AUS. i S 
THE RURAL HEW-YORKER. 
iuimstrial ®c|jus. 
PATENT RIGHTS. 
Now that the Lee patent farm gate is under 
discussion, it 6eeuis to he a good time to discuss 
patents in general. The. swindles put upon the 
farmers as a class, are invited by them in 
every case, and until farmers become readers 
and become posted thoroughly upon matters 
essential to their own prosperity, they will 
continue, as now, the butt for all the swindling 
fraternity. 
To argue that because farmers are so con¬ 
tinually imposed upon, the Patent Laws must 
be repealed, and the Patent Ofliee abolished, is 
simply ridiculous. The true remedy is against 
the swindlers, not against the inventors. Jf a 
farmer has neither discernment enough to 
know a patented article from one not patented, 
nor common sense enough to know that “ he 
has no right to use a patent for his own use” 
against the wish of the patentee, nor hon¬ 
esty enough to keep his hands out of the 
latter’s pocket, the remedy is to teach the 
farmer better, and not to attack the men 
who spend time and money inventing im¬ 
provements for those who scarcely know a 
hawk from a hand-saw. In this country wc 
have our annual troop of agents selling ail 
sorts of new notions to farmers, some patented 
and some not patented, but in nearly all the 
cases these agents arc pure swindlers. I notice 
that only such farmers are called upon as have 
lax ideas in regard to " meom et Ilium,” or 
who don’t take the papers, and who, having 
no brains of their own, and but weak percep¬ 
tions of morality, depend for ideas upon any 
one who can find them out. 
The usual mode here is to make a sale of 
something to be delivered in the future, get an 
order, which turns out to he a note of hand, 
sell the note to a third party, and collect at 
once under threats of the law. Now, if a man 
is too indolent to use his brains to inform him¬ 
self sufficiently upon his own business, so that 
he cannot be swindled, it must be a luxury to 
him, aud he ought to he taxed. I propose, that 
instead of attacking the. Patent Office, we legal¬ 
ize all sorts of swindles, and license the swmd- 
lers. If the farmers won’t learn in the usual 
mode, let them learn by experience; hut don’t 
let us hear any more about knocking out the 
brains of the inventors, merely because farm¬ 
ers have none themselves, or won't cultivate 
and use what they have. 
That’s too much like the old fable of the fox 
which had lost his tail in a man trap, and ad¬ 
vocated that all foxes should cut off their 
tails, so as to be in fashion. The world moves, 
the farmers must move with it or be left be¬ 
hind. 
Finally, don’t let me hear any one say ‘‘he 
has no time to readas long as he has time 
to stand open-mouthed listening to a patent 
swindler, that tale is not true. 1 won’t just 
now refer to the time spent in rum shops or 
while kicking the heels against store counters 
—but as there is a time for everything, there 
must be a time to read. S. Rufus Mason. 
4*4 - 
EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENCE. 
THE AGRICULTURAL SITUATION IN ENG¬ 
LAND. 
LETTER FROM PROF. G. E. MORROW. 
London, Eng., July 22^ 1879. 
The Agricultural situation in England is 
peculiarly gloomy. To all the causes for ap¬ 
prehension which have been existing and in¬ 
creasing for some years, is now added the bad 
effects of a season almost unprecedentedly un¬ 
favorable for farm operations. Cold and wet 
have been the characteristics of both spring 
and summer. In many parts of the country 
the season is fully four weeks later than usual. 
The almost daily raios have made it impossible, 
iu very many cases, to properly cultivate the 
hoed crops, and have made the growth of the 
grains unsatisfactory. Complaints come of the 
inferior quality of the cattle received at the 
markets here. The absolute loss to the hay 
crop has already been very great. Iu the 
West of England, on Friday last, I saw hay be¬ 
ing put in cock, which had been cut more than 
four weeks before. It is simply wonderful to 
me that this hay was still worth the saving. 
Much grass is still uncut and hence has suf¬ 
fered less. 
It would be remarkable if the farmers of the 
country were cheerful aud hopeful with such 
gloomy weather as still continues, even had 
they no other causes for discouteut. But the 
unfavorable weather is but the last of a series 
of uutoward eouditious. For six years past 
English farmets have had peculiarly hard 
times. Of these six years, four have given 
bad wheat harvests, aud the diminished yields 
have been accompanied b} r low prices. Iu an 
interesting article iu the Times, contributed by 
“A Statist,” it is stated that the wheat pro¬ 
duct of Great Britain for the last six years has 
been 13 per cent, less than that of the preceding 
si? years, and the gross sum realized for 
it, 42 per cent. less. The average price per 
bushel in 1878 was less than a penny over 5s., 
the lowest since 1864, and lowest, 6ave that 
year, since 1851. The returns for the barley 
and oat6 crops have also been below the 
average. This article also notes the striking 
fact that while, there has been a reduction of 
500,000 acres in these six years in the area de¬ 
voted to grains, there has also been a reduc¬ 
tion of 521.000 cattle and 2,266,000 sheep. 
During most of these years meat and dairy 
products have beeu of fair price, but now all 
these are lower, and the foreign importations 
Industrial Jio rictus, 
THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY’S 
SHOW AT KILBURN. 
I.ETTER FROM PROF. .1. P. SUELDON. 
London, July 2:1. 
Kilburn, you must know, is one of the 
suburbs of London, aud the Show was held 
there simply because it was impossible to hold 
it in London proper, unless one of the parks 
public who are so much indebted to them for 
many benefits. 
The Polled cattle seem to be coming into 
favor. Many excellentspecimens of Red Polled 
Norfolk aud Suffolk cattle were exhibited. 
Really, the mere fact of having no horns goes 
a loDg way toward making these cattle a roost 
valuable breed for dairy purposes. Besides, 
they are excellent milkers, very good beef 
makers, aud withal very haudsomc. Being 
uuaraied they arc of peaceable dispositions, 
and this is a not unimportant consideration in 
both beef and milk-production. 
fiortirultural. 
Herefords and Devons, Sussex and Long¬ 
horns. the Welsh and Scotch cattle, and quite 
a nice little lot of Korrys, were present in very 
commendable form. All of these, however, 
except the Longhorns and the Kerrys, are 
celebrated chiefly for beef, milk being, or hav¬ 
ing been, a secondary consideration in their 
breeding. A few Continental cattle were there, 
including several specimens of the famous 
Angeln breed. None Of them, however, either 
for beef, milk, or comeliness, could compare 
with the Short-horns, the Ayrshires, the Jer¬ 
seys, or the Norfolk Polled. Milky they were 
certainly, but they were loose-built and un¬ 
gainly. 
Onr various breeds of sheep were well rep¬ 
resented. The beautiful aud woudrously com¬ 
pact Downs; the huge Cotswolds, Lincolns 
and Romney Marsh; the Leicesters, the Border 
Leicesters, the Cheviots, and the b<*t- 
of-all Shropshire!), were all grandly 
represented; but it would take many 
columns to do them anything like jus¬ 
tice iu detail, 60 I will leave details 
quite alone. 
Berksliires, Shropshircs, Yorkshires, 
Essex, and other types of the porcine 
world were there, and as nearly perfect 
as we can hope to see them. With 
you, however, I think pig-breeding 
y is almost more advanced than with 
us. 
THE NEW RASPBERRY “MONTCLAIR.” 
An engraving of a branch of this Raspberry 
may he found in the Rural New-Yorker of 
Oct. 12 of last year. Mauy of the berries had 
beeu shaken off. aud the engraving dul not do 
justice as a representation either of the average 
size or the number of berries usually borne. We 
therefore selected what seemed to ns a fair 
specimen, on the 6th of last mouth, to the care¬ 
ful engraving of which on this page, we now 
call the reader's attention. 
This berry is a chance seedling (probably of 
the Philadelphia) discovered in 1872 iu the 
grounds of the Messrs. E. ife J. C- Williams, of 
Montclair. Now Jersey. Six plants of it were 
sent here for trial last spring, aud the present 
season they have beeu loaded with fruit. 
They passed the winter, so fatal to many va¬ 
rieties, without the slightest iujury. The ber¬ 
ries began to ripen about the first of July, 
from which date until the present time (July 
26) we gathered, it seems to us, more than 
from any other six plauts we have ever culti¬ 
vated. Thoy are uniformly large, firmer and 
of a better quality than the Philadelphia aud 
of a somewhat brighter color when fully ripe. 
Extended trial may develop in the Montclair 
faults we know not of at present- But. judg¬ 
ing it by the test of a single season, and by the 
test of the past six years iu the grounds where 
it origiuaied, wc may hope it will prove among 
Raspberries what the Kittatinny, introduced 
by the same firm, has proven among Blackber¬ 
ries. We are not at preseut advised when the 
Montclair will be offered for sale. 
SMALL FRUIT NOTES. 
[The following notes are from an old and 
respected lady friend of the Rural, now 73 
years of age.—E ds.] 
I plant Strawberries in a way a little differ¬ 
ent from that practiced by most people. 
I have mv ground well forked over for two 
months. As soon as the vines get through 
bearing, I begin to set the beet young plants 
five or six inches apart in rows, and lay a 
board between the rows. They require very 
little weeding. The second year after bearing 
lift the board and place it on the old vines and 
you have a new bed without, much labor. As 
soon as the berries begin to show red, I cover 
them with mosquito-netting to keep off bags 
and birds, aud the berries get thoroughly ripe. 
I cover my Raspberries in the same way. 
You must not think I have mauy acres. My 
strawberry bed is about 50 feet squaru. From 
Wilson’s I get the most berries. I can go out 
to Jay aud pick 20 quarts. 
Tell Rural reulers to put one pint of salt 
and one piut of soft soap (it ought to be farmer s 
soap) -to teu gallons of water aud use it ou 
Currants aud Gooseberries. I’ll warrant them 
a full crop. Put plenty of ashes—coal or wood 
—around the roots to increase the size of the 
berries. 
are steadily increasing. It is also estimated 
there has been au average advance of two 
shillings on the weekly wages of the 1,000,000 
agricultural laborers over 20 years old in Great 
Britain. As a conclusion the writer iu question 
figures a total reduction of £97,000,000 in the 
gross agricultural returns for the last six years 
compared with those for the six preceding 
ones. 
The distress is real. Very mauy tenaut- 
farmers have already been compelled to give 
up their farms and the losses of many more 
have seriously crippled them. Landlords in 
many cases have remitted rents or made re¬ 
ductions in the rent rate for some years to 
come. Articles on the general subject appear 
almost daily iu the leading papers. Public 
meetings have beeu held in which the causes 
and remedies have been discussed- The Gov¬ 
ernment has granted a " Royal Commission of 
Inquiry.” 
It so happened that the first public meeting I 
attended in England was one of the " Farmers’ 
Alliance," a new organization of which James 
Howard, a well-known Bedfordshire fanner, is 
President, aud Mr, Bear, editor of the Mark 
Lane Express, is Hon. Secretary. This as¬ 
sociation announces eight objects, the most 
important of which seem to me to be these: 
Greater freedom in the cultivation of the land 
and disposal of its produce; security for the 
capital of tenants invested in the improve¬ 
ment of their holdings; reform of the game 
laws. Among the other objects is that of se¬ 
curing a better representation of tenant-farm¬ 
ers in Parliament, and this is made chief. The 
meeting to which I have referred was held in 
Exeter Hall during the Royal Show week. It 
was largely attended and much interest was 
manifested. Addresses were made by several 
members of Parliament—who were not able to 
forget their own interests—and by others, and 
tke'Alliauee was almost unanimously indorsed. 
It was repeatedly stated that there was no de¬ 
sire to revive a protective tariff, aud this was 
undoubtedly the view of the majority of those 
preseut. although a minority plainly mani¬ 
fested their dissent. 
It seems to me quite probable this very se¬ 
rious crisis in the agriculture of the country 
connected as It is wjjjtlt deplorable depression iu 
almost all other lines of business-will result 
in very important legislative and social 
changes, which will give much greater liberty 
to the tenant-farmers, aud affect the sport- 
loving disposition of the landlords, if indeed 
they do not vhauge the land tenure laws iu im¬ 
portant points. A considerable emigration 
of tenant-farmers to British Colonies and to 
the United States seems also probable, and if 
the right men go, it seems clear the step will be 
a wise one for them, 
could have been borrowed for it. The soil at 
Kilburu is of a most, unfortunate character— 
the London clay, which is the stickiest and 
dirtiest iu Christendom when the weather is 
wet; and as it happened this year the weather 
was wet. The Show yaid was one huge slough 
of despond rrghtnp to the very edges of the tents 
and sheds, and sometimes inside them. Some 
heavy implements never got into position at 
all; they managed to get inside the Show yard, 
and there they stuck—up to the axles iu mud. 
I heard of one engine that had disappeared 
altogether, aud of men digging to find the fun¬ 
nel; but! cannot vouch tor this. Anyway, 
the Show was a gigantic failure, on account of 
the wet. In itself it was simply grand ; proba¬ 
bly the finest Agricultural Show the world has 
yet seen ; but it was a failure financially, for 
the Society, it is said, will lose £10,000 over it. 
The. leading feature iu the Show, in the Live 
Stock Department, was the splendid display of 
Jersey cattle. All told, there were some 252 of 
them, and the quality was undeniable. Mauy 
Americau farmers have a great liking for Jer¬ 
seys, and to such the display at Kilburu would 
have given great gratification. Probably some 
of your leading agriculturists were present. I 
saw one of your leading agricultural Profes¬ 
sors there—Professor G. E. Morrow, of Illiuois 
—aud if so, they would come away with an 
increased admiration of the breed. It is evi¬ 
dent Jerseys are corniug into rapid favor iu 
Ibis country, if the number of animals exhibit¬ 
ed at the Royal is any index to popularity, aud 
I should be inclined to think it is. Mr. Thorn- 
tou, our well-known auctioneer, is about to 
issue a Herd-book of the Jersey cattle, and 
this will help to extend their fame. 
1 cannot say if the Short-horu fever is waning 
in this country, but any Way, the entries in the 
Short-horn classes were much less numerous 
than iu the Jersey ones. The quality of these 
grand cuttle was. as usual, superb; but then, 
they are next to useless, except for fancy. 
Pedigree Short-horus lead glorious lives; “ they 
toil not, neither do they spin they are ten¬ 
derly eared for, aud they see a great deal of 
the world and of society. These things spoil 
human beings sometimes, aud no wonder the 
Short-hoi us have become mere ornaments. I 
was disappointed at the few entries of Ayr¬ 
shires. because, as dairy cattle, 1 think we have 
none to surpass them. But, then, the Ayr¬ 
shires are business-like, not show cattle; stiff, 
it Is unfair to them not to bring them before the 
THE NEW RASPBERRY " MONTCLAIR. ’’ 
