240 
APRIL 10 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
K. S. CARMAN, 
J. S. WOODWARD, 
Editor. 
Associate. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. S4 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, APRIL, 10, 1886. 
If the number on your address label is 
1889, your subscription expires with this 
number; if 1890, next week; 1891, in two 
weeks, etc. __ 
The children at the Rural Grounds 
have been graftiug the red-flowered Japan 
Quince upon the white, the white on the 
red, the variegated cornuBupon the plain, 
etc. They may not “take,” but really, 
friends, one can do worse than to interest 
the young people in such pursuits. Don’t 
you think so? 
■44 » 
Do you raise poultry for pleasure or 
profit? Do you raise poultry and yet feel 
that it is not worthy of special care, and 
so, beyond throwing the fowls in the 
morning a quantity of grain to last until 
the next morning, leave them to take care 
of themselves? Have you ever consid¬ 
ered that it would pay you to confine 
your poultry? Whether it is worth while 
to see that the houses are preserved free 
from insects, and bright and clean? Does 
it pay you to keep 10, 50, 100, or 1,000 
fowls? If it pays to keep 10, could it be 
made to pay to keep 1,000? Why not? What 
is the best breed for your climate and 
facilities? Are there any specifics for 
poultry diseases? If so. what are they? 
We design that our POULTRY SPECIAL 
shall answer such questions as the above. 
We shall be glad, during the next ten 
days, to receive any short poultry notes 
from any of our readers North, South, 
East and West. 
A GOOD INVESTMENT. 
Suppose a miscreant were to destroy 
to-night every ornamental tree and shrub 
upon the finest private grounds of your 
neighborhood. How much would the mar¬ 
ket value of the place be diminished? Very 
well; if we agree upon this point, let us 
figure a little upon the cost of these fine 
trees and shrubs. Suppose there were a 
hundred of them, a rather large estimate, 
and that they cost, set out in the present 
positions, $1.50 apiece. This would 
make $150 dollars. The interest on this 
sum, say for 15 years, would amount to 
about as much more, which would make 
the whole cost $800. If they were all cut 
down and dragged off to-night, would 
the place be damaged more or less than 
$300 worth? Would it not make double 
this difference? If it would, then you 
have an opportunity to invest a few dol¬ 
lars where the money will pay you doub¬ 
le interest, besides adding more to your 
comfort and self-respect, in the end, than 
it. would in any other place you can put 
it. We have to apologize to our better 
nature for holding out such a niggardly 
motive for the improvement of our homes. 
We would far Tather urge the planting of 
trees and shrubs, by appealing to our 
duty, to our children’s interests, and the 
prospective comforts of old age. But, if 
we had talked in this strain, would we as 
well have engaged the reader’s attention? 
THE WAR AGAINST “OLEO”. 
There are half a dozen or more anti¬ 
oleomargarine bills now before Congress, 
one in the Senate, the rest in the House, 
Had the introducers consulted together 
beforehand, and agreed upon a single 
bill to be introduced simultaneously m 
both Houses, and combining the best fea¬ 
tures of all, it would have been better 
for the dairymen of the country, both be¬ 
cause the product of so much combined 
wisdom would be more likely to be trans- 
scendent, and because there would then be 
no doubt among the advocates of anti-oleo 
legislation as to the bill which they should 
urge their Congressmen to support. 
Last Wednesday representatives of the 
dairy interests of*all parts’of the country 
as well as of the butter trade in most of 
our large cities and other centers of the 
business, appeared before the House Com¬ 
mittee on Agriculture in support of Con¬ 
gressional legislation against bogus butter. 
The general sentiment is that the bill in¬ 
troduced into the House by Representative 
William L. Scott, of Pennsylvania, plac¬ 
ing the manufacture and sale of imitation 
butter under the control of the Depart¬ 
ment of the Interior, and taxing it ten 
cents per pound, is that which best pro¬ 
motes the interests of dairymen and which 
should receive their heartiest support. 
Let all producers interested in suppres¬ 
sing the fraudulent competition of bogus 
dairy products, as well as all consumers 
unwilling to pay for and eat counterfeit 
butter instead of the genuine article, and 
all the public desirous of fair dealing, 
write to their respective Senators and 
Representatives in Congress urging them 
to support this measure. Do it at once. 
Now is the acceptable time. 
SPECIAL. 
Those who, having applied for the 
Rural’s present seed distribution prior 
to March 30 th, have not yet received it, 
will kindly notify us by postal at once. 
The seed packages for Canada sub¬ 
scribers have been expressed, to be 
mailed there, and all should have re¬ 
ceived them bythis time. 
WANT TO BE FARMERS. 
We receive many letters from young 
city men who desire a home in the coun¬ 
try, where they can build up health and 
strength that city life has wasted. Most 
of these men know nothing of farm life, 
.and would make poor hands at the manure 
pile or in the stable. They make a great 
mistake in supposing that farm work is 
simply a labor of the hands, and that 
brain work is unnecessary. Let them 
once get out of the city, and the truth 
will flash over them that ir, takes as much 
brain building to shovel dirt properly, as 
it does to measure a yard of doth. The 
young men are right, however, in think¬ 
ing that they can regain health and strength 
in the country. Cities make the greatest 
show, but the* very brains that work out 
the wonderful development are produced 
from the farm-raised blood, bone and 
muscle. Spring brings to these young 
men a desire to push out into the world, 
and throw off the cramping conditions 
which city life has fastened upon them. 
The world would be much better off if 
more of them could be induced to go to 
the farm. They could save more money 
than they now save, besides enjoying 
health and contentment that at present 
they know nothing about. They would be 
awkward and almost useless at first, but 
if they could muster up the pluck to stick 
to the work, they would, in time, be far 
more valuable thau many of our present 
farm laborers. For some unaccountable 
reason, thousands of our young men can 
see more dignity in a yard stick, than in 
a hoe or an axe, while many young women 
would sooner live in a state of semi-star¬ 
vation in the city, than to handle milk and 
butter, or perform house work in some 
comfortable farm house. The city young 
man who desires to be a farmer, must 
carefully rid his mind of the idea that he 
needs no preparation for farm work, or 
that the members of the farming com¬ 
munity are pining for his society, 
» * ♦- 
ARBOR DAY. 
Arbor Day approaches. No particu¬ 
lar day common to all the States, can be 
named for this beneficent festival. Thanks¬ 
giving and Decoration Days can be cele¬ 
brated at the same time from the Canada 
line to the Gulf, from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific. The period of flowers is so long 
that floral glories can honor the dead on 
the same day all over the country. Any 
day of the 805 is admirable for thanks¬ 
giving. Arbor Day, however, should fall 
in each State at. the time best suited 
for setting out trees. Experience in sever¬ 
al instances, has taught even politicians 
tliat a date at which frost is still in the 
ground in most of the State, is hardly 
suitable for planting trees. Ten States 
now have Arbor Days officially designated 
by the Governors, and in several others 
the duties of the day are observed, more 
or less widely, on some day named in ad¬ 
vance by the patrons of Husbandry, Far¬ 
mers’ Alliances, farmers’ clubs, village 
decoration societies, and district school 
boards. Originally instituted by the 
Prairie States, and still most widely and 
effectively observed in the West, the ob¬ 
vious benefits of the day have made it 
popular in other States also, and its obser¬ 
vance is every year extending. Under 
the impetus given to tree planting by its 
recurrence, large areas have already 
been covered with trees in Dakota, Minne¬ 
sota, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas, and 
the aggregate of smaller efforts in other 
States has been quite extensive. In view 
of the rapid destruction of the forests in 
older States, and of the beneficial effects 
on climate and drainage, of an abundant 
growth of trees, as wind-breaks, hindran¬ 
ces to evaporation, and for storage reser¬ 
voirs of moisture, every encouragement 
should be given, especially by farmers, to 
all enciteinents to tree planting. Let the 
children have a holiday. For the good it 
does and the training it gives, let each 
set out one or more trees in some suitable 
place, for nuts, for sugar, for ornament or 
utility, and for a memento in the brown 
Autumn of life of a good work done in its 
bright spring-time. Let the old folks, too, 
each set a good example to the little ones. 
Let each plant at least one tree. Let no 
one think this advice is like that heard 
from the pulpit on Sundays—excellent 
for his neighbors, but hardly applicable 
to himself. 
WIDESPREAD STAGNATION. 
The farmers of Orange County, New 
York, are. in great distress. The supplying 
of milk to this city is one of their chief 
industries. What cotton is to the South 
and wheat to the West, milk is to them— 
their great “money” product. Cotton is 
exceptionally cheap in the South, wheat 
is by no means dear in the West, and milk 
is ruinously low-priced in Orange County. 
Three years ago the farmers there got 40 
cents per year, or an average of 3 % 
cents per quart; now the very best dairies 
can get no more than 35 cents, while or¬ 
dinary dairies must be content with 82 
cents. Tliis means a decrease in their 
receipts of over half a million dollars. All 
grades of cows share in the shrinkage, 
commanding lower figures than for many 
a year, and in view of the increased and 
closer competition from more distant 
points favored by railroads, farmers are be¬ 
ginning to ask whether agricultural land 
near large cities is not held at too high a 
price in comparison with the value of 
cheaper lands elsewhere. 
Similar complaints are heard in the 
neighborhood of other large cities—Bos¬ 
ton, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Chicago, 
St. Louis, and also less populous centers. 
The suppliers of milk to such places are 
everywhere discontented with prices. But 
what farmer is content nowadays with the 
prices of what he has to sell? Indeed the 
same question can be fittingly asked with 
regard to those engaged in every branch 
of business in every country in Christen¬ 
dom. This is an era of low prices every¬ 
where. To what is the universal stagna¬ 
tion due? Is it to middlemen? Middle¬ 
men flourish best in the flushest times. 
Is it to overproduction? The world could 
readily use all that is produced. Is it to 
railroads? They can aggravate, but how 
can they cause it by increasing the facil¬ 
ities and cheapening the rates of trans¬ 
portation ? Is it to the tariff ? The distress 
is as great in free-trade England as in the 
protectionist United States and Germany, 
Out West it is widely attributed to the 
persistent, contraction of values due to the 
policy of making gold (the production of 
which is steadily diminishing) the only 
standard of value, thus increasing its 
price aud correspondingly decreasing the 
price of all that is to be bought with it. 
The true solution of the problem is a hard 
task; but it would be harder to get 
everbody to acknowledge it when worked 
out. 
PROTECT THE BIRDS. 
Spring lias arrived, and the song birds 
are coming north, how shall they be 
greeted? Vanity, gluttony and greed 
have already, within a few years, robbed 
the season of much of its joyousness of 
song and brilliancy of plumage. Shall 
these vices be permitted still more to si¬ 
lence t he melody of our beneficent visitors 
in woodland, orchard, meadow and pas¬ 
ture, and rob our homes and walks of the 
charms of their fiit tings and the radiance 
of their wings? Shall the most destruc¬ 
tive foes of the fast-multiplying myriads 
of insect pests tliat every year cause agri¬ 
culture losses high among the millions— 
shall these best friends of the farmer and 
therefore of humanity at large, continue 
to be butchered to gratify a barbarous 
vanity, a gluttonous palate, a thoughtless 
caprice or the mean cruelty of greed? 
Within the last four years so baneful 
has been the slaughter of orioles, bobo¬ 
links, blue birds, yellow birds, red¬ 
winged blackbirds and many other species 
whose gay plumage and gladsome warb- 
lings beautified and thrilled country places, 
that even if the destruction ceased at 
once, the man is not now living who 
would see the saddening effects of recent 
recklessness effaced. It is estimated by 
ornithologists that three generations must 
pass away before the evils wrought, in the 
last half dozen years can be undone. 
The thoughtless vanity of woman is 
chiefly blamable for this wholesale mas¬ 
sacre; but man’s gluttony has cruelly 
aided woman's vanity. Reed birds (the 
winter name for bobolinks), the most 
glorious songsters of our northern mead¬ 
ows and the most beneficent friends of the 
farmer, are. now served up in all our fash¬ 
ionable restaurants, aud that too just be¬ 
fore the season of mating and nesting 1 
Oh, the barbarism of dishing up a dozen 
such embodiments of beauty, beneficence 
and song, on toast; of destroying the 
music, grace and gladness of a hundred 
Summers to transitorily tickle an epi¬ 
cure’s palate 1 
This slaughter of the innocents is more 
than a matter of sentiment; it is destruc¬ 
tive of the crops of the country, of the 
food of tin- people, of the fullest happiness 
of mankind. It is a crime against the 
order of nature, the beauty of the world, 
the welfare of society. Public opinion 
should denounce it in every corner of the 
land; stern laws should forbid it in every 
State of the Union. It should be made a 
criminal offense to kill birds for any pur¬ 
pose, except game birds used for food, and 
the few birds needed for strictly scientific 
purposes. No farmer should permit the 
killing of birds on lus land, and every 
farmer and every lover of nature should at 
once urge his representative in the State 
Legislature to insist on the prompt passage 
of laws to protect these beautifiers of the 
country and preservers of its crops. 
Every wing or bird on a woman’s hat or 
dress is a token of cruelty done, of joy de¬ 
barred, of loss incurred. Instead of a 
grace to her head, let such ornamentation 
be considered a reproach to her heart. 
Let the greeting be, not “Oh how pretty;” 
but “Oh how cruel!” Thoughtlessness 
has been the instigator of this wicked 
fashion; let reflection he its destroyer. 
Hundreds of good reasons for the protec¬ 
tion of our melodious, graceful, beneficent 
friends appeal to the head and the heart; 
not one for their destruction can appeal 
to either. 
BREVITIES. 
Ellwanger & Barry are of the opinion 
that the Marshall P. Wilder Rose will prove, 
all things considered, the best of all hardy 
roses. 
Marshall P. Wilder, at the late Mass. 
Hort. Exhibition, displayed one of his large 
azaleas “Exquisite,” which measured around 
the head 21 feet, uud stood seven feet high. 
For the second time the Lady Washington 
Grape (Ricketts) has been killed to the ground. 
We have given this grape a trial of eight 
years, and now reluctantly give it up. It has 
some splendid qualities where it succeeds. 
We very much regret that we are so far be¬ 
hind in the publication of answers to ques¬ 
tions. We have and do answer all questions 
as soon as possible, but we cannot tind space 
for them at once, and our friends must bo in¬ 
dulgent. 
Last year we planted 100 roses of the more 
tender varieties, such as Teas, Bourbons and 
Noisettes, commonly known as “ever-bloom¬ 
ing or monthly roses.” In early Winter the 
stems were laid over and covered with leaves, 
and upon these an inch or so of soil was place- 
ed. We now find that all are alive. This pro¬ 
tection may be given with little trouble, and 
in this way we secure the delicate beauty, 
fragrance, range of color, and frequency of 
bloom of the everblooniiug roses, with the 
sturdier and somewhat more restricted charms 
of the hybrid purpetuuls. 
The schedule adopted by the Connecticut, 
Massachusetts and New Jersey Stations for 
this year shows that potash in high-grade sul¬ 
phate is 1 cent lower than last year, viz. 5 *i 
cents per pound; potash in kaiuit is the same 
as last year, 4', cents per pound, aud in mu¬ 
riate the same as last year, viz., 4# cents per 
pound. Nitrogen in ammonia salts and 
nitrates is IKht cents per pound—half-accent 
higher than last year; in dried fish and Hue- 
ground boue, 17 cents—one cent, lower. Or¬ 
ganic nitrogen, as in guano, blood, meat, 
cotton seed, linseed meal, bone, is about one 
cent lower. Phosphoric acid, soluble, is also 
about one cent cheaper per pound. Insoluble 
forms are much the same as last year. 
Among farmers, as among other toilers, 
there is a disposition to complain of the very 
unequal distribution of wealth in the world, 
and consequently to sympathize with all the 
poorly paid wage-earners who are struggling 
to wriug from capital a fairer share of the 
results of their labors. This source of sym¬ 
pathy with strikers in workshops, factories, 
mines and railroads is natural. But such 
strikes and any consequent increase of wages, 
are really against the interests of farmers. 
Under present, conditions these cannot strike 
or otherwise combine to raise the prices of 
their product*, w hile tui increase of wages In 
worksnops, factories, miues and railroads 
means higher prices tor the goods they have 
to buy and higher rates of transportation. 
