4889 
535 
CATALOGUES, ETC.. RECEIVED. 
S UGAR-CANE.—Bulletin No. 23 of the 
Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station, 
Kenna, La., gives the results of last season’s 
experiments with sugar-cane. Most of these 
results are of interest only, to sugar makers. 
There are two points, however, that seem 
worthy of special notice. One deals with en¬ 
silaged cane. Three tons of cane were cut up 
in small pieces and packed away in cylindri¬ 
cal iron tanks seven feet high and four feet in 
diameter. The product was covered with 
paper and on this was packed dry bagasse to 
the depth of six or eight inches. Over this 
was spread a piece of canvas and on this 
again bagasse chips. It was then weighted, 
much like an ordinary silo. It was hoped that 
the experiment would show that cane could 
be successfully preserved in silos or cold stor¬ 
age rooms so that the season of manufacture 
could be greatly prolonged. The experiment 
failed. The cane came from the silo sour and 
malodorous, the sugar evidently having been 
converted by fermentation into alcohol and 
acetic acid. The other point of interest is sug¬ 
gested by the question: What shall we do 
with our chips ? Three ways of using them 
have been suggested. They may be returned 
to the soil as manure, being evenly distribut¬ 
ed by one of the improved manure dis¬ 
tributors. They may be used as fuel. This 
seems like the simplest way out of the matter, 
but in reality it is the most difficult. The 
chips, even when pressed twice contain 67 per 
cent, of water, so that they require special 
fixtures and special fuels to make them burn. 
They can be made into paper pulp. Experi. 
ments are now being conducted by large 
manufacturers of paper to test the value of 
the chips. 
Kansas Horticulture.— First Biennial 
Report of the State Society, Volume 17, sent 
by Secretary G. C. Brackett, Lawrence, Kan¬ 
sas. The R. N.-Y. did not expect to find the 
people west of the Mississippi excelling in 
horticultural literature, yet it is a fact that 
this is the best horticultural report this year. 
It is simple and comprehensive. Timely and 
practical subjects are discussed by people who 
seem to know what they talk about. The ap¬ 
pendix, containing manuals on fruit, entomol¬ 
ogy, forestry and floriculture, is of special 
value. 
Ohio Ensilage and Feed Cutters. —Cat¬ 
alogue from Silver and Doming Manufactur¬ 
ing Company, Salem, Ohio. This catalogue 
contains the plans and specifications for a 100- 
ton silo, that many good judges consider about 
perfect. A full set of drawings is given and 
an itemized bill of materials follows. Besides 
this, there are 35 pages given up to a discus¬ 
sion on silos and ensilage that gives just the 
information the siloist wants to obtain. The 
pamphlet is neat, handy, and excellent in 
every respect. The “ Ohio ” cutters are used 
by rnauy of our best farmers. Some weeks 
ago we gave the names of those who won 
prizes at the Cleveland Ensilage Convention 
By referring to the list our readers will see 
that the “ Ohio ” was very well represented. 
Prop. George Ville’s Views.— The Com¬ 
missioner of Agriculture of Georgia has done 
much to advertise and distribute the writings 
of Prof. George Ville, the great apostle of 
chemical farming. The July crop report of 
Georgia contains a supposed dialogue iu which 
Prof. Ville argues iu favor of plot experi¬ 
ments to determiuo the special needs of each 
field. Here are a few of his thoughts: 
“The effect of an experiment field is irre¬ 
sistible—in face of the contrasts which it pre¬ 
sents, practical men instinctively feel that they 
see a power working, formerly ill-understood, 
or misapplied. They understand that instead 
of cumbersomo barnyard manure, there is a 
great advantage gained in the use of a few 
simple substances of a constant nature, which 
they cau regulate, in both quantity and char¬ 
acter, according to the nature of their soil, 
and can also increase the value of barn-yard 
manure by associating these well-known sub¬ 
stances with its bulk. 
If you are afraid of a little trouble, don’t 
think of being a farmer. Agriculture is not 
called one ot the fine arts, because it is in per¬ 
petual combat. 
Good judgment is a first requisite in agri¬ 
culture: and good judgment tells you that to 
grow full crops with economy, you must first 
know the natural fertility of your soil. No 
efforts should be spared in gaining this knowl¬ 
edge, which is the base on which to work; 
chance work ends in failure. You are fortu¬ 
nate when a dearly bought experieuce gives 
you the means of repairing the evil.” 
Mushrooms.—A pamphlet entitled Food 
Products by Thomas Taylor is reprinted from 
the Department of Agriculture’s report for 
1885. It contains descriptions and illustra¬ 
tions of 12 edible mushrooms of the United 
States, and also notes on how to select and 
prepai e mushrooms for the table. 
Against the Silo. —This is the only fair 
title that can be given a review of the two 
last bulletins issued by Prof. Sanborn, late 
Director of the Missouri Experiment Station. 
Everybody seems bound to praise the silo 
just now. It has been most persistently and 
effectively advertised as a very important 
factor in farm improvement. An argument 
against the silo, therefore, a question as to its 
economy has, just now, the merit of novelty 
at least. The pith of Prof. Sanborn’s argu¬ 
ment is that air-dried corn fodder is a more 
economical food than an equal amount of 
such fodder cut up and packed away in the 
silo. In support of this conclusion we are 
given a number of interesting figures dealing 
with the cost of cutting, hauling and hand¬ 
ling the fodder, the amounts of water and 
dry matter found in it, the quantities of each 
sort of food eaten by cattle, the gain in 
pounds made by the cattle and various con¬ 
clusions regarding the character of specimens 
of milk and butter from cows fed on dry 
fodder and silage. 
Prof. Sanborn’s experiments convince him 
that a given amount of dry food stored in the 
barn lasted longer than the same amount of 
food placed in the silo. While silage fed 
steers made the greater growth, the ratio of 
growth of the dry-food-fed steers was 
as great or greater than the others 
as the silage-fed steers seemed to 
make a watery growth less substantial than 
the fodder-fed steers. Cows fed on dry fod¬ 
der gave richer milk than those fed on silage, 
and this milk from dry fodder was the best 
churning milk and also contained a larger per¬ 
cent. of solids, while the butter made from it 
seemed to have superior keeDing qualities. 
The dry food was cheaper handled and the 
cows seemed to keep their live-weight best on 
dry food. On the whole, Prof. Sanborn con¬ 
cludes that the trial shows that the air-drying 
method with dry storage m a good barn in a 
compact form, is decidedly the more economi¬ 
cal method of the two, and he does not feel 
warranted in advising the farmers of Mis¬ 
souri to build silos until a radical change 
either in the economy of the silo or in sur¬ 
rounding conditions is made. 
If the R. N.-Y. is able to read between the 
lines of this bulletin correctly, we should say 
that Prof. Sanborn thinks the farmers of Mis¬ 
souri had better build more barns before they 
talk about silos. And this idea is sensible. 
The silo is not for the sections where cattle 
are kept in sheds and hay is stacked out-of- 
doors. 
We are of the opinion that Prof. S. would 
change bis opinion on several points if the 
conditions surrounding him were the same as 
those surrounding Prof. Henry, of Wisconsin, 
Prof. Roberts, of New York, or others who 
have given the silo a very careful trial. The 
advice contained in these bulletins may be 
sound as applied to Missouri farmers, but it 
will hardly answer for the hundreds of dairy¬ 
men in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and New 
York, who have found money iu the silo. 
Here are two factors in stock keeping. 1. 
"Warm and commodious farm buildings. 2. 
The silo. It makes great difference which one 
of these factors is first introduced. Try the 
silo before you reach the spirit that demands 
a comfortable shelter and it will doubtless 
prove unprofitable. Work up to the stock’s 
comfort first and the silo will pay. There are 
many inaccuracies in the bulletins, and the 
whole experiment was marked by a series of 
petty blunders and mistakes on the part of 
the station officials, that point out the weak¬ 
ness of the institution. Whenever some of 
the wise men who framed the Hatch Bill will 
tell us who is responsible for the management 
of these stations, the R. N.-Y. will try to 
have the facts concerning this one brought 
out. 
BOGUS EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES. 
Among the frauds which people from the 
country should most carefully avoid on their 
arrival iu New York or other large cities or 
towns to seek employment, are the bogus em¬ 
ployment agencies. These are scattered in 
all parts of the city. All they need is money 
enough to advertise for a few days, a sign in 
front of their office dens, and inside a desk, a 
few chairs and a bench or two. With such 
an outfit, a plausible, glib-tougued, mendacious 
male or female scamp cau swindle hundreds 
of needy employment hunters. Even if they 
have only just started iu the business, they 
pretend that they constantly have on hand 
the names and addresses of a large assortment 
of people who are ready to afford all kinds of 
employment to those sent to them by the “of¬ 
fice.” Occasionally one or more ot the dupes 
“kick” and complain to the authorities, but 
the matter is soon settled and hushed up and 
the swindle is allowed to go on. Here several 
such reports are made every week to the 
Mayor’s Marshal who issues licences to em¬ 
ployment agencies, but fraudulent places of 
the kind still flourish multitudinously. As a 
specimen, take one of five cases brought be¬ 
fore the marshal yesterday. It is that of a 
notorious agency in Clinton Street, against 
which a number of complaints bad already 
been made. T wel ve victims appeared against 
it—and doubtless these did not represent a 
hundredth part of those who had been cheat¬ 
ed by it in its three years’ baleful existence. 
J. C. Valliere held a contract with it, which 
certified that he had paid the agents $0 for 
which they were to procure for him 
the position of collector or “any oth¬ 
er work ” in 15 days. At the expiration of 
that time, the poor fellow had neither money, 
work, nor explanation. L. Auerback had 
paid $8 for a like result. Agnes Simmons, a 
pretty 20-year-old country girl, had paid §10 
for a position as sales lady or cashier. She 
had called in answer to an advertisement the 
“ agents ” had put in a paper, but like several 
others, was told that the place had just been 
filled, but was informed, like a number of 
others, that she could get as good a place if 
she paid down §10. Like Miss Marie Bellevue 
and several others, she paid §10 out of her 
scanty hoard; but after wasting 15 days, not 
one of them all obtained a situatijn. George 
G. Eckman came to the city from a farm in 
Upper New York and applied to the agency 
for employment as a stableman. They got 
$10 from him; but he got nothing from them 
except a blackguardly tongue-lashing when 
he insisted on the promised situation or the 
return of his money. Miss Blanche Edwards 
could afford to pay only $1.50 as children’s 
nurse. The rascals took her last dollar and got 
mad with her for insisting on receiving some¬ 
thing in return. The Mayor’s Marshal has 
received over 100 complaints within the last 
fortnight about similar rascalities committed 
by other employment agencies, and there’s 
likely to be a vigorous shaking up among 
swindlers of that stripe soon. Even if the 
dens are closed, ho wever,«tiie owners are sure 
to start them again or open fresh ones of the 
same kind within a week or two, under the 
same name, or, more probably, under an 
alias. 
Of course, there is a considerable number 
of well established and moderately honest em¬ 
ployment agencies in the city, but these con¬ 
fine their business almost entirely to domestic 
service; and they do not advertise 30 exten¬ 
sively or glowingly as the mushroom, doubt¬ 
ful or absolutely swindling affaire, and are 
therefore far less likely to attract the patron¬ 
age of strangers and greenhorn-*, who are apt 
to rely most on the most alluring promises. 
The fraudulent concerns are managed by the 
most shameless and heartless sort of rascals, 
male and female. They seek to make dishon¬ 
est gains from the poverty and distress of the 
most wretched class of the community—hon¬ 
est people who are poor and out of work, and 
therefore willing, as a last chance, to risk all 
they can spare, and often more, in an effort 
to obtain some means of earning an honest 
if scanty livelihood. The sharpers pretend 
that they either have suitable openings al¬ 
ready or can easily obtain them for any oue 
who can raise money enough to pay for their 
services. On these they put whatever value 
they think the means or distress of the appli¬ 
cant will enable him to pay. While taking as 
much as they can get, they refuse nothing, 
for all they get is clear gain. Frequently 
they clip from the morning papers long lists 
of the names of people who want “ help,” and 
send applicants to these, as if they could 
deserve any reward for such services. A fav¬ 
orite trick of theirs is to send a particularly 
persistent applicant to various bogus addresses 
in different parts of the city, until finding he or 
she is on a wild-goose chase, the unfortunate 
man or woman, tired and discouraged, ceases 
to molest them. Occasionally, when they can 
secure a big fee, they send an applicant to a 
confederate who makes life such a burden to 
him that he resigns his place in a few days or 
a week; or if his necessities force him to hold 
on to the wretched place, his employer soon 
makes or finds some excuse for “bouncing” 
him. Nearly all the applicants, however, get 
nothing, except harsh language, in return for 
the fees they must pay when they make their 
application. 
Young women who come from the country 
run special risk from indiscriminate applica¬ 
tion to employment agencies, some of which 
have regular engagements to supply *• likely ” 
help to places and persons of very question¬ 
able character. Not a month passes without 
the compulsory appearance of wretches who 
engage iu this traffic before the police courts. 
Occasionally oue is punished by imprison¬ 
ment, but in four out of five cases the crimi¬ 
nals are permitted to escape with a fine which 
is a mere bagatelle to them, or their cases are 
pigeon-holed in the District Attorney’s Office 
and the public and the authorities soon alike 
lose remembrance of them. As the execrable 
business is a profitable one and the risks small, 
many are engaged in it, some of them, as ex¬ 
posures occasionally indicate, among the most 
“ respectable ” agencies in the city. 
A common practice of the sharpers is to en¬ 
gage a number of farmhands, railroad opera¬ 
tives, miners or other classes of working men, 
get them to pay their fees and make deposits 
for transportation, and then send them to 
some place more or less distant from the city, 
where most of them are forced by necessity to 
work on terms much worse than those on 
which they made the contract. Occasionally 
some are sent as far away as Mexico, and 
these have cause for thankfulness if they can 
make their way back after months or years 
of virtual slavery and cruel hardships. Many 
agencies act in the same way with clerks and 
others of that class, especially with those who 
become troublesome on finding that they have 
been swindled. 
Another favorite mode of swindling fre¬ 
quently practiced by these gentry is begun 
by advertising for a partner with a capital 
from $300 to $1,000 in a finely paying busi¬ 
ness! Mr. Greenenough answers and is daz¬ 
zled by the specious promises of the agent, and 
apparent success of the undertaking. If nec¬ 
essary, the books are falsified and a bogus 
lot of customers are hired to throng the office 
during his visits of inspection and investiga¬ 
tion. References are often given to confed¬ 
erates or friendly sharpers in different parts 
of the city. Nothing alluring or dis¬ 
honest is left undone to tempt Mr. G. 
to invest his money. This once done, 
a change soon takes place. Sometimes the 
entire business with bills for office rent and 
several debts in the neighborhood, is left on 
his hands, his “partner” having vanished as 
soon as the money was transferred. At other 
times, he is either “frozen out” or the busi¬ 
ness proves of such a character that he re¬ 
tires in disgust. Occasionally the swindle 
has been so barefaced that he has recourse to 
the police court, but even then he rarely re¬ 
covers his money, though sometimes he suc¬ 
ceeds in having the sharper punished. 
How are such dangers to be avoided < How 
are the trustworthy agencies to be distin¬ 
guished from the untrustworthy? Probably 
the best plan for a stranger would be to in¬ 
quire with regard to the standing of any 
particular agency, at one of the next offices 
of the Young Men’s or Young Women's 
Christian Association before applying for 
help to any of them. Or application might 
be made to a neighboring clergyman or the 
police. In spite of their alluring advertise¬ 
ments, the best of such agencies can do little 
for any one who is Dot in search of “ domes¬ 
tic ” employment. 
£tti.$rcUaucou.$ §ulverti.$inn, 
UnMP STt D\. Book keeping, Business Forms, Peu- 
Iiumt. mansliip. Arithmetic, Shorthand, etc., tho¬ 
roughly taught by MAIL Circulars free 
BRYANT & STRATT UN’S, 415 Main St.. Buffalo, X.Y 
wanta BUGGY, 
ROAD-CART 
OR HARNESS. 
write for our Exhibition 
offer , and see the 
BARGAIN 
we give regardless of cost, to advertise our goods. 
It tciVpay you. Send 6 cts. stamps for full information. 
UNION MACHINE CO., Philadelphia, Pa. 
For a Disordered Liver try Beecham’s Ptias. 
General Advertising Rates of 
THU RURAL NEW - YORKER. 
34 PARK. ROW, NEW YORK. 
The following rates are invariable. AU are there¬ 
fore respectfully informed that any correspondence 
with a view to obtaining different terms will prove 
futile. 
Ordinary Advertisements, per agate line (this 
sized type, 14 lines to the inch).SO cents 
One thousand lines or more,within one year 
from date of first insertion, per agate line, 25 ** 
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agate space.25 “ 
Preferred positions.25 per cent, extra, 
Reading Notices, ending with u Adv. t ” per 
line, minion leaded.75 cent* 
Terms of Subscription. 
The subscription price of the Rural New-Yorker Is 
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France. 8.04 (16q; fr.) 
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Agf its will be supplied with canvassing outfit on 
appLcation. 
Enterod at the Post-office at New York CS*r< JI, T* 
M Mcoud-slasa matt matt* 
