268 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
APR 20 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A Natlonal Journal for Country and Suburban Homes, 
strongly controverted. It is the Ru¬ 
ral’s earnest desire to be just—to give 
full credit where it is due, but cnffy where 
it is due. 
Conducted by 
BfcBEBT 8. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1889. 
names of women, as shown by the list in 
this issue, have entered for the Women’s 
Potato Contest. 
-- ^ ■ ■ ♦ »■ - 
Taking the cash profits of the cows, ex¬ 
clusive of the manure, it is found that one 
cow paid over 835, two over 820, five over 815, 
two over 810, one under 85, while one 
lost 834. Nine out of 12 therefore made 
a profit of below 820. The one bad cow that 
lost 834 reduced the average of the entire 
herd. Is there any such cow in your herd ? 
—page 272. 
fT'WENTY-FlVE dollars are offered by 
the R. N.-Y. as follows: Fifteen 
for the largest and best shaped R. N.-Y. 
No. 2; $10 for the second best. Reports 
should be sent in before November next. 
Those entitled to the prize will be asked 
to forward the prize potatoes to the 
R. N.-Y. 
--—^ ■■ • ■■ » - 
*• On a free range the Leghorns may ex¬ 
cel in the number of eggs; but in a closerun, 
I have never seen any bird that could beat 
the Wyandottes." —T. W. F. page 266. 
The two new varieties, Mrs. Foraker and 
Gov. Foraker, as judged by several pota¬ 
toes sent to us by M. Crawford, of Cuya¬ 
hoga Falls, Ohio, are splendid keepers. 
They are shapely and as nearly white in 
color as any variety we know of. 
“ Perhaps no crop is less likely to be in¬ 
jured by the wire worm than the bean, and 
it is often grown with a good degree of suc¬ 
cess where the pests prevail, and if other 
conditions favor in the locality, would it not 
be well to plant a portion of the field to this 
crop." —page 265. 
-- 
Very, very busy times at the Rural 
Grounds. The season is extremely favor 
able for early work, and that is just what 
we are doing with a hearty vengeance. 
After the work is thoroughly done and 
in good season, it is restful to think 
about it. 
---» ♦» • »«« »- 
“We have been able to hold our own against 
the seven cents-a-day labor of India on ac¬ 
count of labor-saving machinery, and our 
skill and aptitude in using it. It is with 
this larger view of promoting the general 
welfare that we should welcome the advent 
of any and every labor-saving implement.'" 1 
—S. B. H. page 266. 
- ♦ «♦ »- 
No doubt there are many names which 
have been sent to us that do not appear 
in the formidable list of women contes¬ 
tants presented in this issue. 
If those whose names have been omitted 
will kindly advise us of the fact, the 
names will be printed in a supplementary 
list. 
^ i ■ ♦ ■ ■ »»- 
“ I sow so much ground that if drought 
sets in early I feel free to draw on the crop 
before it reaches its best. If, on the con¬ 
trary, pasture keejis reasonably fresh and 
abundant, and there is likely to be an excess 
of the fodder corn, the second solving is re¬ 
sorted to as soon as it has reached fair ma¬ 
turity, and the unfed part of the earlier 
crop is cut and cured for winter forage 
while the weather is yet warm and dry ."— 
W. B. Pratt, page 265. 
In the biographical sketch of the Hon. 
Norman J. Colman, in the Rural of 
April G, it is said that “under his im¬ 
mediate direction the progress of manu¬ 
facturing sugar from sorghum by diffu¬ 
sion was perfected and placed upon a 
paying Jiasis.” This statement has been 
Speaking of the experiments in mak¬ 
ing sorghum-sugar by the National Gov¬ 
ernment during the past year, at Rio 
Grande, N. J., Kinner, La., and Con¬ 
way Springs, Douglass and Sterling, 
Kansas, Professor H. W. Wiley, Chemist 
of the Department of Agriculture, says 
all the conditions combined to render the 
manufacture of sugar on a small scale 
commercially unprofitable. At Douglass, 
Kansas, sorghum cane can be grown, 
which, with proper treatment, will yield 
from 80 to 90 pounds of sugar to a ton of 
pure cane. He thinks Southern and West¬ 
ern Kansas possess the best known cli¬ 
mate for sorghum, though it is not un¬ 
likely that that of Texas, Louisiana, 
Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina 
may be equally favorable, but this re¬ 
mains to be proved by experiments. The 
Indian Territory will, in his opinion, be 
the center of the industry. The expecta¬ 
tion of growing sorghum successfully in 
the great corn States, he insists, must now 
be indefinitely abandoned. A reasonably 
certain season of 60 days for making 
sugar from sorghum is an essential con¬ 
dition to profitable success. The water 
supply must be abundant, and the facto¬ 
ries must be located close to the fields. 
A cheap supply of fuel is also indispens¬ 
able. For this purpose the refuse chips 
of the cane can probably be used. A 
factory capable of working up 200 tons 
of cane per day would cost from $60,000 
to $100,000. A smaller one would hardly 
pay commercially. A thoroughly skillful 
manager is indispensable in each factory. 
An average of 194 pounds of sugar can 
be made from a ton of cane by the diffu¬ 
sion process. It is evident from all the 
latest experiments, that the old idea that 
sugar can be profitably made from sor¬ 
ghum on every farm or in every neighbor¬ 
hood by means of a few inexpensive im¬ 
plements and simple processes, must, once 
for all, be abandoned. 
THE REGULAR CONTEST PLOT. 
T HE trenches of the R. N.-Y. Potato 
Contest Plot (the regular one, not 
the Women’s), were dug last week, the 
weather being very favorable, the soil 
dry. It is this year just one-fortieth of 
an acre. Not to be partial, several kinds 
besides the R. N.-Y. seedlings, were used 
for seed, April 8th. The first trench is 
R. N.-Y. No. 2. The second trench is 
R N.-Y. No. 3. This is the variety 
nearly destroyed last year by the flea 
beetle. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth 
trenches are the R. N.-Y. No. 4. The 
seventh trench is Brownell’s Winner. 
The eighth trench is Monroe Co. Prize. 
The ninth is in part a variety sent to us 
by J. H. Woodburn, of Sterling, Ill., 
and New Queen. The 10th. trench is in 
part a seedling of Early Rose sent to us 
by Thomas Lazell, of Big Rapids, Mich., 
and Tonhosks, (we are not sure as to the 
spelling of the name,) from Theron E. 
Platt, of Newtown, Conn. The 11th, 
and last trench is Brownell’s Winner. 
The R. N.-Y. has great faith in this new 
potato, and would have given more than 
the two trenches to it, had the seed been 
sufficient. Thus we have 11 trenches, 
33 feet long, three feet apart—the pieces 
in the trenches being one foot apart— 
making an area of 1,089 square feet, or 
one-fortieth of an acre. 
A FAIR ARMY. 
T HE names of the women who are en¬ 
listed for the potato contest will be 
found on other pages of this issue. The 
R. N.-Y. counts 804 of them, and the 
names are still coming. This contest is 
unique. Nothing like it has ever been 
started before. Think of nearly 1,000 
wives and daughters of farmers striving 
for supremacy in a line that has hereto¬ 
fore been supposed to belong exclusively 
to men. The world moves. Thirty years 
ago such a thing as this potato contest 
would have been laughed out of sight. 
Now it proves the most interesting and 
popular movement of American agricul¬ 
ture. There is nothing unwomanly or 
undignified about it. Those who have 
entered for this contest are bright, ener¬ 
getic, independent business women, and 
the It. N.-Y. honors them for their energy 
and independence. All classes and all 
ages are represented. In short, we can only 
repeat that we believe that this con¬ 
test is the most unique, the most inter¬ 
esting And the most helpful agricultural 
contest ever devised. The R. N.-Y. 
hopes that each contestant will be able to 
win a prize. At any rate, it is convinced 
that all who carry out the work will reap 
an increased measure of good health,good 
appetite and happiness. Success to the 
fair army of potato growers! 
A WOMAN AT WORK. 
T HE other day we noticed a young 
married woman busily engaged in 
cutting and planting seed potatoes. She 
was one of the contestants in the Wom¬ 
en’s Potato Contest and would never have 
thought of doing such work had she not 
entered the lists for one of the prizes. 
The March wind disarranged her back 
hair and brought the tan to her cheeks, 
but it also gave her buoyant spirits and 
a voracious appetite for the supper she 
soon afterward prepared. “Why” she 
said, “isn’t this fun? It’s ever so much 
better than lawn tennis or croquet; for I 
feel as if I were doing some good ; earn¬ 
ing some money. Besides, I know now 
how much land the fortieth of an acie is; 
how far 33 feet is, and how to p’ant 
potatoes.” 
A beneficent result of the contest will 
be a bit of practical knowledge of fann¬ 
ing, which the contestants are pretty sure 
to learn. Notwithstanding the “fun” 
at the outset, they will learn that it is 
tedious and arduous work to raise a crop 
of potatoes, and they will be the better 
enabled to appreciate the work of their 
fathers and brothers. On the other 
hand, the men will learn that women can 
do some things as well as others; that 
they can actually plan and superintend, 
or do farm work successfully, and they 
will respect them all the more for it. 
Their admiration and respect will be all 
the greater if the ladies raise more pro¬ 
portionally on their plot than the men 
do on the farm. 
DAKOTA AND WHEAT. 
I T will be remembered that during the 
early agitation for Statehood among 
the citizens of Dakota, various names 
were proposed for the northern section 
of the Territory. It was proposed to call 
the southern section Dakota instead of 
South Dakota, while in the place of 
“North” Dakota, Pembina, Lincoln, 
Garfield, and other names were proposed. 
The citizens of the Territory seem to 
have been in favor of Dakota; why, has 
not been satisfactorily explained. A sub¬ 
scriber suggests a theory that we have 
seen advanced several times before. He 
says that business reasons prompt the Da¬ 
kota people to cling to their name. Da¬ 
kota wheat has won for itself a wonder¬ 
ful reputation in the markets of the 
world. It is the staple crop of the 
country, and neither section of Dakota is 
willing to drop the name that represents 
so much in the milling world. And 
while on this subject, it may not be amiss 
to call attention to some facts developed 
in the investigations ol the Canadian Ex¬ 
periment Station. Almost the only un¬ 
occupied public lands that can be con¬ 
sidered of superior quality, now lie in the 
Northwest. The fertility of some of 
these lands is absolutely astounding— 
almost beyond comprehension. The 
northern countries—those generally with 
the poorest transportation facilities and 
the most unfavorable agricultural con¬ 
ditions—are the only countries producing 
wheat of the very highest quality—wheat 
that proves itself a necessity in the pro¬ 
duction of first-class flour. With an 
early-ripening wheat the northern coun¬ 
tries are sure to be provided with a staple 
and profitable crop. 
COLLAPSE OF THE NEW GREAT 
MEAT SYNDICATE. 
A RMOUR & CO., of Chicago and 
Kansas City, have strangled the 
competition threatened to their dressed 
meat monopoly by the recently organized 
great American Meat Company. All ar¬ 
rangements having been satisfactorily 
completed, including the purchase of 
about 2,000,000 acres of grazing land 
and 250,000 cattle, together with a large 
slaughter-house at Kansas City and 12 
established meat markets in Baltimore, 
and after $7,000,000 of the capitalization 
of $15,000,000 had been subscribed, 
early this week books were opened by a 
banking house in this city for subscrip¬ 
tions for $4,000,000’more of sto6k offered 
for public investment in order to extend 
the business. The subscriptions poured 
in in a volume much greater than the pro¬ 
moters expected, one party alone sub¬ 
scribing $500,000, and the prospects of a 
keen competition with the Armours be¬ 
came very lively. President Flager and 
Treasurer Moss of the Cotton-seed Trust, 
were respectively President and Vice- 
President of the American Meat Com¬ 
pany. Armour is by far the largest cus¬ 
tomer of the Trust, as he needs nearly 
half of its product to adulterate his lard. 
So strong was the pressure he brought to 
bear on the Cotton-seed Trust that, last 
Thursday, Flager and Moss resigned and 
the subscription books were closed. All 
further subscriptions were declined, and 
those already paid are to be returned in 
full. Doubtless it will cost a great deal 
of money to settle with the original 
speculating investors; but what of that? 
The public must pay it, inasmuch as 
Armour will be in a position to wring it 
from the people by extortion. 
brevities. 
Prickly Comfrey is new (April 11) three 
inches high. 
Strawberries are becoming cheap and 
plentiful in this market. 
The R. N.-Y.’s Women’s Contest plot rvas 
prepared and ready for the seed on April 9th. 
Pyrus Malus Parkmannii has passed 
through the winter without the slightest in¬ 
jury. 
The experiments with milch cows, noted 
on page 272, ought to open the eyes of some 
dairymen. 
Remember that maple trees are, in one 
sense, like cows. The sap from one may make 
more sugar than that from another. 
It is a somewhat unfortunate thing that 
the season for "working the roads” comes just 
at the time when farmers should be doing 
their spring work. 
The R. N.-Y. believes that the day is com¬ 
ing when the dairyman who does not make 
use of the silo will be forced to take second 
place in the race. 
The new potato to be called King of 
Oneida, is evidently a long keeper. It is of 
good shape and all that appears against it is 
the color, which is purple. 
"A strawberry of soil” is the latest name 
for a plant that requires a certain soil for its 
best development, while without such a soil it 
gives very poor results. Do you know of any 
such? 
A Stupendous and altogether creditable 
success is the Women’s National Potato Con¬ 
test. It is a success entirely beyond the best 
hopes of the R.N.-Y. Ladies, permit us to 
congratulate you. 
Street fakirs are selling "choice garden 
and flower seeds” for one cent per packet, or 
six packets for five cents. These packets 
have the imprint ot a seed firm that went out 
of business last year. 
Which is the quicker grown, the wheat 
plant or the corn plant? Which therefore re¬ 
quires the more solunle plant food and, at 
which stage of its life should the food be ap¬ 
plied ? This is worth tl inking over. 
English farmers experimented with sor¬ 
ghum last year, in the hope ot proving that it 
would make a valuable addition to their list 
of forage plants. The reports are almost all 
against it. England is not a corn country. 
Catalogues should state more specifically 
than they do how high pea vines grow—that 
is, in a moderately rich soil. They should 
also state more accurately than they do the 
time required for the varieties of potatoes 
offered to mature. 
The planting of ailanthus trees for street 
adornment has been strongly advocated and 
as strongly reprobated. The Health Officer 
of Washington insists that for sanitary reasons 
the 500 ailanthus trees that beautity the cap¬ 
ital’s streets must. go. 
Take two workmen, give them plows of the 
same make and teams of equal strength. Can 
one prepare the land in better shape for the 
crop than the other can ? Yes, sir. And it is 
possible for one team of horses to excel an¬ 
other at plowing by 50 per cent. 
We all feel frisky in the spring. It fs the 
season for friskiness. We won’t feel half so 
frisky in July and August. We won’t, but 
the weeds will. The moral ot all this is that 
we can easily lay out in April about three 
times as much as we can do in August. An¬ 
other point is that what we neglect in August 
entails a double loss 
English farmers are just now discussing 
the Rye-grass question with great energy. A 
number of scientists and also some of the best 
practical farmers are advocating the use of 
this grass in the strongest terms. We also 
learn that various parties are again attempt¬ 
ing to work up a “boom” for Prickly com- 
frey. Ireland is the only country whore this 
plant has met with anything like a favorable 
reception. 
An anti-oleo bill now before fhe Ohio Legis¬ 
lature is likely to be defeated in the Senate. 
As was recently the case in Massachusetts, 
the adverse action of the Upper House will be 
due chiefly to remissness on the part of farm¬ 
ers in urging their views on their representa¬ 
tives, and treachery on the part of some of the 
latter in misrepresenting their constituents. 
Armour’s lobby appears to be much more 
powerful before the Upper Houses of several 
States than before the Lower. Is it because 
the forrnor being smaller in membership, the 
amount of the bribes can be made more per¬ 
suasive? 
