THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
all of them receive during the present 
year and in the future the hearty support 
they so well deserve. 
BREVITIES. 
Our free seed distribution has actually be¬ 
gun. We -would that it had ended. 
One can not see himself as others see him. 
If he could, each of our farmer readers might, 
we think, point out his own portrait on our 
first page. 
J. J. Mechi writes to the London Agricul¬ 
tural Gazette: •*There is still much melan¬ 
choly in agriculture. Farmers are justly 
alarmed by American reports and imports.” 
Seeds of early Cabbage may now be sown in 
boxes in any sunny window. So may the seedB 
of the Golden Rural Tomato in a few weeks— 
which reminds us of the. necessity of haste in 
our seed distribution. 
It wa6 Daniel O’Connell who wittily empha¬ 
sized the difficulty of putting a good deal of 
sense into a few words, by writing to the edi¬ 
tor of a Dublin newspaper, “I send you a 
long letter, because I haven't time to write a short 
one." 
Now that Scarlet Fever is prevalent, we 
would say to our readers that far more de¬ 
pends upon careful nursing than upon medi¬ 
cines. Do not ever wake a child up to give it 
medicines. Nothing is better than warm le¬ 
monade or Blippwy-elm. 
Gen. Le Due has just appeared before a 
Committee of the Senate to urge that the Agri¬ 
cultural Department should be authorized to 
keep a strict supervision over the shipment of 
live stock from this country. More stringent 
precautionary measures in regard to this mat¬ 
ter cannot be too promptly enforced. 
Awhile ago, a hired man was smoking a 
pipe while standing near the door of the stable. 
The door was suddenly blown back, knocking 
the pipe out of his mouth and scattering the 
lire in every direction. The sparks were put 
out—but we were reminded that pipe-smoking, 
even by the moat careful men, ought never to 
be tolerated about the burn. 
We call the attention of our readers to 
our advertising columns, which arc now filling 
up as spring approaches. It is submitted that 
the character of these advertisements is 
strictly in accord with our professions of 
a desire to consult, the interests of our reader* 
as a foremost principle iu the management of 
this journal. If by any misrepresentations on 
the part of advertisers, deceptive advertise¬ 
ments arc admitted, we shall expose them so 
soon as the fact is ascertained, as. in several 
instances, wc have already done. 
The St. Petersburg Gazette announces that 
a dairy show on a large scale will be held at 
Helsingfors In the course of the ensuing 
spring, and that the Government has granted 
a sum of 3,400 roubles towards the traveling 
expenses of country people in poor circum¬ 
stances desirous of visiting the exhibition. 
Our politicians, too, are unquestionably deep¬ 
ly interested in dairy matters, and they would, 
no doubt, have exerted their influence upon 
the Government to have extended a helping 
hand to the “ country people in poor circum¬ 
stances” who desired to visit our Inter¬ 
national. 
We have no doubt that the English sparrow, 
in a very few years, will so damage our corn 
crops that we shall not only be ready to let 
this bird shift for itself but to join in exter¬ 
minatory measures in place of the kindly pro¬ 
tection that has thus far been extended to it. 
It seems only to have found out during the 
past season, or so, that corn in the milk is de¬ 
licious food, and that by a little scratching 
and pecking a sufficient meal may easily be 
obtaiued. In an experimental plot of sweet 
(black) corn, planted in an out-of-the-way part 
of our grounds, we had a good opportunity of 
observing their operations. From the time 
that the corn was well Bet until it began to 
harden, a flock of about fifteen made this their 
headquarters. They would peck upon the 
silk end of the ears, open the husk and feed 
upon the corn as far down as they could man¬ 
age to pry it open. They destroyed about half 
of the crop. 
Dr. H. de Vries has been experimenting to 
ascertain what changes occur in frozen plants. 
He fiude that the ice is formed, not in the cells, 
but iu the interstices or intercellular spaces. 
Hence a bursting of the cell walls, which has 
generally been supposed to take place, is impos¬ 
sible. The plants remain alive as long ub they 
remain frozen and die only when a thaw takes 
place. He finds that If the thawing process 
is conducted gradually, the vitality is preserv¬ 
ed. Now, if the intercellular spaces freeze, 
they must become distended. Why does not 
this distension rupture the colls upon which 
they press? Will dc Vries tell us that ? We 
presume the cell juices do freeze if the cold is 
intense enough, and that the degree of cold re¬ 
quisite to freeze the cells of different species of 
plants, varies. When this takes place, must 
the plant die ; or, will gradual thawing save it 
in this case as in the other ? Iu other words, 
must the plant, perish whose cells or cell juices 
are frozen ? 
Prickly Comfrey. —A correspondent, one 
who has raised a large quantity of Prickly 
Comfrey, says : “ Did not the Rural advocate 
its cultivation awhile ago?” We reply, yea; 
and add that the Rural probably influenced a 
trial of this plant more than any other journal. 
But a mistake or blunder, made years ago, is 
uo less the oue or the other for being persisted 
in. The cultivation of Prickly Comfrey was, 
as far as we know, advocated by the then edit¬ 
ors in good faith. Our trials constrain us to 
believe that it is. as compared with other for¬ 
age plants, nearly worthless, though we con¬ 
tinue to receive favorable reports from here 
and there. We have placed these before the 
reader the same as if they accorded with our 
own views. Nearly every seedman’s catalogue 
offers roots for sale. Our readers, haying 
read all that can be said on both sides of the 
question, will judge for themselves whether 
Prickly Comfrey i& worth its cost aud their 
time aud labor- 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
Address 
RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
78 Duane Street, New York City. 
SATURDAY. FEB. 8, 1879. 
We will be pleased to send one or more copies 
of the Rural New-Yorker free to any of our 
subscribers sufficiently interested in its welfare 
to be willing to hand them to their neighbors for 
inspection . An intimation by postal card will 
suffice. _ 
Our readers who apply will have the Beauty 
of Hebron potato sent to them separately, be¬ 
cause to send this with seeds makes an awk¬ 
ward package, and also, because the seeds may 
be forwarded at any time regardless of the 
weather, while the potatoes may be injured by 
frost. We mention this for the reason that our 
friends receiving the potato only, may think 
the rest of their selection has been overlooked. 
We earnestly request that all letters containing 
money, or any communication intended for the 
Business Department of the paper, beaddressed 
to The Rural Publishing Co., and not to any 
individual. We cannot otherwise guarantee the 
prompt entry of names upon our books, or the 
acknowledgment of money. 
Applicants for seeds will please observe that 
the postage on any possible selection of ten 
sorts of seeds, is never more than five cents. 
A one-cent stamp suffices for any selection 
of ten varieties exclusive of the- Beauty of 
Hebron potato, Pearl Millet and Defiance wheat. 
If the first of these three is included in the- list, 
then a tioo cent extra stamp Is needed, and if 
the second and third are included, an extra two 
cent stamp is also required. 
We offered, some time ago, to sell the cuts 
used in this Journal for twelve cents the square 
inch. Many have requested us to send proofs 
of our cuts. As we have upwards of ten thou¬ 
sand, we could not undertake to do so. Per¬ 
sons wishing to purchase, must select from 
files of the Rural New-Yorker. 
Our readers are particularly requested to 
read the particulars of our free seed distribu¬ 
tion on p. 97, under publisher’s notices, before 
ordering seeds. 
WRITING FARMERB, 
It is rather a favorite “skit” at far¬ 
mers who write for the papers to 
say that they don’t practice what they 
preach, and that thus they frequently 
disappoint those who visit ’ them by the 
slovenly appearance of their premises, 
the ill-kept condition of their live-stock, 
and the weecliness and light returns of 
their crops. This charge has a small 
sub-stratum of truth fa rest upon ; and 
yet a pretty wide acquaintance with 
writing farmers enables us to declare that 
the foundation for such ill-natured 
charges is much less than is asserted by 
men who may be good farmers, but who 
are so selfish that they not only won’t 
“do good and communicate,” themselves, 
hut enjoy* “sitting in the seat of the 
scorner” wagging their hard heads, and 
comforting then' little souls by exagger¬ 
ating the defects of their neighbors. 
So far as there is truth in the gossip of 
such men about “writing farmers,” the 
explanation is not at all difficult, nor is it 
greatly to the discredit of those who are 
so criticised. There is a limit to the 
working ability of every man and woman. 
So much can he done in a day, aud then 
the night cometh, and rest must be taken. 
The hard-headed and hard-hearted human 
animal, be he farmer or what not, who 
devotes all his efforts to his own selfish 
advancement and cams nothing for the 
good of others, no doubt has a shade of 
advantage in mere money-making over 
his neighbor who is willing to devote a 
part of his time to the general good—and 
such is the practice of agricultural wri¬ 
ters, as a rule. Certainly there is uo 
branch of literary effort where labor 
yields so poor a return as iu agricultural 
writing. As yet, so little does the average 
farmer and his family care for improve¬ 
ment in their own business that, little as 
they read anyway, nine-tenths of what 
they do read is the mere news, gossip and 
scandal of the day, or the blood-and-thun- 
der and cheap sentiment of the dime novel 
and the story paper. Few men ever 
earn a dollar by writing upon agriculture. 
But in still other ways is the generous- 
hearted citizen at a disadvantage with the 
hard-heads in a rural community. Not 
only will he sacrifice his time and strength 
by his writing, if he writes, but he is the 
one upon whom his merciless critics are 
sure to shirk off all the useful, but pecu¬ 
niarily unprofitable work of the neighbor¬ 
hood. Both in public and church affairs 
the thrifty boor and his griping helpmeet 
are “too busy” to lend a hand; but 
neighbor Good-Heart and sister Charity 
are delegated by a unanimous vote—and 
a sneering laugh in the sleeve—to do the 
“ thank-ye” jobs for the common good. 
They do them cheerfully, and “ great 
will be their reward in heaven,” but on 
earth it is probable that Good-Heart’s 
farm and Charity’s household will suffer 
in comparison with those of the pious 
and patriotic neighbors who profit by 
their exertions, only to “ say all manner 
of evil against them falsely.” 
We t hink , and have reason to think, 
that the readers of the Rural are of a 
different class from these hard-hearted 
and ungrateful people to whom we have 
referred. We believe they appreciate 
the efforts of its many generous con¬ 
tributors to advance the knowledge, con¬ 
tribute to the comfort and promote the 
happiness of the whole. And we believe, 
too, that if they could visit the farms and 
the houses of these writers, they would 
uot, find them lacking iu a practical de¬ 
monstration of the advantage of a study 
of their work, or any the worse for the 
time bestowed in this way for the pleas¬ 
ure and profit of their readers. 
EXPORT OF LIVE ANIMALS. 
The necessities of the English nation 
have far outgrown the home supply, both 
of breadstuff's, meats, cheese and butter. 
England has become a vast workshop and 
mart, and her agriculture has fallen be¬ 
hind in its capacity for supplying the 
wants of her artisans and merchants. 
Whether or not the peculiar condition of 
the English agricultural interest—which 
exists in a twofold, or rather threefold 
division, as landlord, gentleman-farmer 
tenant and laborer, and in which the 
labor of the last supports the luxuries 
and extravagance of the other two, is at 
the bottom of this, need not be here con- 
sidered ; although its discussion would 
involve some considerations most import¬ 
ant to us. The fact is as stated, and its 
results appeal - in a demand upon foreign 
nations for at least one-half of the sus¬ 
tenance of the English people. 
Out of this condition of things has 
grown an enormous foreign business in 
breads tuffs and provisions, the larger 
bulk of which has fallen to us in a natu¬ 
ral manner, simply beoause we can sup¬ 
ply food cheaper than any other nation. 
This ability may be, and probably is, a 
consequence of the very different posi¬ 
tion of our agricultural interest and so¬ 
cial organization, from those of England. 
The English people, however, want bread 
and butter, cheese aud meat, and we can 
supply all thev lack, with advantage. 
Their needs will enlarge and our capabil¬ 
ity of supplying them can increase. In 
this promised enlargement of our best 
and most convenient market, lies the most 
hopeful prospect of our agriculture. 
One steamer recently sailed from Boston 
for England with 252 live steers and 1,000 
live sheep on board, and this cargo is but 
one drop in the bucket of the rapidly 
growing business. 
Exports of dressed beef to England be¬ 
gan in 1815 as an experiment by the ship¬ 
ment, iu October of that year, of 36,000 
pounds. Iu April, 1877, more than 8,000,- 
000 pounds of meat were exported, and 
from that time the shipment of live stock 
has become an important part of the 
trade, and although the export of cattle 
maybe temporarily checked by the expect¬ 
ed orders of the British Privy Council, 
these orders will probably only remain a 
short time in force, and until their revoca¬ 
tion, the increase in our si lipments of beef 
will, most likely, counterbalance any de¬ 
crease in those of fat stock. The effect 
of our jiast trade has been to reduce the 
price of beef in the Euglish markets from 
25 cents a pound to 17 cents. At the lat¬ 
ter price it seems as though we should 
have the market entirely in our own 
hands from the impossibility of English 
farmers competing with us on account of 
the high rents they have to pay for their 
farms, and the fact that they are not 
working-men themselves, but must live 
out of the proceeds of the labor of their 
workmen. The English laborer and an 
English farm cannot support two idle 
men with their families, and produce beef 
for 17 cents a pound. This seems rea¬ 
sonable to us who find ourselves taxed to 
do this latter and support ourselves by 
our own labor. Therefore this outlet for 
our products seems to be sure aud per¬ 
manent, and we may feel safe in laying 
out our plans to fill it. 
American farmers are a studious class 
of men, and are wedded to no ultra con¬ 
servative system. Their farms are hap¬ 
pily their own, to do as they will with 
them. They can grow what crops 
they wish, and are used to change of me¬ 
thods. Now it is their interest to look 
out for the new order of things. A vast 
foreign trade is already in their grasp, 
and there is a promise of an enormous 
and early increase of the home markets 
from the expected revival of a hitherto 
prostrate business. AVitli such a busi¬ 
ness outlook before them, farmers must 
become business men and work their 
farniB on business principles. The main 
thing is to make them more productive ; 
in what product,—so that it is food,— 
matters not so much, as that the products 
should be staple ones and such as will 
meet with a ready market. Grain, meat, 
cheese, butter ; and whatever can be con¬ 
verted into these, have the whole world 
for a market either directly or indirectly, 
and to grow enough of these will demand 
all our acres, the work of every pair of 
hands and the thought of every active 
brain. 
- 4 » «■ - 
CLASS JOURNALS. 
Although agricultural journals have a 
wide distribution, yet they reach but a 
small proportion of persons engaged in 
agriculture. “What can an agricultural 
journal do for a farmer ?” is a frequent 
querv with persons who do not under¬ 
stand what such a journal really is. To 
show what a genuine agricultural news¬ 
paper is we might be pardoned for refer¬ 
ring to The Rural New-Yorker, as a 
bright example of a clans journal. Many 
persons suppose that agriculture is the 
only industry represented by special jour¬ 
nalism. To show how mistaken this idea 
is, we enumerate a few of the trades and 
industries that support and are represen¬ 
ted by journals entirely devoted to their 
interests. The shoe and leather and tan¬ 
ning interests have the Shoe and Leather 
Reporter; the cabinet-makers and up¬ 
holsterers have the American Cabinet- 
Maker ; the druggistshave the Druggists’ 
Circular ; there are the American Grocer, 
the Lumberman, the Millers’ Journal, the 
Millstone, the Manufacturing News, the 
Manufacturer (for textile industries), the 
Architect and Building News, tho Manu¬ 
facturer and Builder, the Ironmonger and 
Iron, the Tobacco Leaf, aud scores of 
other special journals devoted to distinct 
branches of industry. In these are dis¬ 
cussed questions of interest to the readers 
from their own special stand-points, perti¬ 
nent news and business announcements, 
so that no person of his class can be pro¬ 
perly instructed and fitted for his busi¬ 
ness who neglects to study his special 
journal. 
It is precisely so with an agricultural 
journal. No farmer can hope to keep up 
to the times—and he must do this to be 
successful—if he neglects to read some 
good agricultural paper. As a sample of 
such it may be entirely pertinent to look 
within the covers of any number of The 
Rural New-Yorker. There will be 
found items of news of importance to far¬ 
mers ; leading articles discussing broad 
questions pertaining to our industry ; ar¬ 
ticles on practical subjects from the 
brains and pens of men who have grown 
gray in farm work, and whose hands have 
guided the plow across their fields for 
years, “whose talk has been of cattle” since 
boyhood, aud who have an inspiring idea 
of benefiting their- chosen and favorite 
craft and those who may call them bro¬ 
thers. 'I 1 lie conductors us well as the 
contributors are fresh from the field and 
garden, and spend time and labor in in¬ 
vestigating all that may Ire new in the 
practice or science of agriculture. From 
long habit as well as from a sense of duty 
undertaken, all these are apt to take 
broader views and deeper insights into 
matters of daily experience than those 
who give attention Bolely to the common 
routine of the farm. In every walk of 
life there are those who are called upon 
to learn and those who must teach, it is 
part of our human nature that we cannot 
keep a new idea in our minds ; we must 
be communicative or nothing ; and thus 
it is that a new and valuable idea learned 
in the stable, the bam, or the field, is at 
once made known and becomes common 
property. It is certain, beyond a doubt, 
that the present vast extension of agri¬ 
cultural industry, and the excellence of 
our present methods, are the results of 
the teachings of the agricultural press, 
just as the corresponding extension of 
mechanical industries has been effected 
mainly by the class journals referred to. 
As agriculture is tho industry of half 
the population, it is the more important 
that there should be a sufficient number 
of agricultural journals of excellence and 
practical value to furnish all the informa¬ 
tion and instruction needed. Fortunately 
the field is occupied by many of the high¬ 
est character and of the greatest useful¬ 
ness, and we sinoerely hope that they will 
