1889 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
hi 
raised on the hill-side and on the flats. The 
grain is not nearly as heavy or plump, nor 
does the wheat make as good flour. Now if 
soil has a marked influence on other things, 
why not on hay ? 
Idaho Pear.— A very interesting, con¬ 
servative illustrated pamphlet is received 
of this promising fruit, with a colored pic¬ 
ture as a frontispiece. As our readers are 
aware, the R. N.-Y. is in fact, as is freely 
acknowledged by the company introducing 
it, responsible for its quick appreciation. 
Without the slighest acquaintance with the 
originators or with those who forwarded 
specimens to this office to prejudice in its 
favor, we were struck by its odd shape, its 
being seedless or nearly so, its excellent 
quality and with its decided superiority to 
any other pear of its season. The Idaho, as 
it has since been named, was therefore de¬ 
scribed and illustrated in its issue of 
November 37, 1886. It is not known, 
of course, how it will succeed away 
from its place of birth; but in so 
far as can be judged it is one of the most 
promising novelties among pears that has 
ever appeared, and we are free to advise 
our readers, North, South. East and West, 
to give it a trial in an experimental way. 
To aid in the dissemination of new im¬ 
proved fruits is a matter that the R. N.-Y. 
has always had at heart, regardless of ad¬ 
vertising patronage, as its record during 
the past 12 years must abundantly show. 
We quote from the pamphlet above al¬ 
luded to : 
The above is quoted from the Iowa Home¬ 
stead of September 20. The Homestead 
then quotes the editorial alluded to in full 
and then goes on to say : 
“ There is nothing new in the above, so 
far as newspaper publishers are concerned. 
The Editor of the Homestead had a polite 
invitation from certain railroad officials to 
become the guest of their road, in company 
with a coterie of distinguished agricultural 
editors, when this scheme was first organ¬ 
ized. Not wishing to be under any obliga¬ 
tions to any railroad, we declined the invi¬ 
tation. We have watched the development 
of the scheme ever since. While the other 
editors have been quite decent about it, 
and have evidently refrained from making 
representations that might mislead the un¬ 
wary, the Ox-ange Judd Farmer has thrown 
itself so fully into the work of editorially 
booming Montana as to awaken the sus¬ 
picion that it is merely an advertising 
hand-bill of the Manitoba Railroad. We 
presume it is its privilege to do so, but, 
having taken this position, it is scarcely 
I’easonable that it should ask to be classed 
with legitimate agricultimil newspapers.” 
WIDE-AWAKE ITEMS. 
/ 
During the fall of 1886, Mr. C. T. Stran- 
ahan and J. H. Evans, of Idaho, about the 
same time and each without any know¬ 
ledge of what the other had done, sent speci¬ 
mens of the pear East, Mr. Stranahan send¬ 
ing to the American Agriculturist and the 
Farm & Garden; Mr. Evans to the Rural 
New-Yorker. The Editor of the R. N.-Y. 
being absent from the city whexi the pear 
was received, it was somewhat damaged by 
being over-ripe wlxeix tested. Notwith¬ 
standing this, he was struck with it at first 
sight, and wrote immediately, requesting a 
better specimen for illustration in the Ru¬ 
ral New-Yorker ! The season of the year 
being past, only a small pear or two were 
to be found on the trees that had been left 
as not worth gathering; these were immedi¬ 
ately forwarded, and irom one of them was 
made the first illustration of the Idaho 
Pear. The specimen shown in the engrav¬ 
ing was very much flattened, and there 
were probably few persons who without 
any knowledge of the fact would have 
guessed the uncouth-looking figure to rep¬ 
resent a pear. The novel appearance of 
the pear, and more especially the high en¬ 
comium of praise awarded it by the Editor 
of the R. N.-Y., elicited immediate public 
attention, and the day following the receipt 
of the Rural New-Yorker, letters were 
received making inquiries in regard to the 
pear, and requesting cions for testing, nor 
lias there been any cessation of public in¬ 
terest during the past three years, as at¬ 
tested by the hundreds of letters that have 
been received. A few admiring friends of 
the Idaho Pear, believing from the warmi 
words of welcome that had been awarded 
the first few specimens that had been sent 
abroad, that lovers of good fruit every¬ 
where would appreciate this most excellent 
pear, resolved upon making a systematic 
distribution of the stock and hence the Ida¬ 
ho Pear Company. 
At the time the first specimens of the 
fruit were sent abroad the Idaho had been 
variously designated among the few who 
had any knowledge of it as the Mullkey or 
Lindsay Seedling Pear. Upon receipt of the 
letter of the Editor of the R. N.-Y. request¬ 
ing a second specimen and containing such 
a high commendation of praise, Mr. Evans 
concluded its good qualit ies were as likely 
to be appreciated auroad as at home and 
that it was entitled to a more characteristic 
name, that its distinct and rugged form 
was indicative of the land of its birth and 
that it could go forth under no more sug¬ 
gestive name than that of its native place 
—Idaho—The Gem of the Mountains. 
In the pamphlet alluded to, high praise 
is given to the Idaho Pear by such good 
men as Prof. Rudd, J. J. Thomas, Dr. 
Hexamer, Parker Earle, P. Barry, P. J. 
Berckmaus, Dr. Hoskins, Waldo F. Brown, 
T. T. Lyon, W. Falconer, Storrs & Harri¬ 
son Co., T. V. Munson, H. M. Engle, etc. 
The pamphlet will be sent to any of our read¬ 
ers upon application to the Idaho Pear Co., 
Lewiston, Idaho. 
Saving Wages for Farm Hands.— 
Waldo F. Brown in the columns of the Al¬ 
bany Cultivator and Country Gentleman, 
strives to impress on every farm hand the 
importance of saving and safely investing 
a part of his wages. If he saves $100 the 
first year of work, it may be worth more to 
him than $1,000 a few years later. Mr. 
Brown would much rather a son of his 
should earn by his own hxbor $100 the first 
year he was his own master than to have 
him make $1,000 by speculation, and if he 
found that he had saved three-fourths of 
his wages he would feel that his financial 
future was safe. He has had four hands 
during the last five years, and but one of 
them saved a dollar of his year’s wages. It 
looks like a slow way to get a start in the 
world, to lay up a paltry hundred dollars a 
year, but he who does it, in a few years has 
enough to buy a team and tools to begin as 
a renter, or to make a payment on a piece 
of land which will be a home for him. Mr. 
Brown has met at institutes and other 
farm gatherings during the last 10 years 
thousands of the leading farmers of several 
States, and he has often been surprised to 
find that the best and wealthiest among 
them began life as farm laborers, and 
foxxght the battle of life single-handed. He 
has three neighbors who began as farm 
hands within 12 years, who worked by the 
month until they had saved $500 or $600 
each, then rented farms, and who have now 
bought them. They tvere all young men 
who took an interest in their work, never 
thought of the 10-hour plan, and whose 
wages were increased from year to year. 
It took Mr. Brown three years of hard 
work to save $300, but those $300 were 
worth to him more than he could possibly 
have foreseen at the time. There are plen¬ 
ty of openings on the farm for young men 
of pluck and principle, and the chances of 
success are as good now as when he started. 
/ Concenti 
■to the con 
'United Sta 
l 
The Diamond Grape has not as yet 
borne fruit at the Rural Grounds. A vine 
was sent to us b J. T. Lovett in April of 
1887. This was raised among a lot of 2,500 
seedlings by Jacob Moore of Brighton, N. 
Y., the originator of the Brighton Grape, 
who deemed it the best of the collection. 
Nearly everything is claimed for it, vigor, 
hardiness, healthiness of vine ; earliness 
and perfection of the berries. 
Hoard’s Dairyman says, that, ton for 
ton, many farmers are finding oixt that 
unthrashed oats cut when the grain is in 
the rather soft dough state, and cut fine 
with a straw-cutter, are better than mead¬ 
ow hay—cut equally fine—to feed cattle, 
especially rniich cows. As a rule, good 
farmers raise far more weight of oats to 
the acre than hay. 
The Farm Journal insists that calves, 
colts and all young animals should be 
treated so that they will come to you as to 
a friend. If you feel ugly and must kick 
something, let it be a log or a stone wall, 
or something that will not suffer. A few 
experiments in this line may cure you of 
the habit of feeling ugly. 
OUR “ What Others Say ” column is not 
as lively as usual this week. We are very 
sorry, but are you going to hold us respon¬ 
sible for the shortcomings of our contem¬ 
poraries ?. 
Go TO the woods; find a Papaw and 
transplant it to your own garden. In 10 
years it will make you a thickly foliaged 
little tree, and it will bear its banana-look¬ 
ing fruit to eat if you like its sweet, cus¬ 
tard-like flesh. 
A CORRESPONDENT of Mr. Peter Hender¬ 
son, says Garden and Forest, recently sent 
to him, from France, a cluster of grapes 
upon which some of the berries were green, 
some black, some half green and half black 
—the colors divided sharply by a meridian 
line—and some were striped green and 
black. This seems like another example of 
the influence of strange pollen. But a let¬ 
ter which accompanied the grapes stated 
that all the clusters were mottled in the 
same way, and had been every season since 
it began to bear, some nine years ago. The 
vine is a seedling of unknown parentage... 
The R. N.-Y. is right glad to see that Sec¬ 
retary Rusk indorses Ex-Secretary Col- 
man’s recommendation that the Washing¬ 
ton seed business be transferred to the ex¬ 
periment stations..•. 
The Wilder Pear is well worth a trial.... 
A good deal of space will be given next 
week to potatoes. The Rural is sad that 
its own reports will not be of a nature to 
give doubting Thomases a chance to cavil 
'l 
“ Why Montana is Boomed.— Under the 
heading * A Serious Matter,’ the Rural 
New-Yorker, in its issue of September 7, 
draws aside the curtain and allows its 
readers to look behind the scenes and learn 
why it is that certain newspapers—and es¬ 
pecially the Orange Judd Farmer—are so 
pei’sisteutly booming Montana in their ed¬ 
itorial columns;” 
Nothing can be conceivably more vile than 
the average barn surroundings of our 
American homes. A new departure here is 
sorely needed.” > 
Century for October: “The mis¬ 
chief of opinions formed under irritation is 
that men feel obliged to maintain them 
even after the irritation is gone.” 
-“Votes should not be counted, but 
weighed.” 
-“The small writer gives his readers 
what they wish, the great writer what they 
want.” 
-“ To be content with littleness is al¬ 
ready a stride towards greatness.” 
-Life : “ Soup a la Jay Gould: Take a 
little stock, six times as much water, and 
then put in the lamb.” 
- Badger (mad and excited): “ Say, 
your dog ate up seven of my hens last 
night. What are you going to do about 
it P ” McGall: “ Well, if it don’t make 
the dog sick I won’t do anything about it.” 
- Mother : “You have drawn that don¬ 
key very nicely Johnny, but you have for¬ 
gotten one thing. Where is his tail ? ” 
Johnny: “Oh, that donkey does’t need 
any tail. There are no flies on him.” 
- Garden and Forest: “The Shia¬ 
wassee Beauty Apple rises higher in my es¬ 
teem year by year, as I become better ac¬ 
quainted with it. This season, when there 
are but few apples, and of these few most 
are ruined by insects, Shiawassee is large, 
fair and perfect. A seedling of the Fa- 
meuse, it is yet quite distinct, being larger, 
more flattened, more brightly red, and dis¬ 
tinctly more acid, though with the true 
Fameuse flavor. The tree is very hardy, 
having endured several of our severest 
winters; and, above all, in point of com¬ 
parative merit with its parent, it is free 
from the fungous spotting so ruinous to the 
Fameuse.” T. H. hoskins. 
Pi.sccUaneou.s ^cUcttising. 
Scrofula in Its teverest forms, salt rheum, and all 
other blood diseases, are eu<ed by the great blood 
purifier. Hood’s Sarsapar.lla. The voluntary state¬ 
ments of cures by this medicine are really wonderful, 
as of yore . Send for particulars to C. I. Hood A Co., proprietors 
A FIRST-RATE small tree for a brook-side 
or wild garden is Aralia spinosa—well 
called the Devil’s Walking-Stick. 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla. Lowell, Mass. 
DIRECT. 
ICENTRATION OF WEALTH.— In regal 
concentration of wealth in the! 
States, Thomas G. Sheax-man says, 
in the Forum, that as lately as 1817 there 
was but one man in this country who was 
reputed to be worth more than $5,000,000; 
and though some estimated his wealth at 
$20,01X1,000 there is no good reason for be¬ 
lieving it to have been so great. At the 
smallest reasonable estimate, there must 
now be more than 250 pei-sous in this coun¬ 
try whose wealth averages over $20,000,000 
for each. But let us call the number only 
200. Income tax returns arranged in large 
classes, multiply by from three to five¬ 
fold for every reduction in the amount of 
one-half. For extreme caution, however, 
we estimate the increase in the number of 
incomes at a very much lower rate than 
this. At this reduced rate, the amount of 
wealth in the hands of persons worth over 
$500,000 cash in the United States would be 
about as follows: 
200 persons at $20,000,000.... $ 4,000,000,000 
400 persons at 10,000,(XX).... 4,000,000,000 
1,000 persons at 5,000,000.... 5,(XX),000,000 
2,500 persons at 2.500,000 - 6,250,000,000 
7,000 persons at 1,000,000.... 7,000,000,000 
20,000 persons at 500,(XX).... 10,000,(XX),000 
Total.$36,250,000,000 
The estimate is very far below the actual 
truth. Yet, even upon this basis, we ai*e 
confronted with the startling result that 
31,(XK) persons now possess three-fifths of 
the whole national wealth, x*eal and person¬ 
al, according to highest estimate ($60,000,- 
(XX),000) which any one has yet ventured 
make of the aggregated amount. Nor 
this conclusion at all improbable. 
x tm 
(XX),- — 
1 to/ gr; 
xv iJ of 
A 
- Western Rural : “Perhaps you are 
close in making a bargain, want every cent 
that is coming to you, and expect people to 
do just as they agree. That is all right. 
If you pay every cent you owe and do just 
as you agree, you can afford to be called 
mean, and we will venture to say that those 
who know you most intimately will say of 
you : “ He is close, but he is a good husband 
and father and friend and a very nice man.” 
-London Agricultural Gazette : 
“ The late Mr. J. J. Mechi’s farm is in the 
market. It seems but the other day that 
the genial farmer of Tiptree Hall, still enam¬ 
oured of his lath-floored cattle boxes, his 
irrigation, and his thin sowing, was show¬ 
ing us round his beloved domain. And 
what a cheerful faith the “old man elo¬ 
quent ” had in himself and his theories, in 
spite of all his misfortunes. It was not 
farming that ruined him, though he must 
have lost a good deal by its costly improve¬ 
ments, in spite of his balance-sheets which 
partook of his sanguine character. Tiptree 
Hall has long ceased to attract attention ; 
but it will be associated with the bold 
farmer who attracted world-wide attention 
20 years ago.” 
-E. P. Powell, in Popular Garden¬ 
ing : “The hollyhock is my pride. I do 
not know a fiuer plant, all in all, than this 
malvaceous giant. It stands on my lawns 
in at least 50 distinct shades of color—from 
black and red to yellow and white. Every¬ 
body enjoys them: and visitors drive 10 
miles to examine them, and ask for seeds.’V- 
—“ Over all sheds and barns should gro 
grape-vines and running roses. The shau 
our homes is that we run lawn mowe 
.Jront and_keep Gehenna in the rea 
Make 
CONDITION POWDER 
Highly concentrated. Dose small. In quantity costs 
less than one-tenth cent a day per hen. Prevents and 
cures all diseases. If you cant get it, we send by mail 
post-paid. One pack. 35c. Five $1. 2 1-4 lb. can $1.20 i 
8 cans $5. Express paid. Testimonials free. Send stamps or 
cash. Fiu-mers’ Poultr; 
orders or more. L 
iltry Guide (price 25c.) free with $1.00 
S. JOHNSON & CO., Boston, ilaes. 
DICK’S FEED GUTTER 
For Hav. Straw and Ensil¬ 
age The only machine 
that cute and splits corn 
stnlks. We also sell the 
Triumph Stkam Grskrat- 
or, and Griffisq’s Corn 
Shkllkr and Separator. 
Write us at once H. B 
Grilling, Sons <ft Co., 
70 Cortiandt St.. 
New York City, N. Y. 
BOON to DAIRYMEN 
Perfect Swinging Cow 
Stanchion. Self-lock¬ 
ing by entrance of 
cow's head. Free de¬ 
livery at principal 
points. Send for cir¬ 
cular. Meution this 
paper. Scott A Locke, 
Orford, S. 11. 
