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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
NOV 2 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
(34 Park Row, New York), 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban 
Homes. 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. CARMAN. 
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1889. 
The reports of the Womens’ 
National Potato Contest are now 
in the hands of the judges and 
the prize-takers will be announc¬ 
ed as soon as practicable. 
The E. N.-Y.’s Advice to Farmers : 
Don't save for seed potatoes or pur¬ 
chase seed potatoes which , owing to 
rot , blight or any other cause , failed to 
mature fidly. 
It is worthy of note that the E. 
N.-Y. seedling potatoes from seed 
(true seed) planted last February, 
blighted as early as established varie¬ 
ties growing in "neighboring fields. 
Farmers who have received letters 
from “ Webb & Warren ” of Philadel¬ 
phia, offering to purchase butter, are 
advised to “go slow.” The E. N.-Y. 
will print what it knows about this 
firm next week. 
Eot, Flea-beetles and blight ! These 
are the enemies that we had to con¬ 
tend against in potato culture the 
past season. The E. N.-Y. met these 
enemies and fought them with all its 
might. But it met with a disastrous 
defeat. 
“There’s no use talking, we farmers 
with hilly farms have to come to the 
use of swivel plows. The old plows 
leave too many dead furrows for rams 
to wash through and start a gully.” 
That is the way a New Jersey farmer 
recently put it and there are many 
others who will agree with him. 
In a wet season, put the fertilizer 
over the seed potatoes ; in a dry sea¬ 
son under. That is, thus far, the re¬ 
sult of the E. N. -Y’s. tests. But how 
is one to know whether the season is 
to be wet or dry ? Well, read the E. 
N.-Y. If it predicts a dry season, its 
readers may assume it will be wet ! 
Mr. E. L. Gault, Treasurer of the 
Keystone Manufacturing Company, 
writes: 
“Your excellent paper with the 
high standard you have recently 
placed it at, is a work of art well 
worthy of careful preservation and a 
fit representative of American agri¬ 
culture. We wish you every success!” 
How high will potatoes go? Seed 
potatoes will be high next spring, but 
potatoes for the general market will 
not vary much in price from other 
years of scarcity. Customers seem to 
have settled upon an intrinsic price 
for potatoes. When the price goes 
above that, consumers will eat rice in¬ 
stead of potatoes. Again, whenever 
the price reaches a certain limit, we 
shall find European potatoes in our 
markets. Two years ago this hap¬ 
pened; it will happen again next 
spring. 
A. W. Livingston’s Sons send the 
following note: 
“We must tell you of our exper¬ 
ience thus far with the Kumerle 
Dwarf. Last winter we were fortu¬ 
nate enough to secure half a dozen 
packets containing 25 beans each. We 
did not test them because our friend 
Mr. Eoot, of Gleanings in Bee Cul¬ 
ture, offered us ' their weight in 
gold ’ for them, and we accepted, re¬ 
ceiving $78. This we considered our 
golden opportunity to make first sale 
of this promising variety.” 
Prof. C. M. Weed reports the suc¬ 
cessful use of the Bordeaux Mixture 
on potato vines. Applications were 
made May 28, June 6, June 29 and 
July 16. The blight appeared in the 
field about the middle of June and for 
six weeks did serious damage. Prof. 
Weed says that the sprayed vines re¬ 
mained green longer than those not 
sprayed with the mixture, and the 
yield is reported as being nearly 20 
per cent, heavier on the sprayed 
portion, while it is claimed that the 
tubers were also free from scab. 
By adding London-purple to the 
Bordeaux Mixture Prof. Weed says 
we may fight the blight and the beetle 
at one operation. The E. N.-Y. tried 
the Bordeaux Mixture without any ap¬ 
parent benefit. 
Atlanta, by far the most populous, 
enterprising and important city in 
Georgia, is rejoicing at a recent de¬ 
cision of the Georgia Farmers’ Alli¬ 
ance, which has selected the “Gate 
City of the South ” as the place where 
it will build a large warehouse, 
through which all the supplies for the 
entire Alliance in that section will be 
handled. This means that the trading 
of 80,000 farmers will be done in At¬ 
lanta. The design of the Alliance is to 
do away with middlemen and cut 
down as much as possible the expenses 
connected with the purchase and sale 
of all farm supplies and products. 
This is an excellent idea which has for 
years been, here and there, put in 
practice by the Grange to a limited 
extent, and by the Alliance to a great¬ 
er extent in several States, but espec¬ 
ially in Texas. The greater the amount 
of business done, however, the greater 
the risk of mismanagement and par¬ 
tial or total failure; for while it is 
comparatively easy to secure a man 
capable of successfully managing a 
small business, it is a mighty difficult 
matter to find one able, honest and 
unselfish enough to manage a large 
one successfully. 
The reports of the E. N.-Y. potato 
No. 2—page 724—are all that space 
permits in this issue. They will be 
read with interest as showing in what 
soils and under what conditions the 
potato thrives best. Headers will 
kindly bear in mind that the E. N.-Y. 
can have no interest in praising this 
remarkable variety beyond its deserts, 
since the entire stock (a matter of 
two bushels) was sold several years 
ago to a single firm who propagated 
and introduced it. We have never 
raised it for sale, have none for sale 
and do not ever expect to have. It is 
all we have to show as the result of 12 
years of work with seedling potatoes, 
the No. 8 and No. 4 having failed 
through rot and blight. Its value to 
the country—be it great or small—will 
be the sole measure of our reward. 
The reports show that a careful 
man, who is willing to take pains with 
a small thing, can produce results well 
worth considering. The specimens of 
the potato that were sent to subscrib¬ 
ers were, of necessity, small ones. 
Many of them, after their long jour¬ 
ney by mail, were anything but 
promising in appearance. The E. N.- 
Y. has never distributed any seeds or 
plants that did not give promise of 
excellence. Those of our readers who 
believed in this fact went ahead with 
their little potatoes. When the price 
at which the potato is to be sold is an¬ 
nounced, we shall see how many have 
paid for their year’s subscription by 
their work with the little potato. 
FAILUEE OF THE NO. 8 AND 
NO. 4 SEEDLING POTATOES. 
A S has been stated more than once 
in these columns, the Kural 
New-Yorker seedling Potato No. 3 
outyielded the No. 2, planted side by 
side, and theE. N.-Y. No. 4 outyielded 
the No. 3. Both varieties were shapely 
and of the first quality. It will also be 
remembered that our effort to raise at 
the rate of over 700 bushels to the acre 
last year failed on account of the trif¬ 
ling yield of the No. 3 caused by the 
destruction of the vines by the Flea- 
beetle. The best of the tubers were 
saved for seed and planted this year. 
Again the Flea-beetle destroyed the 
vines and the variety no longer exists. 
Worse than this, the No. 4, on account 
of rot and the Flea-beetle, seems so 
weakened that it may well be doubted 
whether it will ever regain its original 
vigor. We had hopes for these two 
remarkable varieties more confident 
even than for the No. 2, and looked 
forward with a deal of satisfaction to 
their early introduction to the farming 
public. Well, perhaps it is better to 
have labored earnestly and failed than 
not to have labored at all. 
DANGEE AHEAD. 
I N the Northwest and still more in 
the South the Farmers’ Alliance 
is taking quite an aggressive line of 
action not only in political but also in 
economic affairs connected with the 
agricultural interests. Until a com¬ 
paratively recent date, the Grange 
strongly objected to any interference 
on its part as an organization in politi¬ 
cal matters ; but of late it has changed 
its policy in this respect, having learnt 
that in order to advance the best 
pecuniary welfare of farmers, it must 
take decided action with regard to leg¬ 
islation certain or likely to affect their 
interests. From its inception, how¬ 
ever, the Alliance has taken a prom¬ 
inent part in politics, now favoring 
one party, now the other, even in the 
same section, its course being directed 
by the influence it conceived the policy 
of either party would have upon the 
agricultural interests of the region. 
Its membership and influence are 
growing faster in the South than in 
any other section, and there is some 
danger that it may there be led into a 
policy that may cause it to lose the 
sympathy of the community at large. 
In South Carolina the war it has been 
waging against the Jute-bagging Trust 
is gradually involving side issues of a 
somewhat serious character. It began 
by boycotting the manufacturers and 
dealers in jute-bagging, and now it is 
extending the same method of intimi¬ 
dation to newspapers, towns and cities 
against which it believes it has any 
cause of complaint. One of the five 
daily papers published in the State, 
has been boycotted because the editor 
published something that displeased 
the Alliance men ; the city of Green¬ 
ville, the third in size in the State, is 
suffering from a stagnation in busi¬ 
ness due to a similar boycott; Spar¬ 
tanburg, the fourth city in the State, 
has also been boycotted by a local Al¬ 
liance ; while Charleston, the chief 
city in the State, has been boycotted 
by the Sumter County Alliance, whose 
members are forbidden to buy goods 
or send any cotton there. The boy¬ 
cott is probably the most persuasive 
means of coercion ever practiced by 
the many against the few. Still there 
is about it something brutal that is 
sure, in the long run, to enlist public 
sympathy in favor of its victims, if it 
is used too frequently or too persis¬ 
tently, and unsupported by public 
sympathy it is up-hill work for any 
movement, however beneficent, to 
succeed. 
A GIGANTIC OEGANIZATION OF 
MILK PEODUCEES 
I T is estimated that the milk bill of 
New York City amounts to $10, 
000,000 a year. The vast supply is 
furnished by about 10,000 farmers and 
milk-producers living in New York, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecti¬ 
cut and Massachusetts, and is handled 
in the city by about 100 milk-dealers 
who are members of the Milk Ex¬ 
change. This small body of middle¬ 
men organized for self-interest abso¬ 
lutely controls the price paid to 10, 
000 unorganized producers and de¬ 
manded of 1,500,000 unorganized con¬ 
sumers. The latter cannot well form 
an organization ; the former should 
have no great difficulty in doing so. A 
similar organization lias been in suc¬ 
cessful operation for supplying the 
London market for 19 years, and 
surely what Englishmen have done 
for a city of 4,500,000 people, Ameri¬ 
cans can do for a city containing only 
one-third of that population. The 
first important step to that end was 
taken last Thursday at Middletown, 
N. Y., at a mass-meeting of 300 farm¬ 
ers from the five States that supply 
the city with milk. The design of the 
convention was to push the organiza¬ 
tion of a milk-producers’ union to be 
known as the “ The Union of Milk- 
Producers for the Supply of the New 
York Market.” Its object is the form¬ 
ation of avast trust to control the city 
milk market, do away, as far as pos¬ 
sible, with middlemen, supply the 
consumers direct and regulate prices. 
There is no doubt that such an organ¬ 
ization can furnish the metropolis with 
purer and better milk, at retail, for 
five cents in summer and six in the 
winter than that now supplied by the 
Milk Exchange at six and eight cents. 
Nearly all the adulteration which is 
now so objectionable to adults and 
so fatal to children is the work of the 
milk-dealers, and this cause of just 
complaint would be at once removed, 
while the producers and the consum¬ 
ers would be alike gainers by the suc¬ 
cess of the undertaking. The scheme 
originated at Oxford, Chenango Coun¬ 
ty, about eight months ago, and al¬ 
ready 30 local branches have been or¬ 
ganized and 10 more are in process of 
formation, and such an impetus has 
been given to the enterprise by the 
Middletown Convention that it is ex¬ 
pected that by next spring the time 
will be ripe for the organization of a 
stock company. This is intended to 
have a capital of $500,000, to be con¬ 
tributed by milk-producers at the rate 
of one share of stock, at $25, for each 
40-quart can furnished per day. An 
agent will be stationed at each ship¬ 
ping point to receive and forward 
milk and cream, and there will be a 
central distributing depot at this city. 
It is expected that 200 branches will 
be established within the next three 
months. The plan is admirable and 
feasible. This is, par excellence , the 
era of organizations, and farmers who 
do not organize for self-protection and 
self-interest are not keeping up with 
the age. 
BREVITIES. 
What do you think about rot in potato 
“ seed ” now ? 
We have not succeeded in procuring any 
seed-balls of the No. 2. 
The R. N.-Y. has no occasion to feel sad 
that its potato challenge of $100, to go to 
some charity, was not accepted. 
The entries for the prize offered for the 
“Notes on a Back Number” are coming in 
lively. This will be an excellent “ sym¬ 
posium.” 
The indications are that there will be a 
revival of the interest in sheep. This is 
due to the continued dullness in cattle and 
hogs at the West. 
We have not succeeded in getting a single 
seed-ball of the R. N. Y. No. 2. We were 
in hopes that some of our North-western 
friends might favor ns. 
The Dwarf Lima Bean Special has called 
out a good deal of comment. Next week 
Prof. J. L. Budd will detail his experiences 
in cutting back the ordinary pole Lima. 
The proportion of rotten potatoes raised 
in the barrel experiment was greater than 
the proportion of rotten potatoes raised in 
the “ Contest Plot.” It is difficult to ac¬ 
count for this. 
Probably about the middle of next year 
some of our esteemed contemporaries will 
begin to talk about the auction system of 
selling farm produce which the R. N.-Y. 
has already described. 
A Barbed Wire Trust has just been 
formed to tighten the grip of the man¬ 
ufacturers of barbed wire on the pouches 
of farmers and stock-raisers. It embraces 
nearly all the manufacturers in the country 
and has already put up the price of the pro 
duct, and is expected to make another ad¬ 
vance before long. As the patent monopo 
ly steps out, the trust monopoly steps in. 
Some of our readers find fault with the 
R. N.-Y.’s cartoon pictures of the farmer. 
We have a picture coming now that will 
cause such readers to “take it all back.” 
We have a photograph of five representa¬ 
tive Illinois farmerswho, as our correspond¬ 
ent states, “ started with 0 and ended with 
000.” They are typical farmers, each one 
representing some distinct branch of agri¬ 
culture or horticulture. This picture will 
give further evidence of the wonderful re¬ 
sources of photo-engraving. 
WHAT is the cost of living in your neigh¬ 
borhood? This is a live question. In these 
times it is hard to think of one that is more 
important. Next week the R. N.-Y. will 
begin the publication of statements show¬ 
ing the cost of living in various parts of 
the country. All who have kept accurate 
accounts of their living expenses are re¬ 
quested to compare their accounts with 
those we shall publish and send us the 
statement. The R. N.-Y. thinks a good 
deal of help may be gained in this way. 
While bee-keepers at the North are agi¬ 
tating for legislation against the spraying 
of fruit trees with arsenites during the 
blossoming season as a protection against 
fruit-injuring insects, sportsmen at the 
South appear to have an equally valid cause 
for legislation against the use of Paris- 
green by cotton-planters for the destruction 
of the cotton worm. Complaints come 
from many quarters that the liberal use of 
this arsemte has been playing havoc with 
the game birds, which fed upon the poison¬ 
ed worms, of which they are very fond. 
Partridges and prairie chickens which were 
very numerous m many regions have, it is 
said, been nearly all destroyed. Whole 
flocks having been found dead in many 
places. There is danger that unless the 
worms are saved from the poison, the 
sportsman’s occupation will soon be gone 
in wide areas. Justus it’s an ill wind that 
blows nobody good, it’s a good wind that 
blows nobody ill. 
