792 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
NOV 3o 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
(34 Park Row, New York), 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban 
Homes. 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. CARMAN. 
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1889. 
The series of letters “A Summer 
Outing in the North Carolina Moun¬ 
tains, ” by Mrs. Mary Wager-Fisher, 
begun in this number, will be found 
most entertaining and instructive. 
How to cut, cure and place before 
the cows corn-fodder with the least 
possible labor and at the same time 
secure it of the best quality, is a ques¬ 
tion which Mr. Rice discusses in a sug¬ 
gestive way on page 789. 
“It is with shame for my native 
State that I am compelled to say that 
it is next to impossible to buy at any 
price, in our local markets, a piece of 
cheese of even fair, not to say first 
quality.” So, says Prof. Wing on page 
788, in an article that will be read with 
interest. 
A Kansas subscriber says he wants 
to suggest a picture for the first page 
of the R. N.-Y. as follows : 
“ The first picture is a family stand¬ 
ing around the mother, while she is 
filling a 20-pound bucket of butter. If 
the churning fills the bucket it goes to 
town to buy shoes and stockings for 
the little ones ; if not, they will have 
to go to school another day with their 
old ones. The other picture is a group 
of millionaires forming a trust to ad¬ 
vance the prices of the necessaries of 
the people, by simply “ resolving.” 
The R. N. Y. wishes all its friends a 
happy Thanksgiving. We all have 
plenty of things to be thankful for. 
There is something entirely wrong 
with the human being who cannot 
find some bright side of life. He is 
not worth considering at this time of 
the year. Come, friends, some of us 
have not had the best year in the 
world, some of us had too much wet 
and others too much dry weather, 
some too much heat and others too 
much cold. It’s all right so long as we 
have kept our faith in the future. 
Let’s be thankful for that, anyway. 
The R. N.-Y. wishes all a good dinner 
and a merry day! 
Farmers who w r ant to try an ex¬ 
periment for next year, may be in¬ 
terested in the following letter, 
written by a subscriber in New Jer¬ 
sey : 
“It seems to be generally conceded 
by the growers of potatoes that an¬ 
other season the crop should be plant¬ 
ed on new or different land, on the 
ground that the germ of the rot or 
blight remains in the soil. I am going 
to try an experiment in this way. I 
have just plowed a lot in which pota¬ 
toes were grown this year, in order to 
give the frost a chance at the germs 
during the winter. I shall plow 7 again, 
in the spring and see how I come out 
with the crop. I would like to know 
what others think about this plan ? ” 
The R. N.-Y. would like to have a 
number of its readers try this experi¬ 
ment and see if the frost will destroy 
the spores of the rot. 
“ Apropos of the R. N.-Y’s. offer of 
$10 for notes on a back number, allow 
me to suggest that it should name a 
particular number, say the Thanks¬ 
giving Number, or any one to be is¬ 
sued soon, and offer $30 for notes on it. 
Notes on a number of last January or 
June would be, as the old saying is, 
‘caukl kail het again,’ and would be 
of little interest in comparison to a 
criticism of new 7 matter. ” p. m. 
Most of the people who have entered 
for this prize say that as all issues of 
the R. N.-Y. are good, there is little 
choice between them. The Premium 
List Number seems to have a good 
many friends, but the range is wide 
enough to present a good deal of va¬ 
riety. We prefer that the contestant 
should select his own issue, as it seems 
evident that he could do better at his 
own choice than he could if w 7 e were to 
select for him. The “Notes” thus far 
received are excellent. By the w 7 ay, 
entries for this prize will close Decem¬ 
ber 15. 
United States Minister William 
Walter Phelps, in Berlin, has been 
making a vigorous fight in behalf of 
the admission of the American hog 
into the Fatherland. Even in Ger¬ 
many it is, of course, quite well un¬ 
derstood that the plea that American 
pork is excluded merely on sanitary 
grounds, is only a pretext for pre¬ 
venting competition between hog- 
raisers in this country and that. 
William Walter is understood to stand 
high in the good graces of Bismarck, 
but in spite of this advantage and of his 
undoubted ability and eloquence, he 
has hitherto failed to make any favor¬ 
able impression on the “man of blood 
and iron.” The other day the latter’s 
mouth-piece, the Budget Committee 
of the Reichstag, backed up by the 
farmers of the country, refused to 
abrogate or modify in any way the 
laws and decrees against importations 
of American hog products. American 
farmers, it appears, are not the only 
agriculturists in the world who want 
tariff protection for home-raised pro¬ 
ducts. 
RAMIE AGAIN. 
r r'HE Ramie Company of America 
J. lias been foimed, with headquar¬ 
ters at Philadelphia, for the purpose of 
establishing and developing the ramie 
industry in this country. The com¬ 
pany proposes to furnish w r ould-be 
cultivators with plants, loan them 
machines for separating the fiber from 
the bark, and to purchase the product. 
Now, it is not the R. N.-Y.’s province 
or intention to throw 7 cold water upon 
any scheme which promises any rea¬ 
sonable prospect for increased remun¬ 
eration to the American farmer, but 
we would advise caution in engaging 
in this business. Ramie is a tropical 
plant, and does not flourish except in 
a rich and moist soil, and where there 
are no hard frosts. It is a very valu¬ 
able fiber plant and large quantities 
are used as a substitute for, and for 
mixing with silk. It is related to the 
nettle which is so familiar to many 
farmers. Something more than a 
score of years ago. great things were 
anticipated from the culture of ramie 
instead of cotton in the Southern 
States ; those who had plants to sell 
did a thriving business, but there was 
no successful method of preparing the 
fiber for market, and the bubble soon 
burst. It is said that seeds of the 
wood nettle have been sold as those of 
“ American ramie.” It is well to ex¬ 
periment with these novelties, but 
caution is w 7 orth a great deal to the 
fortunate possessor. By the way, 
what are the experiment stations for 
if not to test such things ? 
WHY NOT ? 
I N the dairy districts which supply 
New York v 7 ith milk, good milch 
cows are in great demand. The ma¬ 
jority of farmers do not raise their 
ow 7 n stock, but buy of drovers or stock 
agents. Present low 7 prices of milk 
have induced some dairymen to 
change their plans somewhat and 
raise the calves from their best cows ; 
but there is still a good market in 
these districts for good milch animals. 
And now 7 we have a set of agricultur¬ 
al thinkers w 7 ho say that this state of 
affairs can be made profitable to ihe 
owners or renters of the “abandoned 
farms ” in Vermont and New 7 Hamp¬ 
shire. Good milch cows can be raised 
on these farms just as w 7 ell as in any 
other district. They can be driven 
over into the dairy districts and sold 
at good prices. It w 7 ould even pay 
the buyers to pick up the best calves 
they could find and take them home 
to raise and sell later to their original 
owners. Are these ideas sound? 
Why not? All through the portions 
of New 7 Jersey where broilers are 
raised in large numbers, the demand 
for suitable hatching eggs is such that 
farmers w r ho are willing to comply 
with the regulations enforced by the 
hatchers can command five cents each 
for their eggs. It does not pay the 
broiler men to keep hens to produce 
the eggs th( y need. It w 7 ill not pay 
farmers to go into the broiler business 
on a large scale. So one party aids 
the other and both are benefited. 
Why are there not similar reasons for 
believing that farmers outside of any 
dairy district may profitably raise 
cows to sell to their neighbors? 
FEED MORE OATS THIS YEAR. 
O ATS are lower than they have 
been for a number of years. In 
the East w 7 here the great problem is 
how 7 to provide the grain ration with 
the best economy, observing farmers 
should take advantage of the drop in 
price. As one of our feeding author¬ 
ities has recently pointed out, most 
farmers seem to agree that oats are 
suitable for “horse feed” and for but 
little else. It is true that within a 
few years some enterprising farmers 
have enthusiastically praised oats as 
food for calves and young stock, but 
the great majority of people still seem 
to consider that the oat w 7 as specially 
designed for the horse ; and this, 
notwithstanding the fact that thou¬ 
sands of these same persons eat oat¬ 
meal themselves and find it more nu¬ 
tritious than any other similar food. 
There is no reason why oats should 
not be fed with profit to all kinds of 
stock, cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry. 
We do not mean fed exclusively, but 
fed in combination w 7 ith other grains 
and fodders. A bushel of oats this 
year will contain as much nutriment 
as a bushel contained last year. Sup¬ 
pose the price to be five cents less. 
By mixing the oats w 7 ith other and 
more expensive substances you get 
your ration for milk, pork or beef at 
just that much less. The art of mak¬ 
ing up a good grain ration from sev¬ 
eral sorts of grain brings the best 
profit when some one grain is low 7 in 
price. The R. N.-Y. will have more 
to say about grain combinations that 
will enable farmers to take advantage 
of the low 7 price of oats. Probably a 
good many of our readers do not need 
any reminder. To all such we may 
say that w 7 e would like their opinion 
and experience as to the best w r ay to 
feed oats to advantage. 
CONSENSUS OF AGRICULTURAL 
OPINION. 
T HE Farmers’ Congress, a heteroge¬ 
neous assemblage of 325 delegates 
from various parts of the country, 
but chiefly from the South and West, 
which adjourned at Montgomery, 
Alabama, a w 7 eek ago, could come to 
no decision w 7 ith regard to the most 
appropriate national flow 7 er ; but had 
no hesitation in expressing very de¬ 
cided opinions on various questions 
of grave national importance, in its 
‘ ‘ resolutions.” Very properly indeed, 
it resolved that the Grange and all 
other agricultural organizations should 
combine to secure State and National 
legislation for the benefit of farmers. 
It resoved that Congress should estab¬ 
lish one or more deep-water harbors 
on the Gulf coast for the purpose of 
promoting trade between this country 
and Central and South America ; but 
it refused to indorse a proposal for a 
national subsidy to a steamboat line 
to carry on that trade. It demanded 
that the Department of Agriculture 
should once more ascertain the causes 
of sw ine plague and again recommend 
remedies for the scourge. It favored 
the organization of a National Board 
of Agriculture for the consideration 
and promotion of agricultural inter¬ 
ests and the appointment of tw 7 o dele¬ 
gates from each State to co-operate 
with the Board. It insisted that the 
legislatures of the different States 
should make appropriations for de¬ 
fraying the expenses of delegates to 
national farmers’ congresses. It heart¬ 
ily indorsed farmers’ institutes and 
recommended their introduction in all 
the States, and “ resolved ” that the 
National Government should aid in the 
matter. It advocated closer relations 
betw 7 een producers and consumers. 
It demanded a comprehensive scheme 
for the improvement of the Missis¬ 
sippi River at the national expense, 
and the construction of a ship canal 
connecting Lake Michigan and the 
Father of Waters. It refused to urge 
unlimited silver coinage, or the repeal 
of internal revenue taxation ; nor 
w'ould it indorse the proposal that the 
taxes on w'hisky and tobacco should 
be regulated by different States to re¬ 
lieve local taxation. A resolution fav¬ 
oring the granting of bounties to sugar 
roducers, w 7 as voted down. Finally, 
y a vote of 201 against 63, it “resolved” 
that Chicago should be the site of the 
World’s Fair in 1892. It is always a 
matter of interest and often a matter 
of importance to ascertain the con¬ 
sensus of opinion of a body of 300 or¬ 
dinary farmers even in a local assem¬ 
bly ; how much more forcibly can 
this be said of a convention composed 
of 300 representative farmers from 
widely separated parts of the country 
met to discuss questions not merely of 
local but of national import ! Such 
conventions are among the most po¬ 
tent factors in the creation of the pub¬ 
lic opinion of a country and should re¬ 
ceive more attention from the agricul¬ 
tural press. 
THE GRANGE PLATFORM. 
T HE National Grange in convention 
during the week at Sacramento, 
California, last Tuesday adopted a re¬ 
port favoring the increase of small 
farms and restriction on foreign immi¬ 
gration. It also resolved “tomemor¬ 
ialize Congress in favor of the man¬ 
ufacture of jute and other textile 
fabrics for use instead of cotton bag¬ 
ging.” If our telegraphed synopsis of 
the resolutions is correct, it appears 
that the Grange is not quite in har¬ 
mony with agricultural associations 
in the South in this matter; for, with¬ 
out an exception, they all favor the 
use of cotton bagging in preference to 
jute. Even if the latter w r ere admitted 
duty-free, its purchase w r ould always 
take millions of money out of tne 
country, that might w 7 ell be kept at 
home, and the raw and manufactured 
products would ahvays be liable to be 
‘ 1 cornered ” by speculators and mon¬ 
eyed sharpers at home or abroad. On 
the other hand, the manufacture of 
cotton bagging would afford a profit¬ 
able market for the coarse grades of 
the staple and this would have a ten¬ 
dency to stiffen the prices of the bet¬ 
ter kinds ; while cotton is too abun¬ 
dant among us to render “cornering” 
practicable, except occasionally in the 
case of some particular “ option,” for 
a brief period. The Grange also fav¬ 
ored the supply of school books at 
cost, and condemned the single-tax 
system. It advocated the increase of 
silver coinage, and the circulation of 
paper money, independent of the 
national banks, in sufficient quanti¬ 
ties to prevent financial embarrass¬ 
ment. A live agricultural paper, fully 
aw r ake to all movements m this and 
other countries, likely to affect the 
welfare or engage the interests of its 
patrons or of a considerable number 
of them, should be prompt in laying 
before them pithy condensations of 
the proceedings at the important con¬ 
ventions of recognized agricultural 
representative bodies, even if it can¬ 
not always indorse all the planks in 
thGr platforms. 
BREVITIES. 
The stort of the w 7 eek on the farm : 
RAIN. 
Read a Young Farmer’s Ideas and Prac¬ 
tice on page 789. It bears upon the ques¬ 
tion, Does Farming Pay? 
Mr. Colcord writes as follows regarding 
his patent silage: 
“ I shall open my silo this week, probab¬ 
ly. The silage in it has never had any acid 
whatever in it. I can find no changes in it. 
The juice is perfectly sweet.” 
Since Mr. Colcord published his book on 
the pre-ervation of “ green forage,” a new 
discussion as to the desirability of weights 
for the silo has been started. John Gould 
states the case for a class of siloists on page 
790. Next week the R. N.-Y. will give 
notes from some of the best silo builders in 
the country, showing their methods of cov¬ 
ering silage and weighting it. 
Unless the weather conditions change, 
the prospect for the Thanksgiving poultry 
market is decidedly discouraging. The 
supply is heavy. Fresh, prime stock, ar¬ 
riving in good condition, sells readily at 
fair prices, but anything of lower grade 
must be sold for whatever buyers may of¬ 
fer, while some is likely to be dumped in 
the river. Venison is outlawed, so no more 
must be shipped. 
It seems likely that a combination will 
soon be formed between the Farmers’ Alli¬ 
ance and the Knights of Labor. A week 
ago Colonel L. F. Livingston, President of 
the Alliance in Georgia, together with a 
number of other prominent representatives 
of the order, visited the convention of the 
Knights in se-sion at Atlanta and heartily 
approved of the projected union. The an¬ 
nual convention of the Alliance will begin 
at St. Louis on December 3, audit appears 
highly probable that the dream of Powder- 
ly’s life—a confederation of the farmer 
and the mechanic—will be realized. 
