432 
THE BUBAL fHEW-YORKER 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
ANatlonal Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
mixing, it was sifted on the vines. In 
two or three days it -was evident that the 
leaves were harmed by the application. 
Possibly an inferior article of ashes 
would serve better. 
have just issued a protest against the 
cruelty, and if only the other ladies in 
the country—God bltss them!—would 
join their advanced Massachusetts sisters, 
how long would this inhuman fashion be 
able to withstand their righteous indig¬ 
nation? 
-- 
“ I sow my Timothy in the spring ivith the 
clover, however, as otherwise the clover 
would be sown on a Timothy sod and stand 
but little chance. Thousands of bushels of 
clover seed are wasted in this way ."— T. B. 
Terry, page 426. 
After a very bitter contest, lasting 
several months, the Rigsdag of Sweden 
has passed a law which prohibits the im¬ 
portation of oleomargarine from foreign 
countries—chiefly America and Holland 
—and places severe restrictions upon the 
manufacture of the product at home, and 
the cable tells us that the Swedish farm¬ 
ers are jubilant because they have at last 
received the protection they justly claim¬ 
ed. People acquainted with both sides 
of the Atlantic agree that, as a rule, laws 
are more faithfully enforced on the other 
side than on this. It may turn out, there¬ 
fore, that the Swedish farmers may con¬ 
tinue to have more cause for rejoicing at 
Ihe enactment of an “anti-oleo” law than 
American farmers have. In spite of the 
general national “anti oleo” law passed 
bv Congress and the various circumscrib¬ 
ed laws passed by different States, the 
production of oleomargarine in this coun¬ 
try last year was one-third greater than 
in the preceding year—it had increased 
from 30.000,000 to 45,000,000 pounds ! 
The Treasury statistics show no propor¬ 
tionate increase in exports of the product; 
so that it must have gone into consump¬ 
tion chiefly at home. The object of all 
the laws was to restrict its sale, and this 
• object all the laws failed to accomplish. 
It would seem that as the formation of 
successive trusts goes on, the new monop¬ 
olies learn how to improve upon the les¬ 
sons of greed set by the old. In some 
cases too the Lilliputians among them 
outdo the Brobdignagians in unscrupu¬ 
lous covetousness. A good example of 
this is the Wood Acid Trust. This is 
commonly known as the United States 
Acid Manufacturers’ Association. It was 
completed at Binghamton, N. Y., on 
April 9, last. Its members make 
crude wood alcohol as their chief prod¬ 
uct, and acetate of lime and naphtha as 
by-products. Last April, owing to exces¬ 
sive competition and over production, 
there was little or no profit in the busi¬ 
ness. The combination, however, at once 
put up the price of crude wood alcohol 
from 47 to 57 cents per gallon, or over 20 
per cent, and there was a proportionate 
advance in the by-products of the factor¬ 
ies. The results were eminently satisfac¬ 
tory to those present at the second 
meeting of the association, held at Olean, 
N. Y., the other day, at which all the 
leading factories in the country were rep¬ 
resented. It was voted unanimously to 
maintain the existing price of 57 cents 
per gallon on all the crude alcohol now on 
hand in factories and warehouses, and to 
fix the price at 60 cents for the new product 
made during the coming 60 days. Are 
tarmersin any way more interested in the 
operations of this “combine” than the 
general public? Yes; for wood alcohol 
offers itself as a cheap substitute for grain 
and fruit alcohols in mechanics, manu¬ 
factures and arts, and farmers are natur¬ 
ally more interested than others in a com¬ 
peting business. 
KEEP IT BEFORE THE PEOPLE. 
66QOME manures, such as common 
H salt or nitrates, circulate with the 
water in the soil, in dry weather rising 
to the surface, in wot weather descend¬ 
ing. Other manures (phosphate and pot¬ 
ash) unite with the soil near the surface, 
and either remain there or, at all events, 
descend with extreme slowness. As an 
instance of the extreme slowness of the . 
descent of manure, I may mention the 
dung applied to our permanent wheat 
crop—14 tons annually for 40 years. Al¬ 
most the whole of the accumulation ot 
fertility is to be found in the first nine 
inches from the surface. Under ordinary 
agricultural processes, it may he said that 
manure only enriches the surface soil." 
Thus Sir J. B. Lawes wrote to the It. 
N.-Y. several years ago. Reasoning from 
such data (the most trustworthy we have), 
Mr. Mapes holds the opinion that fertil¬ 
izers, as well as manures, should not be 
placed too near the surface for the reason 
that, the roots of plants are thereby in* 
duced to grow nearer the surface and to 
suffer in consequence during periods of 
severe drought. This bas not been the 
It. N.-Y.’s experience. 
A TARIFF ON BANANAS? 
I T appears that many small fruit 
growers believe that the trade in ba¬ 
nanas, pine-apples and other tropical 
fruits is of considerable injury to the 
trade in American iruits. Some of them 
go so far as to demand that a high duty 
should be levied on foreign fruits. 
Strawberry growers have complained 
most bitterly this year. While strawberries 
were at their best, the maikets and street 
stands were literally crowded with pine¬ 
apples and bananas, and strawberries, 
being the more perishable fruit, could 
not wait until the glut could be relieved; 
consequently, thousands of boxes were 
spoiled. Now the strawberry growers say 
that if the supply of tropical fruit had 
been cut down, the berries would have 
commanded better prices. There may 
be something in this, and yet people 
buy bananas and pine-apples because 
there are distinctive flavors and qualities 
about these fruits that are not found in 
others. A strawberry never will take 
the place of a banana to the person who 
wants a banana. The trade in tropical 
fruits is rapidly increasing. In 1888 
there were admitted, free of duty, 
$5,787,867 worth of such fruits, and $3,- 
154,654 of this amount went for bananas. 
In the same year duties were paid on 
SI4,714,456 worth of fruits, including 
figs, lemons, oranges, prunes and raisins. 
With the exception of figs and raisins, 
there has been a gradual decrease in the 
value of the imports of dutiable fruits. 
The values of the fruits admitted free of 
duty have ranidly increased and this is 
most marked in the case of bananas In 
1884 $1,878,279 worth were imported 
while in 1888 $3,153,654 worth were re¬ 
ceived. 
“ If of German parentage they are sure to 
lift the. mortgage. 1J of Irish, they are not 
quite so sure, and if of an old American 
family, they are still less sure of doing so." 
W. L. Devereaux, page 438. 
BREVITIES. 
Reap Henry Stewart’s article on page 439. 
Strawberries owing to the excessive rain¬ 
fall, are rotting on the vines. 
The R. N.-Y.’s prediction of a drought 
this summer in the East has thus far been ful¬ 
filled to the extent that it has been the wettest 
season within our remembrance. 
This seems to be a year for remarkable 
“freaks" in poultry doings, Mr. Henry 
Stewart sends us the following note: 
“A peculiar eg tr —I have an egg laid 
bv a seven-vear-old Light Brahma hen 
which has laid ever 1.000 oegs. It is one inch 
long and % of an inch in diameter; it contains 
another egg and nothing else, as the small 
inner egg will rattle in the outer shell when it 
is shaken. How does this come about?” 
Prof. Porter will see by reading Prof. 
Budd’s article on page 429, that the agricul¬ 
tural colleges are even now working in the 
line he indicated. The junior cla«s at the 
Towa College, taking an article in a recent 
R. N.-Y. for a text, spent a very interesting 
hour in discussion. Is such a discussion of no 
practical benefit? 
The bean farmers in Western New York 
have suffered considerable damage from the 
continued wet weather. It has been next to 
impossible to prepare the land properly. 
During a recent ride through Western New 
York we noticed hundreds of bean fields in 
which but little work could be done. The 
wet weather bas also hindered corn. 
President Chamberlain begins an elab¬ 
orate reply to Professor Porter. The R, N.-Y. 
is glad to see so much interest taken in this 
subject. President Chamberlain makes a 
good point in saying that the agricultural 
colleges that have brought discredit upon 
themselves are those that have drifted away 
from the original puroose of the Morrill bill 
and taken up the studies that Professor Por- 
tor thinks would produce better men. 
A Friend in Connecticut has started out 
to raise the largest possible crop of potatoes 
that enn be grown on an acre. He plowed 
the ground early and applied 3.000 pounds of 
potato manure broadcast. He planted 52 
bushels of early Maine potatoes in rows 14 
inches apart—the sets 10 inches apart in the 
rows. The work will all be done by hand 
and 1,000 pounds more fertilizer will be ap¬ 
plied broadetst? nas he overdone the thing* 
Mr. Crosby talks sense about calling the 
cows: see page 428. Last Decoration Day the 
cows in the R. N.-Y.'s pasture broke through 
the fence into a neighboring wood. One man 
rushed into the woods to drive them back. 
He shouted and yelled, but the more noise he 
made the deeper the cows went into the wood. 
Auother man, a German, stood at the fence 
aud called pleasantly. Every oow stopped 
and turned her head to listen. Tfiey WITO 
pflsil.y driYWi haul* wW© he called. 
Conducted by 
ELBKKT 8. OiBMil, 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 1889. 
Never before, in the experience of the 
R. N.-Y. people, have blackberry vines 
been so laden with fruit. The writer has 
just counted 200 clusteis upon a single 
plant of Taylor’s Prolific, the clusters av¬ 
eraging 20 berries each, making 4,000 
berries on the plant. Other varieties are 
similarly laden. 
The Rural Farm has nine acres of Arm¬ 
strong (Landreth), the finest wheat we 
have ever laised. In years past, this 
variety has generally lodged more or less. 
Last fall the fields were given a good 
spread of unleached ashes. Though 
gales and heavy rains have been more fre¬ 
quent than in ordinary seasons, no portion 
of the wheat is down. 
As our readers were at the time ad¬ 
vised, we grafted half a dozen cions of 
the Japan quince upon an apple tree in 
the spring of last year. The cions have 
made a growth of 18 inches and one of 
them bloomed a week or so ago. The 
union does not seem quite congenial, 
however, as the quince the past spring 
made a rather feeble growth. 
Can Western farmers afford to produce 
sorghum cane? This is a question that 
is puzzling many Kansas and Iowa farm¬ 
ers just now. It seems to be settled that 
the sugar factories can pay not over $2.00 
per ton for the cane. At that price, will 
sorghum pay as well as corn? Must 
sugar-producing plants be grown so 
cheaply that there Vill he little or no 
profit to the producer? A number of our 
Western friends are writing us on these 
topics. Their opinions are interesting. 
We shall print them shortly. 
“Instinctive unrest may be noticed among 
animals as the precursor of a storm, but 
these appearances are not reliable, as such 
animals really know no more about the 
weather than their owners .”— C. S. Rice, 
page 438. 
The grubs of the asparagus beetle, the 
ways of which we have had only too good 
an opportunity of observing the present 
season, prefer the terminal shoots and 
leaves, they being more tender than those 
below. They eat the youngest leaves 
first, then the hark as they descend, leav¬ 
ing only the dry, dead twigs above them. 
The R. N. Y sprayed its plot of aspara¬ 
gus thoroughly with pyrethrum and hel¬ 
lebore. • The remedy is by no means a 
perfect one, as after two sprayings many 
grubs and beetles were still feeding upon 
the plants. We shall next try London- 
purple or Paris green. 
Sugar of milk is a substance quite 
largely used in the manufacture of pills, 
homoeopathic medicines, etc. Heretofore, 
American manufacturers have been oblig¬ 
ed to secure most of their supply of this 
material from Switzerland and Bavaria. 
It is now proposed to supply the market 
with a home-made product, and already 
two factories are running in New York 
State with a third to follow shortly. 
Milkmen will find in these factories, a 
small measure of relief from the present 
over-production of milk, and if cheaper 
manufacturing processes can he developed 
so that all the sugar of milk needed in 
this country can he made at home at a 
reasonable cost, there will be saving 
enough to make itself generally felt. 
Within the past 10 days the R. N.-Y. 
has made a thorough trial of using un¬ 
leached ashes and Paris-green instead of 
plaster and Paris green upon potato 
vines. It was hoped that the ashes would 
repel the flea-beetle, and serve just as well 
to ex end the poison as plaster, -while, at 
the same time, serving, as the rains 
carried it to the soil, as an excellent fer¬ 
tilizer. Our ashes were sent to us by 
Muuroe, Judson & Stroup, of Oswego, 
N, Y., and were of the best quality. 
One pound of Paris green was used to a 
barrel of the ashes, and after g thorough 
The Superintendent of the next Census 
wisely calls attention to the need of cor¬ 
rect estimates of the valuation of farm 
property. Any man who has acted as 
assessor in any rural community knows 
what a large proportion of farmers have 
difficulty in setting a fair estimate on 
their property. This should not be so. 
A man doing business of any kind ought 
to know- what his business is worth. It 
is very important that the census returns 
should be as reliable as possible. These 
returns, singly or collectively, are made 
the basis for figuring and deductions that 
vitally concern farmers as well as every 
other class of citizens. Let us be ready 
for the next census so that we can give 
intelligent and reliable estimates concern¬ 
ing our business. 
A subscriber in Thomas County, 
Kan., after speaking of unusually bright 
agricultural prospects says: 
“ Many farmers, I am sorry to say, are 
being induced by the bright prospects to 
incur heavy debts which will place them 
at, so great a disadvantage that they can¬ 
not reap the full profits or enjoy the 
happy results of a bountiful harvest. Our 
loan agent informed me last week that he 
had, since the first of March, made 25 
loans, aggregating $9,000, on real estate 
tributary to our little town of about 100 
inhabitants.” 
Here we have a suitable text for a long 
sermon. Gentlemen—when times get so 
promising that money comes into your 
hands, the proper thing to do is to hold 
on to it 
Whether it is in accordance with sci¬ 
ence and practice to place the manure or 
fertilizer very near the surface, incorpor¬ 
ate it with the surface soil, or place it 
several inches or a dozen inches below is 
a very important question, and one that 
the experiment stations might well work 
upon This is the fourth year that the 
R. N.-Y. has placed fertilizers immediate¬ 
ly below and four inches above seed po¬ 
tatoes. Until the present year the 
answers given by the crops have been 
contradictory. At present the plots 
which received the fertilizer above the seed 
pieces are looking notably better than 
those that received it below. The very 
wet season may have something to do 
with it. 
The largest ciops of corn which the R. 
N.-Y. has ever raised were from fields 
upon which the fertilizer was sown broad¬ 
cast and harrowed in. 
In Northern New Jersey many farmers 
are straw growers. They raise the rye 
that gives them the heaviest growth of 
straw. This straw will sell for more 
money than the grain from a Western 
wheat field. It seems to be generally 
understood that a straw farmer must live 
near a great city in order to make his 
business pay a profit. There is hardly a 
rule of agriculture, however, that will 
not present exceptions, A friend in 
Eastern Oregon, hundreds of miles from 
any town of importance, writes that he 
wants the grain that gives the heaviest 
straw. The crop is cut before the grain 
is ripe, and cured and stacked for hay. 
This is fed to cattle and horses which 
have legs to carry themselves to market. 
This “grain hay” gives more feed than 
any of the grasses. Wonderful are the 
different methods employed in the agri¬ 
culture of this country. No one can 
justly claim to “know it all.” 
New England appears determined still 
to maintain its immemorial reputation 
for leading in reformatory movements, 
and in this respect, of course, Massachu¬ 
setts holds the proud position of leader 
and representative of her five sister States. 
The grand old Bay State has just come to 
the front, in needed humanitarian leg¬ 
islation, not only of all other States in the 
Union, but of all States in the world, by 
enacting a law against the docking of 
horses. Who can gainsay the proud 
claim of the Massachusetts Society for the 
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, that 
it has obtained the first law in 
the world against this heartless 
fashion; secured the first three and 
only convictions ever obtained for the 
practice, and offered the first and only 
prize—$100— for evidence leading to 
conviction? Eighty-two ladies holding 
the highest position in Boston society 
