siderable time, while, in the interim, many 
letters were written by him to seedsmen and 
others, some of which were forwarded to us, 
stating that a numoer of his patrons believed 
them to be the same and that the Editor of 
the R. N.-Y. himself had said, “There is no 
doubt about it.” 
It now necame apparent that Mr. Rose was 
simply advertising his potato upon the repu¬ 
tation of the No. 2. A demand in consequence 
appeared on this page several weeks ago that 
unless he wrote us for publication a statement 
acknowledging his error, we should expose 
his groundless pretensions. This called forth 
from him a letter dated February 25, from 
which we quote as follows: 
“ I wrote you, by your request to-day, that 
the R. N.-Y. No. 2 and my- were not 
alike.” 
This would have ended the matter in so far 
as the R. N.-Y. was concerned. But later we 
received from several sources a printed potato- 
circular, issued by him, from which the fol¬ 
lowing extracts are taken: 
“ Rural No. 2—This potato, Carman says, 
was grown on the Rural Ground- in 1886, 
but does not say from what variety. Spring 
of 1886 I sent Carman some of my - 
and my customers write me No. 2 is precisely 
like my-; also they write Carman that 
their potatoes are precisely like No. 2.” 
Again Mr. Rose says : “It is no wonder, 
some writing me (sic) that they have received 
a potato under a new name, saying it is pre¬ 
cisely like my-. I notice Mr. Carman 
says he has a new potato, and says since they 
have been sent out, he has received many let¬ 
ters saying their own (sic) potatoes were pre¬ 
cisely like his. Carman says there is no doubt 
about it. If so, where did he get the new 
potato ?” 
It is needless for the R. N.-Y. to say that 
every statement in Mr. Rose’s circular allud¬ 
ing to Mr. Carman or to what he said, is false 
and without the slightest foundation m fact. 
We regret exceedingly to be obliged to dwell 
upon this matter at such length in these 
columns. But we think that our readers will 
see that though it may matter little that Tom, 
Dick or Harry may seek to give prominence 
to his own potato by striving to show a 
probable identity with one that has a promis¬ 
ing future, it is of the first consequence to the 
R. N.-Y. that an inferior variety should not 
be disseminated as the Rural New-Yorker 
No. 2. Mr. Rose advertises in his circular 
that he will supply the R. N.-Y. No. 2, at a 
price considerably less than that which other 
seedsmen charge—at a lower price, indeed, 
than he can purchase them for to-day. His 
entire stock of this variety was one peck , and 
the reasonable inference is that he will send in¬ 
stead of the No. 2, some variety which origina¬ 
ted with him of wnich he may have a 
full supply. All who may have ordered of 
him the No. 2, and who find that another 
variety has been substituted, are notified that 
they will have a legal cause of action against 
him for damages. 
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. 
The notes on “Warranted Seeds” in 
this week’s R. N.-Y. are timely and in¬ 
teresting. We are sure that the best of 
our seedsmen desire to do a fair and hon¬ 
orable business. Mistakes will occur in 
every business, no matter how careful 
one may be. It is right that such mis¬ 
takes should be rectified by the party 
making them. 
We have just been reading an 
account of a curious lawsuit that oc¬ 
curred in England recently. A seedsman 
was accused of dyeing clover seeds. His 
practice was to buy quantities of old and 
worthless clover seed and subject it to a 
chemical process by means of which the 
col'w of the seed was changed so that it 
resembled bright, new seed. A very 
profitable business was being done by 
means of this fraud, and the reputable 
seedsmen determined to break it up. Ac¬ 
cordingly, several sacks of old seed were 
sent to the “chemist to bft colored.” 
This was done, and the most complete 
evidence obtained against the guilty 
party, who was found guilty and heavily 
fined. The only defense made was the 
statement that the responsible head of 
the firm did not know what his employes 
were doing. This did not hold. We do 
not know that there are any seedsmen in 
this country who are invoking the aid of 
chemistry to defraud their customers,but 
there are plenty of other schemes that 
would not stand a lawsuit. We believe 
that the most economical way to try 
seeds is to deal only with seedsmen of 
known and well-established reputations 
for honesty. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER’S NEXT 
POTATO CONTEST. 
I T is proposed that the potatoes of the 
next “Contest ” plot be dug on the 
last Friday of September next. The plot 
will be more than twice the size of last 
year’s plot,andthe effort will be, as then, 
to raise at the rate of over 700 bushels to 
the acre. The following gentlemen have 
consented to act as judges: 
Lieut. Gov. Edward F. Jones, N. Y. 
Prof. Geo. H. Cook, Director of the 
N. J. Agricultural Experiment Station. 
L. H. Bailey, Professor of Horticul¬ 
ture at Cornell University. 
Dr. Byron D. Halstead, Professor 
of Botany, at Rutger’s College, N. J. 
E. H. Libby, Editor of the American 
Garden, N. Y. 
E. L Coy, N. Y. 
Hon. John A. Woodward, Pa. 
J. S. Woodward, Secretary of the 
New York State Board of Agriculture. 
Prof. Henry E. Alvord, Director of 
the Maryland Agricultural Experiment 
Station. 
Col. F. D. Curtis, New York. 
Hon. J. G. Webb, Justice of the Peace, 
N. J. 
BEET-ROOT SUGAR IN NEBRASKA. 
A GOOD deal of interest is shown by 
the farmers of Nebraska in the es¬ 
tablishment of an immense beet-sugar 
factory, at Grand Isle, It will represent 
an outlay of $500,000, and have at the 
outset a capacity for using up 350 tons of 
beets per day, and by means of additional 
machinery the quantity may be increased 
to 600 tons, 'i'he company has been ex¬ 
perimenting for two years and is satisfied 
from its investigations, that, as far as 
soil and climate are concerned, Nebraska 
is better suited for the growth of sugar 
beets than any sugar-producing region in 
Europe. Samples of the experimental 
sugar have been sent abroad, where 
strong testimonials were received of its 
superior quality. So firm is the faith of 
many of the farmers about Grand Isle in 
the enterprise, that they are ready to ex¬ 
change their farms for stock in the com¬ 
pany. It is estimated that well-cultivat¬ 
ed land will yield 15 to 20 tons of beets 
per acre, and that they can be sold at the 
mill for $5 per ton. If the project proves 
successful other factories will be estab¬ 
lished. A bill is now pending in the 
legislature, which proposes that, at the 
end of two years, the State shall give a 
bounty of half a cent per pound on all 
sugar manufactured within her borders. 
If Congress gives the proposed national 
bounty of one cent per pound on all cane, 
sorghum and beet-sugar of domestic man¬ 
ufacture, there is little doubt that the 
amount of home produced sugar will be 
immensely increased, and of these three 
sources of sugar, the increase in the beet¬ 
root product is likely to be the greatest. 
THE BINDING TWINE TRUST. 
A LL over the West there is a good 
deal of indignation among farmers at 
the action of the manufacturers and large 
dealers of binding twine. These have 
formed a Trust which is slowly but surely 
tightening its coils on the tarmers of the 
country, but especially on those of the 
West where self-binding reaping machines 
are most extensively used. Not only has 
the whole prospective output of binding 
twine been bought up by the agents of 
the Trust, but nearly all the stock on 
hand at different points has been secured 
at low figures by agents of the monopoly 
disguised as farmers, store-keepers, etc., 
so that the vast majority of dealers are in 
the same p'ight as the farmers. In Min¬ 
neapolis alone 50,000 bales of twine are 
reported to be packed away in warehouses, 
the local dealers having been induced to 
part with their stock to disguised agents 
of the syndicate. An agent of the Minne¬ 
sota Farmers’ Alliance who was sent East 
to the factories to contract for a supply, 
has been unable to do so, as an extortion¬ 
ate price was demanded. For twine 
which could be bought last year for nine 
cents per pound, 25 cents are demanded 
this year. 
Wnat can the farmers do in the matter? 
Well, they can secure legislation against 
such infamous combinations in the future; 
but for the present, the only plan they 
can adopt is that which many of them 
have resolved to follow— to boycott the 
Trust, and as the cotton-planters of the 
South acted last year with regard to 
“ cornered ” jute bagging, refuse to buy 
binding twine. Twine, however, has be¬ 
come, in a few years, almost a necessity in 
easily, cheaply and safely harvesting 
grain, and it is hardly probable therefore 
that a boycotting movement can be gen¬ 
eral, while much loss and inconvenience 
must be experienced by those who adopt 
it. Binding twine is made of sisal or 
jute, and the import duty on foreign 
twine made of either fiber is 35 per cent. 
There are many who believe that the 
most effective way to combat Trusts is 
to remove the duty from foreign goods 
that compete with the “ cornered ” pro¬ 
ducts of domestic manufacture. The 
number of farmers holding this opinion is 
likely to be largely increased by the ex¬ 
actions of the binding twine Trust. 
Would it not be advisable for the Farm-* 
ers’ Alliance, the Grange and oiher agri¬ 
cultural associations to combine and seek 
relief in foreign markets? The Trust has 
put up the price of twine 177 per cent.; 
surely importers of foreign twine, even 
after paying the duty of 35 per cent., 
could afford to spII the article at a lower 
figure than that demanded by this greedy 
and unscrupulous monopoly. 
The farmers of Dakota contemplate the 
construction of a large factory for the 
manufacture of twine from flax fiber, of 
which there is an abundance. Some of 
the large dealers in Chicago deny the es¬ 
tablishment of aTrust, and allege that the 
enormous rise in price is due to the scarc¬ 
ity of supply and the great demand for 
the article. The amount of hemp in 
sight for the present season is 120,000 
bales more than last year, while there is 
a demand for 160,000 bales more, making 
a shortage ef 40,000 bales; but surely the 
tremendous increase of price cannot be 
due to this small shortage? If so, a little 
boycotting or even economy on the part 
of farmers will equalize supply and de 
mand. 
BEEF MAKING EXPERIMENTS. 
T HE pictures of cattle given in this 
number of the Rural ought to inter¬ 
est cattle feeders. There are many interest¬ 
ing things about Prof. Johnson’s experi¬ 
ment. We want cheap beef and we want 
good beef. In the estimate of expenses of 
the It. N.-Y. household, a certain sum is 
assigned for the purchase of beef. Our 
experience is that it pays to buy with 
this money a less quantity of good beef 
rather than a larger quantity of poor beef. 
There is altogether too much tough, 
stringy, leathery beef sold in our markets. 
Experiments that tend to show the prin- 
cip'es that must be followed in the pro¬ 
duction of good beef are highly com¬ 
mendable. The main facts brought out 
by the experiment are all given on another 
page. There are only one or two points 
that we desire to refer to here. It is evi¬ 
dent that a great many cattle are kept too 
long for profit. If some of the animals 
pictured on our first page could have 
been sold six months before they were 
killed, the cost per pound of their beef 
would have been considerably reduced. 
This is a point that cattle feeders gener¬ 
ally will agree upon. 'I’he amount of 
hay and other coarse forage required to 
feed one of these animals to maturity is 
surprising. It hardly seems possible, as 
we feed the usual ration from day to day, 
that the grand total of all these feedings 
will amount to three or four tons before 
the steer is ready to kill. These figures 
teach the desirability and economy of 
providing some cheap and bulky food 
like silage, roots or corn fodder. 
The facts demanding most thoughtful 
consideration are those respecting the 
Jersey and Holstein steers. Everybody 
knows that the Holstein is a large, heavy 
animal, but the impression has become 
quite general that the Holstein steers are 
too coarse and bony to be of first value. 
The figures given for this test certainly 
indicate that this impression is erroneous. 
The Holstein steer made a’most as much 
gain per day as the Short-horn, his beef 
cost less per pound, and his per cent, of 
dressed to live weight, was greater than 
that of the Devon and the Galloway, and 
equal to that of the Hereford. The 
quality of the beef was considered good. 
The value of Holstein cows for milk is 
unquestioned. The value of Holstein 
steers for beef, as indicated by this test, 
would stamp this breed of cattle as 
strong candidates for the position of 
“general-purpose” breed. Will Short¬ 
horn cows average as heavy milkers as 
Holstein cows? 
The figures respecting the Jersey steer 
are also very interesting. The Jersey 
steer has always been regarded as a sort 
of “lazy brother.” His sister, the butter 
cow, was expected to be so suptrior in 
her chosen field, that she could support 
herself and her brother too. Has this 
impression been a sound one? “Roscoe” 
ate more hay than any of the other steers 
except the Short-horn, and more grain 
than any except the Short-horn and the 
Holstein, and yet he made the poorest 
gain per day and lus beef cost the most 
per pound. His heart, his lungs and his 
intestines, were as large as the corres¬ 
ponding parts in the big Short-horn, and 
he had but little less blood than the big 
fellow; yet his beef was considered best 
of all, so much better in fact that there 
was no comparison. We have no desire 
to begin the business of raising Jersey 
steers in the hope of securing an extra 
price for their beef. It may be that it 
would pay some of our enterprising 
Jersey breeders to try it, and develop a 
business for fine Jersey beef, in connec¬ 
tion with their Jersey butter. It might 
be worth trying, at any rate. 
BREVITIES. 
The R. N -Y.’s dairy department will be 
good this year. 
We did a little plowing on March 12th in 
the “ contest plot” of one of the R. N.-Y. 
women folks. 
One lady in North Carolina says that her 
“contest” potato plot is already planted. 
ThiBk of this, ye Northern contestants,whose 
patch is now under a foot or more of snow! 
Some of our best horsemen and farmers are 
going to tell us what they think of Mr. Terry’s 
idea of keeping his horses on clover hay. 
Mr. T. will also tell us how he cures his hay 
to make it so good. 
Here is the way an Illinois friend puts it: 
“No alqeb^a about this .—Certain Agri¬ 
cultural Papers—50 cents a year — Rural 
New-Yorker— $2.00.a year— Therefore, you 
will have to take the other papers four 
years to learn as much as you can learn 
in the Rural in one year.” 
A Minnesota subscriber sends us the fol¬ 
lowing note: 
“A rod of barbed wire wound around a 
tree prevents a person from tying horses to it 
and also keeps boys from climbing it, and it 
looks far better than a box around the tree.” 
This is one of the latest schemes for hand¬ 
ling the much-feared “ small boy.” 
A bill prohibiting the sale of liquor “with¬ 
in half a mile of the State Fair Grounds” is 
before the Minnesota legislature, and is likely 
to pass. Minnesota is steadily tightening her 
grip on the liquor traffic, and in no place 
should that grip be more fatally throttling 
than about the fair grounds, to wireh simple 
country people flock for instruction and 
amusement, but often find instead demorali¬ 
zation and disgrace. If such a law is rip lit 
and good as regards the State Fair Grounds, 
why shouldn’t it be equally right and good as 
regards the county fair grounds? 
