300 
THE RURAL. NEW-YORKER. 
MAY A 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
^National Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
I&BEBT S. CAKH1S. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1889. 
Are there any special products that 
you would like noticed at greater length 
in our market reports? The R. N.-Y. 
wishes to prepare these reports so that 
they will be of the greatest value to its 
readers. We want to secure the latest 
and most helpful facts regarding the 
products in which our readeis are deeply 
interested. Let us know what you want, 
and we will do our best to supply it. 
They all serm to like our “ Discussion ” 
department. It is getting to be a genuine 
farmers'institute each week. The R N.-Y. 
invites its readers to help out this depart¬ 
ment by sending short notes criticising or 
confirming anything that may appear in 
these columns. 
There is no reason why newly intro¬ 
duced plants should be called some¬ 
body’s “seedlings.” There is a very good 
reason why they should not be called so, 
viz., they are not seedlings. If we plant 
a seed from the fruit (ball) of the potato, 
the plant is a seedling, simply because it 
comes from a seed. When we plant the 
tubers which grow from this seed, the 
plants are no longer seedlings, because 
they don’t grow from seeds. The same 
is true of all other plants whatever. 
“ If our government cannot compel these 
corporations to serve the people econom¬ 
ically, impartially and well, it will have to 
revoke their charters, refund their actual 
capital, and itself do the work they refuse 
to do economically and properly .”—W. I. 
Chamberlain, page 300. 
-■« ♦ .« -- 
The old, very old, question whether 
there are valid reasons why pale butter 
should not be colored so as to appear of 
a golden yellow is now being warmly 
discussed by many farm papers. The 
question is one that need not be discussed 
at all—every one can answer it for him¬ 
self. Always assuming that the factitious 
appearance is given by harmless applica¬ 
tions, we may ask, is it right to oil the 
hair, to shave, to color the beard cr hair, 
to black one’s boots, to paint one’s house, 
except to preserve the wood? Is it con- 
demuable that we should tidy-up when 
company comes and assume our prettiest 
ways? Ought we to clean up the grounds, 
rectify the margins, weed the flower beds 
and put on our best bib-and-tuckers on 
such occasions? Is all this the natural 
state or color of things? Ohl don’t let’s 
bother over splitting hairs. There is 
real reformatory work for farm papers to 
do. Let’s do it. 
- ♦>« - » «■>»- 
I can see no benefit, but injury instead, 
from the employment of tile to mark the po¬ 
sition of the seed when planted. It will be 
better every way to use one or more short, 
light stakes for the pui-pose, since these will 
in no way interfere with the influences of 
light and moisture." —T. T. Lyon, page 294. 
Two years ago the Michigan Legisla¬ 
ture passed a law taxing mortgages on 
property as well as the property they 
covered, thus imposing double taxation 
on mortgaged property. Just about that 
time there was a craze in several sections 
for legislation otthis kind under the mis¬ 
taken impression that it was a shrewd de¬ 
vice for taxing capital. Experience, 
however, has shown that the holder of 
the mortgage merely raises the rate of in¬ 
terest enough to cover the tax, thus add¬ 
ing to the load of the already grievously 
burdened mortgagor; and the enforcement 
of the law has proved so costlv and un¬ 
satisfactory that the House has just voted 
by a large majority to repeal it. Illinois 
has refused to pass several bills provid¬ 
ing for the taxation of mortgages; Massa¬ 
chusetts declines to ie-enact such laws, 
and wherever they are in force they 
should be promptly repealed in the in¬ 
ter ests of the poor moitgagors. 
“As the mining interests are bringing 
millions into this State and Alabama for 
investment, so, 20 years hence, a large pro¬ 
portion of seeds and plants will be grown in 
the South. But for excessive express charges 
we could even now grow and ship many 
plants at one-tenth of what Northern florists 
must charge to live.' 1 —A. Y. S., page 298. 
Many of our States are so large that no 
geneial description of climate, soil or 
other conditions will answer for the 
whole of them. Take Virginia, for ex¬ 
ample. People at the Noith and West 
speak of the climate and crops of Virginia 
as though these were similar all through 
the S‘ate. Here is what a subscriber in 
Virginia says about it:— 
“ In fact there is not a great deal ot dif¬ 
ference in point of climate between South¬ 
west Virginia and Southern New York, 
except that the winters here are milder. 
Even the people of the extreme sections 
of the State may be as readily distin¬ 
guished from one another in customs and 
dialect as the Yankee from the Westerner. 
They differ as much as the crops they 
grow upon their varying soils.” 
We do not realize what a great nation 
we have until we seriously think about 
it. We have every degree of climate and 
soil, we produce just about everything 
we need,and cur people differ in size, ap¬ 
pearance and speech about as much as 
can well be. Yet we are all alike at one 
point. We are all Americans, our labor 
all goes to build up and improve Ameri¬ 
can homes and industries. Great thought, 
is it not? 
“ I suspect that the climatic changes in the 
heat and relative humidity of the air of our 
summers, wrought by the destruction of tim¬ 
ber in the Eastern States, and the loss of our 
sea of prairie grass, and tens of thousands 
of swampy drainage centers at the West, 
have had more to do with our orchard 
troubles than the practice of root-grafting." 
—J. L. Budd, page 294. 
Philip D. Armour is the most influ¬ 
ential director of the Chicago, Milwau¬ 
kee and St. Paul railroad, and the most 
important member of the Big Four dress¬ 
ed meat syndicate. It has just been dis¬ 
covered that the railroad, contrary to the 
Inter State Commerce Law, has been 
making secret rebates on the transporta¬ 
tion of dressed meat from Chicago. 
Very justly, there is a murmur of public 
indignation, which should become an out¬ 
cry. It is evident that if Armour has not 
ordered this discrimination in favor of 
his own business, it has been made through 
his influence or with his approval. Di¬ 
rectors of railroads are simply trustees of 
the property for the owners, and not for 
any one of them, and in this capacity 
each is under a moral obligation to man¬ 
age the trust for the benefit of the stock¬ 
holders at large, and not for his own ad¬ 
vantage or that of his friends. How few 
however, put this principle into practice! 
How many of the great railroad fortunes 
have been made by wrecking the com¬ 
panies, the managers and directors rob¬ 
bing the stock-holders to add to their own 
unjustly acquired hoards 1 Isn’t it time 
that the courts should punish such breach¬ 
es of trust and of the law? And the more 
prominent the offender, the more impres¬ 
sive the lesson. 
“ It is to be hoped that each big boy and 
girl as well as each little one, will, on the 
coming Arbor Day, choose from the abun¬ 
dance of material, and lay a corner-stone 
on which will ultimately rise a living monu¬ 
ment, more beautiful and graceful than the 
sculpture of ancient Greece, more wonderful 
than the pyramids of Egypt."— Ruth Ray¬ 
mond, page 307. 
It seems evident to the R. N.-Y. that 
there is to be, in the next five years, an 
immense development of the dairy bus¬ 
iness in this country. Many farmers 
have reached a point where “ money ” 
crops cost more than they bring in. In 
order to maintain the fertility of their 
fields, such farmers must either buy 
chemical fertilizers or keep more stock. 
The wonderful development of the 
dressed beef trade has practically driven 
the old business of steer feeding from 
average-sized farms. Farmers are be¬ 
ginning to believe firmly what scientific 
men have been preaching for years, that 
a pound of butter takes away from the 
farm less fertility than is taken in an 
equal weight of any other product. 
Creameries run on the cream-gathering 
svstem are coming into great favor. 
Make no mistake about it, the creamery 
system of butter making is destined to 
change the agriculture of a majoritv of 
the States—change it for the better, too. 
American dairymen must look up new 
markets. The most promising field lies 
to the South of us in Mexico, and the 
South American Republics. An associa¬ 
tion of business men has already been 
formed for the sole purpose of increasing 
American trade with these Southern 
countries. American dairymen must be 
represented in this association. 
“ Dealers know by experience that many 
farmers do not know plantain and other 
noxious seeds, or they would not continue to 
handle such seeds as one finds exposea for 
sale everywhere. I suggest that there should 
be an official inspection of all seeds put on 
the market, and that all foul or worthless 
seeds should be condemned." —A. J. A., 
page 298. 
RURAL NEW-YORKER EXPERI¬ 
MENTS FOR 1889. 
A MONG the kinds of potatoes sent to 
the Rural Grounds for trial and 
already planned are the following: Sen¬ 
eca Beauty, Mrs. Foraker, Gov. Foraker. 
Hemstreet’s No. 1, Starr's Beauty, Early 
Standard, Early Market, Badger State, 
8unlit Star, Oneida Beauty. Lady of Lon¬ 
don, Bolev’s Northern Spy, Wide Awake, 
Eyeless, Early Thoroughbred, Early 
White Ohio, Beauty of Hebron from 
Prince Edward’s Island. Coy’s No 88 
(third trial), Beauty of Beauties (second 
trial), Alaska, Jerrard’s No. 2, and about 
30 kinds not yet named. These all have 
been planted under the most favorable 
conditions; in fact, the conditions were, 
so far as can be judged, absolutely per¬ 
fect. The only thing to be feared, the 
season being remarkably early, is frost in 
May. For the sixth or seventh year, 
trialswith different quantities of fertil¬ 
izers are being made from 440 pounds to 
2,200 pounds to the acre. For the third 
year the endeavor to answer the question 
whether it is better to place the fertilizer 
under or over the seed is being made. 
For the third year, also, we have planted 
the seed-pieces all the way from two to 
10 inches deep. 
A little experiment that we shall 
watch with interest, is this: Three 
barrels of the same size were first pro¬ 
vided with ample drainage. They were 
then filled with sandy-loam enriched with 
potato fertilizer to within 14 inches of 
the top, and on this, in each barrel, a 
whole potato was placed, a different va¬ 
riety for each barrel. The potatoes were 
then covered two inches deep with the 
same kind of soil. As the sprouts appear 
above the soil, more will be added until 
the barrels are filled. After maturity the 
barrels will be carefully taken apait, and 
the soil washed away from the stems, 
roots and tubers, and photographs taken. 
The experiment may throw some light on 
the formation of tubers and the under 
ground development of the potato. 
The usual number of new fruits, veg¬ 
etables,etc., are being tried. 
“ It is not my expedience that the applica¬ 
tion of manure or of fertilizers of any sort, 
will prevent the spotting, scabbing and crack¬ 
ing of apples subject to such defects-, but 
without liberal manuring there is no solid 
success in orcharding; and a well-fed tree, 
even of a variety subject to the above dis¬ 
eases, will produce more merchantable fruit 
than a neglected one of the same variety."— 
T. H. Hoskins, page 294. 
GREAT PROJECTED EXPERIMENTS 
WITH DAIRY AND BEEF 
CATTLE. 
T HE New York State Agricultural Ex¬ 
periment Station, at Geneva, con¬ 
templates a senes of valuable experiments 
with beef and dairy cattle, covering the 
entire range of milk, butter, cheese and 
beef production in the most efficient and 
economical way. It proposes to secure, 
free of all cost to the State for purchase, 
“the finest herd of blooded cattle in the 
world.” The various associations repre¬ 
senting the different breeds are expected 
to contribute gratuitously the choicest 
specimens of their favorites, and the desire 
of each association that its own breed 
should excel, is sure to make all eager to 
be very careful in their selections. Al¬ 
ready a number of the best-blooded cattle 
in America have been presented to the 
State of New York by different breeders. 
The Holstein-Friesian Association has 
purchased and presented to the Station 
the finest heifer from each of the herds of 
Henry Stevens, D. B Whipple, Gerritt S. 
Miller and Smiths, Powell aud Lamb, and 
a choice young steer from the herd of S. 
Burchard. Four fine Holderness calves 
from the Utica Holderness herd have 
reached the Station. Two Guernsey 
steers, two Guernsey heifers and one bull, 
selected from the finest herds of the 
breed, await orders from the Station for 
shipment. The Ayrshire Association has 
purchased four registered heifers and one 
bull calf from herds in four different 
States and will donate them to the Sta¬ 
tion. The Jersey and several other asso¬ 
ciations are now making selections with 
the same object in view, and when ar¬ 
rangements are completed there is no 
doubt that the finest herd of the best rep¬ 
resentatives of the various prominent 
breeds ever collected for experimental pur¬ 
poses, will be at the disposal of the Sta¬ 
tion. Will the results be proportionately 
valuable? It must be confessed that, with 
few if any exceptions, the results of such 
experiments on this side of the Atlantic 
have hitherto been of litt’e practical 
value to the cattle owners of the couutry 
at large. With the ample means, im¬ 
proved appliances, lessons from other ex¬ 
periments of the same kind at home and 
abroad, together with no small amount of 
talent in the experimenters, it is to be 
hoped, nay, even expected, that the re¬ 
sults of present exDeriments will prove 
more instructive and generally satisfac¬ 
tory than those of any of their predeces¬ 
sors. 
11 1 measured my potato contest plot on 
April 13. The snow is not all gone yet so I 
could not measure very correctly. It is 
about 70 jeet long and 30 feet t vide. The 
bright new leaves of the pie plant were prick¬ 
ing up through the edge ot a snow-bank to 
get a look at the sunlight. How would my 
Southern sisters like this prospect for rais¬ 
ing a prize crop of potatoesV'— Mrs. E. A. 
F., page 298. 
brevities. 
How do you purpose to explain the growth 
of “a tree within a tree” as described on 
page 298? 
How do our Southern readers agree with 
the remarks of J. P. A. on page 298 regarding 
seed corn from the North? 
An almond tree six years planted blooms 
this spring tor the first at the R. G. It shows 
the mildness of the past winter. 
Read the account of “An Original Potato 
Contest” on page 29S. Such a thing would 
make things lively in your neighborhood. 
We are particularly desirous that those who 
have had any experience with onions as food 
for stock should tell us what they think of Mr. 
Whittemore’s answer on page 296? 
For salting cows the R. N.-Y. is using rock 
salt. The cattle lick the lump with evident 
satisfaction. This plan seems to us better 
than that of putting salt in the food. We have 
often noticed, at the South, the old-time “lick 
ball.” This appeared to be a mixture of clay, 
salt and ashes, molded into a lump and pla-ed 
on a convenient stump for cattle to lick. 
The California Experiment Station finds 
itself called upon with great frequency to 
make analyses of water. Many farmers want 
to know what the muddy water from the irri¬ 
gating ditches contains. Owners of artesian 
and other wells want to know about the 
healthfulness of their water. Many owners 
ot springs think they possess bonanzas in the 
shape of water for medicinal purposes. 
The R. N.-Y. has, ready for publication, 
one of the mostthoughtful articles on agricul¬ 
tural colleges that it has ever read. This re¬ 
view, for it is a review of the work done by 
the colleges, and a general summing up of the 
returns they have made for the money ex¬ 
pended on them, will be sure to create con¬ 
siderable discussion. The R. N.-Y. hopes that 
the friends of the colleges will read the article 
with great care. 
Agriculture develops. Here is an extract 
from a letter written by a farmer in a dairy 
districtof N. Y. State where, five years ago, 
the silo was laughed at. “ I hope by the use 
of the silo to be able to double our stock and 
increase the yield of our meadows. We will 
not have so much land seeded down, but will 
have more hay. We can afford to feed but 
little at the present prices, but trust to make 
the silage do the business, sending the hay 
baled to the metropolis ” 
Early planting is good. There is nothing 
that makes one feel better than to work ahead 
of one’s work, so to speak. But w'hen seeds 
are planted during a warm spell long before 
the natural teason arrives, we must take the 
risk. Several market-gardeners near the R. G. 
planted Limas two weeks ago. Last Monday 
night, a sharp frost killed them and the work 
must be repeated The same frost injured 
the earliest-planted peas and potatoes; blight¬ 
ed the early magnolias and caused the hya¬ 
cinths (in full bloom) to bang their lovely 
heads. 
Closely related to the sassafras, we have 
now r the Spice-wood or Benjamin-bush in 
bloom, variously called by different botanists 
benzoin odoriferum, Laurus benzoin, Lindera 
benzoin, etc. It grows in low, wet places aud 
one might readilv mistake its yellow flowers 
for those of the dogwood—Cornus ma*s., the 
Cornelian cherry or several other kinds native 
of this country. The stems when bruised 
give out a powerful spicy odor agreeable to 
most people. It is a very hardy shrub and, 
where a varied collection is desired, should 
make one of the collection. 
