364 
THE RURAL JSEW-YORM 
ER. 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
Address 
RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
78 Duane Street, New York City. 
SATURDAY, SUNE 7, 1879. 
TO EVERY READER. 
We respectfully and urgently call the atten¬ 
tion of our readers to the necessity which exists 
that they should address their communications 
to the Editors or the Publishers of the Ru¬ 
ral Nkw-Yokkek, if they would insure prompt 
responses. Letters addressed to individuals 
are often delayed in this ollice for •weeks. Mr. 
Moore, to whom letters intended for U6 arc 
still occasionally addressed, has had no con¬ 
nection with this journal for years. 
-- 
THE AGRICULTURAL INTEREST. 
An old fable relates that the other 
members of the body once fell foul of the 
stomach, as au idle vagabond which sub¬ 
sisted uselessly as a parasite on their in¬ 
dustry. Finally they “ .struck ”—to use 
a common phrase—and refused longer to 
support the idler. Alas ! the tables were 
quickly turned and it was found that the 
wrongly maligned member was the se¬ 
cret, but modest and quiet support of the 
whole of the family j while, in fact, them¬ 
selves depended for their living upon 
the labors of this hitherto despised co¬ 
worker. This story may bo pertinently 
applied to the agricultural industry ; but 
unfortunately, it docs not go far enough. 
This industry is not only considered as 
unworthy the notice of the more respec¬ 
table—so considered—members of soci¬ 
ety, who are supported by it, but it is ac¬ 
tually made a prey and a spoil by these, 
and it actually remains passive and con¬ 
tent under their contumely and oppres¬ 
sion. Who ever heard of a threatened 
strike of the farmers ? But what a terri¬ 
ble result would occur from a general re¬ 
fusal of farmers to work. The world, 
like the human frame, in the fable, would 
be paralyzed. The wheels of commerce 
would stop. Mouths would open, but 
there would be no bread to fill them. 
The old soakers, even, whose subsistence 
consists of beer or whiskey, would be 
forced to come to honest water, and on 
the whole, there would be a sad state of 
things in one short week, after the plows 
were stowed away, and the farmers glow¬ 
ered sullenly but defiantly over their 
fences at the hordes of those who have 
been so ready to squeeze them. This is 
no over-wrought idea. From the mo¬ 
ment the farmer prepares to sow his seed, 
a vast army of parasites, (some may be le¬ 
gitimately so, but the majority are other¬ 
wise,) stand eagerly prepared to swoop 
down upon his harvest. 
Let us exhibit a tableau : The scene is 
in a hall which has a narrow marble en¬ 
trance in a narrow street in our largest 
city where bankers and brokers “ most 
do congregate." A stone stairway leads 
to a gallery protected with a low ballus- 
trade. We look down into a place be¬ 
neath which, except for want of the poles 
in the center, might well be u bear gar¬ 
den in a zoological collection. 
There is a crowd of men wildly gesticu¬ 
lating. throwing arms about madly, shout¬ 
ing and screaming at the top of then- 
voices; a mad hubbub, in which not a 
word can be distinguished; a roar as of u 
vast hurricane through a forest; men 
dashing down figures upon slips of paper 
and throwing these at each other as 
gages of deadly strife, as it were. “Mad¬ 
ness rules the hour" in that room, with¬ 
out a doubt. What is the reason ? When 
we come to discover this, we find the 
“Granger stocks" in Wall street are 
“booming” upwards. There is an active 
speculation in them, and prices are ad¬ 
vancing with a rush. The cause is said 
to be the bountiful rain which recently 
fell all over the Western country and 
wonderfully helped the wheat crop. You 
may ask, what had this to do with these 
leeches which suck the blood of honest 
industry—the stock speculators? Only 
this: if there should be a handsome crop, 
the railroads would get the lion’s share 
fur carrying it to market; rates would go 
up; pools would be formed; money would 
be raked into the coffers of the railroads 
and out of the farmers’ pockets; divi¬ 
dends would be declared, and so a rise in 
the values of the stocks would result. 
This may have been seriously intended, 
or it may have been a simple trick of the 
stock gamblers. Either way, the idea 
existed; the farmers were to be vic timiz ed 
by means of a combination, as they have 
been thousands of times. So with strikes 
of all the scores of dissatisfied workers— 
all straggling to get a larger slice of the 
farmer’s profits, for all these piled-up 
costs come out of the handling or the use 
of hia cropH. 
It is an uuheard-of thing to see a com¬ 
bination among farmers to protect their 
own interests. A partial combination a 
few years ago resulted in a victory for the 
time being; but, as in a guerilla and un¬ 
organized warfare, the victorious army 
melted away ou the very day of the vic¬ 
tory, and gathered no fruits from it. The 
superior organizations of their opponents 
overcame them, and the unusual combi¬ 
nation fell to pieces and is heard of no 
more except in history. Combined, the 
farmers could rule the world, because 
they keep the koys of the provision chest; 
without organization, they are the prey 
of every other combination, and fall vic¬ 
tims every time without a struggle or re¬ 
sistance. In business, in taxation, in 
legislation and in social matters they hold 
the position of the under dog in the fight, 
because they are not organized so as to 
use their strength to exact justice for 
themselves. 
WANTED-GOVERNORS AND DIRECTORS. 
Look at the machinery of a watch. 
There is, first, the main spring, or motive 
power, constantly exerting itself. Its 
force is communicated to this wheel and 
the other, and they in torn affect more 
wheels, until every part of the machinery 
is affected. But look closely and you 
will find all of this power controlled and 
governed by the action of a very small part 
of the whole machinery-. Three or four 
wheels connected more closely with the 
hands are really the time-keepers, and 
these must be just exactly right. The 
other wheels, or what we may call the 
motive power, are necessary, to be sure, 
but they may be coarse or hue in regard 
to workmanship, with little effect ou the 
watch as a time-keeper. Not so with the 
governing wheels. To secure accuracy 
of movement, these must be adjusted and 
finished with the greatest precision, for 
they have not only to do their duty as 
wheels, but they have also to serve as 
regulators for the others, distributing 
properly the power they receive from them. 
A slight defect in one of those wheels 
ruins the watch, while one of the motive 
or power wheels might be severely in¬ 
jured—bent, lose a tooth or a cog--and 
its effect upon the working of the hands 
be unnoticed. 
We use the w atch merely as an illus¬ 
tration of what is always going on in the 
world of labor, where bone and muscle 
are the motive power and brains the reg¬ 
ulators or governors, ft has been stated 
that of the whole population of any State- 
in the Union—and the same will prove 
true to a greater extent in countries of 
the Old World—not more than one man 
in twenty is able to procure, unaided, a 
good support for himself and family. 
The majority fail, not because of any 
want of willingness to work, or bodily 
strength, but merely because their pow¬ 
ers, being undirected, arc of little use, 
and go to waste for want of proper direc¬ 
tion. 
Nature is kind, and yields bountifully 
of her productions to those who properly 
seek them; yet how many are there who, 
if put in possession of a good farm to-day, 
would fail to get from it a support! But 
there are some who not only plan for 
themselves, but for hundreds'of others. 
The head of a large commercial establish¬ 
ment, by his planning, makes a fortune 
for himself and at the same time enables 
- hundreds, and perhaps thousands, at 
home and abroad, to earn a livelihood 
while aiding him in carrying out his 
plans. 
See Ex-ieson, at thirteen, having direc¬ 
tion of six hundred laborers on the Grand 
Canal, each one of whom was far superior 
to liim in muscular power. But the 
power needed his young but intelligent 
brain to give it proper direction, that it 
might attain desired results. And so, all 
the world over, the steam engine, the 
telegraph, all mechanical contrivances 
are but illustrations that power always 
requires a governing direction to compel 
it to subserve man’s interest. So with 
the power of men—the few must be gov¬ 
ernors of the many, as the few wheels of 
a watch regulate and control its macliin- 
ery. The competency of the superin¬ 
tendent often decides if the manufactur¬ 
ing establishment shall be a profit or a 
loss to its owners. And this is none the 
loss true on a farm. The superintendent, 
lie he owner or employe, who directs the 
laborers, is the regulator of the whole 
business. It is well known that one man 
with the same hands will accomplish a 
much greater amount of work than an¬ 
other, and that with really less labor, 
doing it by merely planning where each 
can work to the best advantage. It may 
not be out of place to suggest here that 
oue reason why the business of Govern¬ 
ment is so expensively and unsatisfac¬ 
torily managed is because sufficient, caro 
is Dot taken to select proper men for the 
positions they are to till. Given a set of 
Congressmen who know their business 
and are capable of doing it, sessions would 
be shortened at least by one-half, while 
the business accomplished would be four¬ 
fold. 
Directors and Governors are, then, 
especial needs of the age. Like poets, 
they are born, not made. The appoint¬ 
ment of one to a place, of trust does not 
fit him for it. It is not, except to a lim¬ 
ited extent, a matter of education. It 
must exist in the man and have become 
liis by birthright. The qualities needed 
are often found where least sought for. 
The lowly house more often shelters them 
than does the elegant mansion. Wherever 
you find a full, high forehead, protruding 
eyebrows and sharp, keen eyes, a head 
high and tliiek, measuring from the open¬ 
ing of the ear, giving firmness, conscien¬ 
tiousness and exeeutiveness large, there 
you find a man fitted to be your superin¬ 
tendent, auil whatever bo his rank in life, 
you may be sure your confidence in him 
will not be misplaced. 
Such men should be sought for. There 
are many who have never found their 
proper places among the world’s workers, 
because they do not xmdorstand them¬ 
selves or their abilities, never having 
been in situations where they could give 
exercise to the powers they have. But 
they are wanted in the front rank, and, 
in justice to themselves and the world, 
should be placed there. 
--♦ ♦ ♦- 
SPECIALTIES IN EDUCATION. 
Tile tendency of late years has been 
toward practical as opposed to theoretical 
education. It is but a few years ago that 
scientific or practical teaching was dis¬ 
couraged, and our colleges were opposed 
to giving academic degrees except for a 
full literary course. The aim was at the 
Universal instead of the Special, and con¬ 
sequently the knowledge acquired could 
properly only bo a smattering. In op¬ 
position to the course adopted by colleges 
and universities, nearly all the great men 
—those to whom the world iB most in¬ 
debted — became useful and acquired 
celebrity from a devotion to specialties. 
Had Faraday received a general class¬ 
ical education, it is highly doubtful if the 
world would have known him in the 
character he worked out for himself. 
Without scholastic education, but with a 
great bent toward the natural sciences, 
he rose to the highest position. 
Audubon had a bent toward ornithol¬ 
ogy, and, without a general education, 
produced the most remarkable work upon 
this subject the world had ever seeu. 
His specialty was magnificently executed. 
Who knows but he might have been di¬ 
verted from his great task, hud he been 
crammed in the popxxlar way ? 
Robert Fulton had a bent toward rne- 
ohanics, and the development of his spe¬ 
cialty gave to the world steam navigation, 
while George Stephenson, owing to a 
similar bent, gave the world railroads. 
All the world’s great benefactors have 
been specialists — have educated them¬ 
selves practically, worked out their theo¬ 
ries, embodied the creations of the brain 
in works of the hand. This age is grow¬ 
ing practical, and we trust it may grow 
more and more so. We trust our agri¬ 
cultural colleges will all become practical 
schools, and earnestly work out the prob¬ 
lems of agriculture that need solution. 
Let them really make “agriculture and 
the mechaixic arts the leading object” as 
the law requires, instead of attaching 
these, as some of them do, as the tail 
to the literary kite. Then we shall 
turn out specialists in agriculture and 
mechanics, who will honor their call¬ 
ing and devote their lives to its eleva¬ 
tion, instead of those young men who 
look with contempt upon agriculture and 
aspire to the honors of the learned pro¬ 
fessions, which they seldom l’each. 
- - « » » 
SENSATIONAL FARMING. 
Some injury is done to the plain, sim¬ 
ple-minded folk by the reported state¬ 
ments of enormous agricultural enter- 
prises in California, Minnesota and Da¬ 
kota, with vast profits growing out of the 
fabulous operations. One Californian 
farms, or rather skins 45,000 acres year¬ 
ly by sowing it in wheat. His harvest is 
said to have produced 900,000 bushels of 
wheat, netting him $765,000 in one year. 
One would suppose this man would have 
realized a moderate competence^ at least 
out of his one year’s operation; but we 
now learn that after 10 years’ exciting 
business, he owes about a million dollars 
and is practically a bankrupt; “land- 
poor," with a white elephant, which he 
can neither keep nor let go, on his hands. 
So in the Northwest, we have had reports 
of great tracts of land sown to wheat and 
large sums of money realized. But we 
are slow to think of the expenses and 
waste of this sort of agriculture, of the 
large capital required to produce a crop ; 
of the enormous interest, on loans needed 
to carry on the business and meet current 
expenses, or on the inevitable final result 
of ruined land, barren fields, wasted op¬ 
portunities and a general wreck which 
alone is left behind of the baseless fabric 
of a grand vision. It is a great gambling 
transaction; the weather, season and 
markets being the largest which are risk¬ 
ed, and possible success, barren at the 
best; a cheap notoriety, or final ruin, are 
the alternatives. It is well that the facts 
should be known, and that these glitter¬ 
ing stories should be xinderstood, as mere 
speculative ventures in which there is but 
ono ending, and that a grand crash, a 
mountain of debt toppling over and crush¬ 
ing the whole fabric ; speculators, farms; 
crops; armies of laborers; troops of 
horses; parks of machinery; all these 
involved in one general ruin. This has 
been, will be, and must be, the end of 
this illegitimate use of the bountiful soil 
which is made to pour out its life in a few 
short years of wasteful, riotous agricul¬ 
ture. 
-»♦»- - 
BREVITIES. 
The first brood of potato beetles is hot vet 
hatched. 
We are in receipt of a box of latest-keeping 
apples of the season, from Ellwanger & Barry! 
We are having specimens of each engraved. 
Mr. John Saul, of Washington, D. C., sends 
us a large box of plants, many of which are 
both new and rare. We will report in due 
season. 
We are surprised that so many of our sub¬ 
scribers should compete for the corn prem¬ 
iums. We wish that all might be entitled to 
them. 
A friend to whom we had given Blunt’s 
Corn, remarked to us that “ it came up the 
soonest and grew the fastest of any corn he 
had ever planted." 
Dr, Salmon’s, in our humble judgment, 
eomes nearer to a just estimate of the Rural 
soil experiments, than any other of the many 
criticisms that have “appeared upon it. 
A few days ago we presented to our fowls a 
uest of Tent Caterpillars. As mauy as forty 
examined them in a cautious manner at the 
distance of a foot or more, and then withdrew. 
While birds sometimes destroy weed seeds, 
it must be also borne iu mind that they often 
disseminate them. Observation and experi- 
jaents amply prove that mauy, if not most, of 
the seeds excreted by the feathered tribes, still 
retain vitality enough to germinate. 
Pearl Millet is just appearing above the 
ground—a single, slender spear of grass. It 
is hard to keep the ground free of weeds, so 
that the rows may be determined. Most of 
our friends, we find, plant it too early. Now 
(June 2) is plenty early enough for this cli¬ 
mate. If planted earlier, either the weeds 
smother the little plants or the seeds rot in the 
ground. 
State Fairs.— The New York State Fair, it. 
is about decided, will he held at Utica. Septem¬ 
ber 9-18. The Illinois State fair will be opened 
Sgpt. 29-Oct. 4, at Springfield. Virginia will 
hold her nineteenth exhibition at Richmond, 
Oct. 28-81. The Rhode Island Society will 
inaugurate their fair at Narragnsett Park, 
near Providence. It will last three days, Sept. 
9 11. The Oregon State fair will be held at 
Salem, some time in Sept, or October. 
One of our Brooklyn triends relates that he 
has accidentally discovered a very efficient 
remedy for gapes iu chickens. It is dry, caus¬ 
tic lime, Oue of his chickens got the gapes ; 
he caught the fowl and with a peu-kuife 
dropped some caustic lime that happened to 
stand by, into its throat, and let it go. Next, 
day. the fowl had recovered. Tie mentioned 
his success to a friend of his, who applied the 
same remedy to three ehickenB with the gapes 
with the same result. 
Wn glean from our English exchanges, and 
more especially from the trustworthy London 
Agricultural Gazette, that the prospects of 
crops iu England arc by no moans such as to 
brighten the timid hopes of the English farm¬ 
er. Wheat fields, ’tis said, present a deplor¬ 
able appearance “ It is several weeks since 
we began to fear and now we quake.” “ How,” 
they ask, “can plants which scarcely lingo a 
hill-side seen half a mile off. produce ears of 
wheat in six weeks' time and a lair harvest by 
August?” The plants are not only " thin but 
weak and badly colored." 
Variegated Wild Plants.— Last week we 
found a beautifully variegated Red Clover 
plant, white and green. Last year we found 
two variegated wild plants. One was a Skunk 
Cabbage, variegated with a bright yellow—the 
other a variegated Plantain (Plaulago Major), 
also splashed with yellow. The Skunk Cab¬ 
bage was removed to our wild garden—the 
Plantain to a ilower border. The seeds of I lie 
latter were collected and planted to ascertain 
if seedlings would also prove variegated—but 
they did not germinate. This spring the Plan¬ 
tain is as brightly variegated as it was last 
year. The Skunk Cabbage died. 
