4889 
Tiff RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
284 
A Sugar Exchange. —Some of the best 
makers of maple sweets in Vermont have or¬ 
ganized themselves into a company to sell 
their products under a guarantee of quality 
and purity. This organization has been quite 
successful, and the principle admits of being 
extended to many other farm products. In 
this way the producer is brought nearer to 
the consumer, to the manifest advantage of 
both. 
NEW LEGISLATION NEEDED CONCERN¬ 
ING MONOPOLIES. 
No. 4. 
PRESIDENT W. I. CHAMBERLAIN. 
Railway Monopolies Further Con¬ 
sidered. —In addition to what was said in the 
last number in regard to railways, I add that 
since railways are virtual monopolies for their 
“suction range,” and since they are public 
servants invested with a most valuable public 
franchise, their rights of way, therefore the 
Government, acting for society, has a triple 
right to control them in the interests of so¬ 
ciety: first the general right of self-preserva¬ 
tion; second the right and duty to control all 
monopolies; and, third, the right to control 
common carriers that use the Nation’s high¬ 
ways. It is the duty of the Government to 
see that the railways meet th9 wants of the 
people and do not over-meet them. No more 
railways should be chartered than “ the traffic 
will bear,” to use their favorite phrase. 
Many years’ experience has shown about how 
many common roads and streets are needed 
in country and in city for the accommodation 
of the public. In the level, fertile West, roads 
are placed on most of the section lines, that is 
a mile apart in both directions at right angles. 
All lands are sold subject to such legal high¬ 
ways and the property or land pays for work¬ 
ing the roads. 
In modern cities on fairly level ground 
there are 10 or 12 streets to tLe linear mile in 
both directions, and the property pays for the 
pavements according either to value or fron¬ 
tages. Too many roads and streets would 
cost too much land, and too much expense for 
working. Too few streets will not accommo¬ 
date the traffic. Long experience has pointed 
out the golden mean. But railroads are a 
somewhat recent invention. Experience has 
not yet had time to determine just how many 
are needed in any locality. Existing corpora¬ 
tions have been eager to push their lines and 
branches as feeders to their main trunks, out 
into new territory sparsely settled, far in ad¬ 
vance of the needs of population and com¬ 
merce and of paying traffic, lest some rival 
corporation should occupy the territory ahead 
of them. Thus parallel lines are multiplied 
beyond the demands of commerce, and pool¬ 
ing or purchase follows and the traffic must 
pay dividends on twice the needed ou'lay. 
At last experience would seem to be sufficient 
to show our legislators at least the need of 
caution in granting charters. Each company 
that asks a charter to build a new road or 
extend one already existing, should be re¬ 
quired to show its right to exist, that is, to 
show that the new line is needed. Then all 
existing lines and all new ones chartered, 
should have their schedules of passenger and 
freight rates determined by law, and made 
uniform to all and without possibility of 
sudden change. We shall soon reach just 
legislation with our present increasing ex¬ 
perience, if we are determined to succeed. 
Other Public-Franchise Monopolies.— 
The same general principles apply also to fer¬ 
ry, turnpike, horse-car, cable, motor, gas, 
electric light, and telegraph and telephone 
companies and the like.where private capital 
combined into companies is given right ot 
way through public streets or otherwise, and 
partial or complete monopoly of serving the 
public over a given area with reference to 
some necessity or urgent convenience. For, 
such monopoly gives the company the power 
to levy a personal tax within the given area, 
and unless such power is regulated by the 
government of city, State or nation as the 
case may be, in the interests and for the pro¬ 
tection of the people, we at once have taxa¬ 
tion without representation, the very thing 
our Revolutionary War was fought to resist. 
Now, this power to tax the public without 
sufficient control as to cost and quality of 
service, is eagerly sought in cities by carry¬ 
ing and lighting companies and the like, and 
has become a fruitful source of the worst cor¬ 
ruption in securing from city councils long¬ 
time charters to the enrichment of the com¬ 
panies and not to the best interests of the 
people. AU such corporations that have 
right of way and virtual monopoly given 
them, usually free, through public streets, or 
sold them on compulsion and appraisal 
through private lands, get thereby public 
franchises ot vast money-coining power,which 
become sources of oppression unless properly 
restricted by statute-law or in the charters 
themselves. Much companies should be com¬ 
pelled to use their franchises not to heap up 
inordinate wealth for themselves by small 
extortions from large numbers, but to serve 
the public faithfully, reasonably and well; 
merely taking to themselves fair and liberal 
compensation for capital, skill and enter¬ 
prise involved. To this the public does not 
and should not object. To extortion, like 
what we have often suffered in tho past and 
are still suffering, the public has a right to 
object, and a duty to remedy it. 
I call renewed attention to a fact mentioned 
in the first paper of this series, a fact of great 
importance and wide application, and yet 
seldom stated and little understood, viz., that 
notably within the last fifty years our legisla¬ 
tion with tardy step has lagged far behind the 
amazing growth of population, and the still 
more amazing increase of inventive genius 
and of material wealth in this wonderful 
Nineteenth century. In the points now under 
consideration our legislation, national, State 
and municipal, seems to be furthest behind 
The companies have been keener-sighted than 
the bulk of the people. Beyond all question, 
the charters given in the past to our great 
public carrying, lighting and commun’cating 
companies and the like, have, through igno¬ 
rance, short-sightedness and the like been 
tar too libera and too loose to secure to 
the people their just rights. These companies 
furnish the great arteries of commerce. The 
circulation must be kept unrestricted, or com¬ 
merce will languish. The idea must be dinned 
into the inner consciousness of our legisla¬ 
tors and city fathers that these great carry¬ 
ing, lighting and communicating corpora¬ 
tions are given their puolic franchises and 
virtual monopolies to serve the public and not 
to enrich themselves inordinately. On no 
other ground has government a right to 
bestow these franchises Any other ground 
would mean the favoring and enrichment ot 
the few to the damage of the many, a thing 
abhorrent to the very idea of all just govern¬ 
ment, and especially of our own. 
State Agricultural College, Ames, Iowa. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Pennsylvania. 
Erie, Erie County.—In this city we have 
two half days each week as market days. On 
the principal street, benches are placed upon 
one side. These are used as stands or, as 
some term them, stalls by the farmers, or 
hucksters, on which to display their produce, 
etc. Each one occupying a stand pays a tax 
of 15 cents, and he can occupy it from sunrise 
until mid-day. On any comfortable day one 
can find almost any kind of vegetables as 
well as seed grains, eggs, poultry, beef, mut¬ 
ton, lamp, pork in all its different forms, and 
also pigs, live fowls of every imaginable 
strain; fruits of all kinds, nuts, as well as 
tropical f ruits. The latter business is controll¬ 
ed largely by the Italians. There is a large 
supply of butter and cheese—with a liberal 
spattering of Limberger, and a cheese by the 
German hucksters called Swiss cheese, and by 
others Illinois Limberger. Its peculiarity 
is that it is very rich and quite strong without 
the disagreeable odor of genuine Limberger 
cheese. Speaking candidly of the butter, I 
must say I have not tasted a prime article 
since I came to the city in November. It has 
a taste so different from anything I ever ex¬ 
perienced that 1 am at a loss where to place 
the fault. There is much offered that one 
might say is flavored, the taste is so peculiar. 
Some has been sold that should have been 
confiscated by the health officers. A cry is 
soon raised if “ bob veal ” is found upon the 
market; but even that is more wholesome 
than some of the grease called butter. As a 
rule, the cheese is superior to the butter. The 
beef generally has been fair for the kind pro¬ 
duced by farmers from dry cows, bulls and 
stags. It is seldom one sees first-quality 
young beef on the market. The mutton is 
usually good; some of it indeed is very tine, if 
really fat mutton can be called fine. The 
rrices for beef have ranged from five to 
seven cents per pound per quarter. Mutton 
about six cents per pound by the carcass. 
Pork has been good—some extra-flue—price 
six cents. Turkeys have been in excess, and 
usually brought 10 to 12 cents undrawn. 
Fowls are, in general, rather poor; but com¬ 
mand 10 and 12 cents. Apples have been very 
poor, many not being fit for cider, being 
gnarly, wormy and really inferior in every 
way. The great surprise to me is the marked 
iguorance of names of varieties. I have seen 
the Hambo offered.a^Oivldwinjitbe Swaap, as 
New England Pippin, etc., etc. Many a com¬ 
mon Iruit gets the name of some one of our 
choicest varieties. 
Garden vegetables have usually been fine— 
onions predominating. The sandy soil if 
properly fertilized, produces these in their 
perfection. Erie is the center for onion sets. 
They are of a superior quality this year, and 
within the reach of all—they are selling for 
§2 and $2.50 a bushel of 36 pounds. Fine 
table onions are worth 40 cents a bushel. 
Celery has all been very inferior. Potatoes 
command 40 cents; apples 40 to 50 cents; 
butter 25 and 28 cents; hay is in abundance 
at $12 to $16. For the last two market days 
many flowers have been offered, both cut and 
in pots. 
The city can boast a horticultural society 
with quite a large membership, with the 
usual attendance of six to eight members. The 
discussions are able and well timed. In and 
around Erie one will see some good horses, 
many serviceable ones, and a few that might 
be termed by fair judges, stylish drivers; but 
nothing very marked as fancy steppers for 
style or speed. There may be some in private 
stables, that are not seen on the streets. I 
have watched closely but failed to see more 
than one or two that I would care to purchase 
at anything like a fancy price. My attention 
has been called to the German prunes that 
are largely grown in this vicinity. Wm. 
Lasch is advertising them largely, and claims 
to import them to quite a considerable ex¬ 
tent. I am creditably informed that he has 
not imported one tree in five or more years— 
if he ever did. It is a known fact that he has 
repeatedly gone to Fairview, Pa., and 
bought the sprouts that had come up in an 
old orchard there, paying six cents each for 
them, and sold them.on a warranty as imported 
German prunes for 75 cents each. This va¬ 
riety has a marked advantage over the plum, 
as the skin is so much more tough that they 
are less liable to be stung by the curculio. 
Grapes will soon supersede the apple along 
the ridge, while the apple will be the standard 
fruit back on the second and third slopes. 
The markets here require a different manage¬ 
ment. The hucksters and farmers should be 
educated to understand that the market 
demands the best, and is willing to pay for it; 
therefore they should try to excel in its pro¬ 
duction. Good goods always find ready pur¬ 
chasers at remunerative prices. h. a. w. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
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and address of the writer to Insure attention. Before 
asking a question, please see If It Is not answered in 
our advertising columns. Ask only a few questions at 
one time. Put questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
CULTIVATING STRAWBERRIES. 
J. S., Plainfield, 2nd. —I would like to hear 
again from Mr. J. M. Smith, the great straw¬ 
berry raiser of Wisconsin. He says he lets 
the runners run out like the spokes of a wheel; 
how does he cultivate them? I don’t see how 
ha can use a horse after the vines begin to 
run. Does he cut off the second runners? 
ANSWERED BY J. M. SMITH. 
It is not often that I recommend to others, 
except in towns and cities, to follow closely 
my own plan in cultivating vines and train¬ 
ing runners. My land is worth many hun¬ 
dreds of dollars per acre. I can always hire 
all the help I need at a reasonable price. 
Hence it is better for me to go to a much 
heavier expense in obtaining a crop, and then 
rely upon very large crops for my profits. 
Now for my methods of preparation and cul¬ 
tivation: First, I make my land very rich 
with manures from my compost heap, or com¬ 
mon stable manures, or both, putting on at 
the rate of about 40 good two-horse loads per 
acre. I make sure that the land is thoroughly 
drained, either underdrained or surface 
drained, or both. It is carefully plowed and 
put in as good condition in every way as I 
know how to put it. Thus far, I claim that 
those who wish to be successful, should all 
pursue the same course. Hereafter wo may 
differ in our methods of treatment. I grow 
the '.7ilson principally. Wilsons are not such 
strong runners as some of the other varieties, 
and will bear setting closer together. I set 
mine two feet apart each way. I set them 
in the spring, and do not allow them to 
bear tiny fruit the first season, preferring 
to keep the entire growth of the plant and its 
runners in a course of preparation for the 
next season’s crop. Do you ask, “What! 
give the land for two years for a single crop 
of berries?” By no means. As soon as tho 
beds are set, we plant or sow some quick¬ 
growing crop between the rows. Sometimes 
the Tom Thumb, or other varieties of dwarf 
peas, or early bush beans; perhaps a crop of 
radishes or lettuce, or, possibly, all of these 
and some others are planted or sown between 
the rows. This, of course, reduces the dis¬ 
tance to one foot between the rows, only one 
way at that. Cultivation with horse and cul¬ 
tivator is out of the question; but we do cul¬ 
tivate very thoroughly with a hand cultiva¬ 
tor, and in and around the plants with hoes. 
Weeds and grass are kept out no matter what 
it costs. During July, the crops between the 
rows are ready to be harvested. As soon as 
ready, they are taken off clean. By this time 
the young plants have commenced to throw 
out runners, though but very tew have as yet 
taken root. The beds are now thoroughly 
cleaned of every growing thing, except the 
strawberry plants and their runners. Some¬ 
times we use a horse and cultivator, going 
through them both ways, and sometimes 
hand cultivators. At any rate the ground is 
well and thoroughly cultivated, and then the 
runners are trained around the parent plant 
as I have sometimes said, like the spokes in a 
wagon wheel, the parent plant being the 
center. In training the runners we simply 
spread them around the parent plant, and 
throw sufficient earth upon each to hold it in 
its place. We generally go through the 
beds twice in this manner. Of course, 
there is no more cultivating with a horse 
and cultivator after this, and if they grow as 
rapidly as we wish them to do, but very little 
with the hand cultivators. The object is to 
have the plants fill the spaces and cover the 
entire ground. If they do this, all moving of 
the soil afterward must be done with the com¬ 
mon hand hoe. After the ground freezes we 
cover the beds with marsh hay, putting it on 
in quantity sufficient to hide the plants from 
view, and leaving it there until all danger of 
freezing nights is over, when we take it off 
and stack it for the following winter. The 
weeds are cleaned out if any should be left 
from the last fall. A coat of wood ashes or of 
fine manure is spread upon the top of the 
ground among the vines. All the open 
spaces are hoed over and the earth is left as 
loose as possible. It is a wonderful protec¬ 
tion in seasons of drought, (and we have had 
three years of drought in succession). We 
generally go through the crop twice in the 
spring, before the picking season begins. We 
take only one crop from the beds. As soon 
as it is off, the vines are turned under, and a 
crop of fall cabbage or celery is grown upon 
the ground. This may seem to be very ex¬ 
pensive, and is somewhat so; but I am not 
growing strawberries as a matter of senti¬ 
ment, but for the money I can get out of the 
business, and when one can get a yield of 
200 or 250 bushels per acre, he can afford to 
make some extra outlay to obtain such re¬ 
sults. My oeds have averaged over 200 
bushels per acre for a number of years, and I 
hope to do still better in the future. But how 
about the beds in the country where lana is 
reasonably cheap, and help almost impossible 
to obtain ? In such cases I advise setting the 
plants in rows, at least three feet apart if 
Wilsons, and about 15 inches apart in the 
rows. If the Crescents or any of the very 
strong-growing varieties are to be used, I 
would set the rows four feet apart, and the 
plants from 15 to 18 inches apart in the rows, 
and then cultivate just as much as possible 
with horse and cultivator; but in all cases 
one must do the work thoroughly and give 
the plants a fair chance to do their best. 
CHRONIC DIARRHOEA IN A MARE. 
H. S., Portsmouth, Ohio. —My 10-year-old 
mare was kept running loose in a box-stall in 
the stable all winter, with an occasional drive 
on the road. She had oats and sometimes 
corn with all the hay she would eat. She was 
in good condition, but not with foal. About 
three months ago she began scouring badly. 
I changed her feed to chopped oats and hay, 
reducing the amout to about one-third of the 
winter feed. She always eats and drinks 
heartily, and appears well. She is in poor 
flesh, however, and appears weak when 
driven. A veterinary surgeon attended her 
for two weeks. He said he dared not check 
the diarrhoea at once,but gave her some pow¬ 
ders and drops in her drinking water. He 
sent her home three weeks ago, and now the 
ailment is as bad as ever. What should be 
done for her ? 
ANSWERED BY DR. K. L. KILBORNE. 
Owing to the various causes and conditions, 
usually more or less complicated, that may 
produce this chronic diarrhoea, such cases 
cannot be satisfactorily treated through cor- 
