of to-day are as well read and as gener¬ 
ally well-informed as the majority of city 
men. 
everybody. No single specimen of any 
breed can ever satisfactorily represent that 
breed, and no single breed can ever give 
satisfaction in all parts of the country. 
Different farms, different farmers, and 
different localities and soils require dif¬ 
ferent breeds of cattle. That has been 
demonstrated beyond a dispute. Yet 
these contests between breeds will bo of 
value, though the result may not be at 
once apparent. They will show breeders 
the weak points in their animals, and will 
help to point out the characteristics which 
are most generally desired by farmers. 
Let us have such contests, by all means. 
They might well be made a feature of 
every prominent exhibition in the coun- 
trv. 
CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES. 
RURAL NEW'YORKER, 
There is a good deal of talk just now 
in various parts of the country of different 
means for getting rid of labor troubles and 
lightening the widespread, prevalent dis¬ 
tress, and co-operation in manufacturing 
and marketing goods is frequently sug¬ 
gested as an expedient. Co-operation in 
work is as old as civilization; but co¬ 
operation in marketing—distributive co¬ 
operation—is a developmenl of the last half 
century, or leas. England is its birth¬ 
place, and the most notable instance and 
success is the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers’ 
Society, which was formed in 1844, with 
28 members, for the" purpose of selling to 
the members and others groceries at the 
prices current, in the town the profits to 
be divided among the shareholders. The. 
original capital of $t40 was raised by $5 
shares; last year it closed with ft member¬ 
ship of 11,084 and a capital of $1,028,000. 
In 1850 its trade amounted to $05,000, 
nnd its profits to *4,250; last year the 
former was $1,200,000, and the profits 
$226,000. Tt owns a central establishment 
which cost $70,000, and 20 branch stores, 
built or bought, besides two libraries for 
its members and a school of science, lan¬ 
guages, and the mechanical arts. The 
business has steadily grown from the out¬ 
set; there has never been a loss or even 
any considerable falling off in iirofits. 
Besides this, there are also in England 
half-a-dozen other distributing societies 
with annual sales of over $1,000,000 each, 
and 22 with a yearly business of over 
$500,000. but under $1,000,000 apiece. 
Altogether, there are in the United King¬ 
dom 1,350 co-operative societies; in Ger¬ 
many. 3.639; in Austria, 1,515; and in 
all Europe a total of 7,060, of which 2,649 
are in trade. The remaining 5.020 com¬ 
prise 3,617 people’s banks, and 1,403 agri¬ 
cultural and productive co-operative asso¬ 
ciations. Several enterprises of the kind 
have been started in this country, but 
hitherto generally in a small way, and the 
most successful have been those connected 
with the Granges in some of the States. 
It is estimated that the losses of all 
kinds due to the numerous strikes and 
lockouts throughout the country during 
the past six weeks, foot up about $50,- 
000,000. Many of the workmen had to 
run into debt; others have spent their 
savings; large numbers have become bad¬ 
ly demoralized. Even if the number on 
strike was at any one time not over 125,- 
000 (the number out on May 12), these 
figures would by no means indicate the 
number compulsorily idle on account of 
the troubles, for in many cases the strike 
of one trade necessitates suspension of 
work in which many others are engaged. 
The number of strikers on the “Gould 
system” was at no time over 7,000, and 
some put. it considerably lower; but owing 
to the action of these, at least 15,000 
others were thrown out of employment. 
It is to be hoped that some means will be 
devised by the thousands of heads now 
pondering on the problem, by which a 
recourse so disastrous to employes, em¬ 
ployers and the innocent public may be 
hereafter avoided. If all the money lost 
by the strikers and contributed for their 
support were collected as capital, what a 
splendid beginning could be made in some 
co-operative industry. 
-- - 
Like the anti-oleomagarine law of Hol¬ 
land, that, now before the English Parlia¬ 
ment lays no tax on the product, but pro¬ 
vides stringent regulations for its sale as 
an imitation of butter, and heavy penal¬ 
ties for violations of the law. It requires 
the name of the concoction to be put on 
each package in letters at least an inch 
long, and punishes a first violation of this 
provision by a fine not exceeding $100; 
a second by a month’s imprisonment or a 
fine of $250; and a third offence is pun¬ 
ished by six months’ imprisonment. Each 
manufactory is to be registered and open 
at all reasonable hours to inspection by 
Government officers. A penalty of $25 a 
day is imposed for not registering. The 
place of manufacture must be clearly stated 
iu every invoice, and the goods must be 
sold as oleomargarine or margarine. Ne¬ 
glect in this matter renders the seller liable 
to a fine of $500 for each offence, and he 
cannot recover from the purchaser the 
price of the goods sold. Retailers must 
inform purchasers what the article sold is, 
under penalty of $50 for the first offence, 
$100 for the second, and a month’s im¬ 
prisonment for the third. Any one ship¬ 
ping the product must state its real char¬ 
acter or forfeit $2 for each package not 
booked according to law; and the trans¬ 
portation company must enter the goods 
on its books under the description given. 
One of the most effective temperance 
documents we have seen lately is driven 
into the city every morning. It is a low 
milk wagon, the back of which is so ar¬ 
ranged that it can be easily let down and 
turned into a counter over •which milk is 
retailed at five cents per glass, with but¬ 
termilk at three cents. It is good milk, 
cleanly served, and kept cold and fresh. 
From the place where this wagon stands, 
in front of the post-office, there are within 
sight, by actual count, 15 places where, 
whisky and beer are sold. Yet, even at 
this cool season, the sale of milk is large, 
and in the Summer it will be enormous. 
The trade increases from year to year, es pcci- 
ally that inbuttermilk. Temperance advo¬ 
cates will find a practical lesson in this 
business. Fight saloons with milk. Es¬ 
tablish milk saloons throughout the busi¬ 
ness part, of the city, the nearer to the 
whisky saloons the better. Put the price 
of a large glass of pure milk at three cents, 
and the rum-sellers’ business will be sadly 
interfered with. There is a good opening 
here for some benevolent person who has 
money enough to establish the business 
and foster it until it can be made self-sus¬ 
taining. There is not a town or city in 
the country in which trade of this kind 
should not be profitable. 
Conducted by 
KX.BERT B. CARMAN 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW'-YORKER, 
No. S4 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, MAY 29, 1886. 
Pres. Wilder kindly writes us, in 
reply to our note of inquiry last week, 
that his Parker Earle Strawberry plants 
all have variegated foliage, though free 
growers “which,” he continues, “is not 
generally the case with plants which 
sport in this way.” 
IS IMMIGRATION A BLESSING? 
Tite labor agitation is bringing the 
question of the immigration of cheap 
labor prominently to the front. During 
the five years ended December 31, 1885, 
2,839,997 immigrants arrived in tins 
country against 1,127,997 in the previous 
five years, an increase of over 150 per cent. 
For this period Chinese immigration in¬ 
creased only 10 per cent.; and during the 
last three years, since the enforcement of 
the Restriction Aft, there has been a heavy 
decline. Europe furnishes the United 
States with 98 per cent of all immigra¬ 
tion, and with nearly all the unskilled 
cheap labor and pauperism we get from 
abroad; and this sort of immigration is 
increasing much more rapidly than any 
other. Here is an instructive table com¬ 
piled from official statistics of immigra¬ 
tion for the two periods above mentioned, 
FIVE YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 81. 
1880. 1885. 
Women and Children.511,408 1,2(56.822 
Workers.435,620 1,169,900 
Totals. 947,028 2,436,722 
Here is the classification of the workers; 
1880. 1886. 
Mechanics.217,810 365,700 
Traders. 43,563 116,928 
Professionals . 21,781 58,484 
t) nskilled. . 152,407 628.788 
435,620 1,159,900 
Thus, while the number of mechanics, 
traders and professionals increased 91 per 
cent, in the five years, the number of un¬ 
skilled laborers increased 313 per cent. 
The greatest increase in this undesirable 
class came from Italy, Prussia, and Hun¬ 
gary, the immigration from which is nearly 
all unskilled, cheap, and poverty-stricken. 
During the last, five years the aggregate 
increase from these three countries was 94 
per cent, more than from the rest <?f 
Europe, Is immigration any longer a 
blessing, is becoming one of the questions 
of the day. 
Beginning with the next issue of the 
Rural New-Yorker, our accomplished 
contributor, Emily Taplin, will assume 
the charge of the Woman’s Department. 
Contributions from our friends, however 
short, are solicited. It is desired that 
this department, more than ever before, 
should be made instructive and interest¬ 
ing to our lady readers. 
Three years ago we began to offer a 
horse Prickly Comfrey two or three times 
a season. At first be merely smelt of it. 
The second year he ate a little. This year 
he eats it greedily, leaves and stalks, in 
preference to grass or clover. He is the 
first animal we have ever known to relish 
this plant, which, us it grows with us, 
will produce a larger amount of green food 
than any other forage plant we know of, 
as it may be cut several times every Sum¬ 
mer. 
Sir J. B. Lawes, in reply to our ques¬ 
tions, writes as follows:—“It is quite 
true the manures named by jou” (nitrate, 
of soda, sulphate of ammonia and blood) 
‘ ‘are soluble and active in the order named. 
With regard to using them, I am dispos¬ 
ed to think that some regard should be 
had to the cost of these substances. For 
corn, I think that nitrate of soda would 
prove the best manure, provided the 
necessary phosphates and alkalies are in 
sufficient quantity in the soil. If the ni¬ 
trogen iu nitrate of soda is as cheap as it 
is in other forms, it is certainly the best, 
manure.” 
BREVITIES 
A friend writes: “Five eggs of my best 
Langshan hens weigh one pound, good weight,” 
which surprise us. 
Hungarian Grass mnv be sown now or 
later. Sixtv days will suffice for its growth. 
Sow on mellow soil—a bushel to the acre—and 
cut when the heads appear. 
Manx' eitvpeople select asparagus with long 
white stems in preference to irroen stems, for¬ 
getful that the white is the older nnd tougher 
part. Asparagus grows from the tips, and the 
more green there is t he more tender the shoots. 
Thf. prniseworthv Report of the Ohio Ag. 
Ex. Station has Just been received, It is 
much to be regretted that it could not have 
been issued several months earlier; then farm¬ 
er might have availed themselves of its in¬ 
formation the present, season. 
We have nlreadv said that the quality of 
the State of Maine Potato, which is one of the 
best keepers and a large yielder as well, is in¬ 
ferior. A few were boiled and eaten last 
week, but. they were of poorer quality than 
earlier in tin? season. In fact, we should not 
eat potatoes if a better quality could not be 
secured. 
Do anv of the lady readers of the Rural 
wear birds on their bonnets? We hope not. 
But if they do, we horn* they will not do so 
anymore. Tn all seriousness, we think that 
this fashion is not only cruel and unwomanly, 
but that it is effecting incalculable injury to 
the fanner’s interests. Are we rieht ? If not. 
tell us wherein we err. Tf right, then lend 
your aiil, lady friends, to throw disgrace upon 
this senseless, heartless. Iniquitous custom. 
It has been stated often enough that heavy 
anplications of sifted coal ashes about, the roots 
of currant and gooseberry bushes, will keep 
them free of the currant worm, We have 
given this a thorough trial, and find that, the 
hushes so treated are just as much infested as 
the others. Somebody, probably, mulched his 
bushes with coal ashes. They happened to 
escape the worm that season. He wrote about 
it to his farm paper, and it has been going 
the rounds ever since. 
Mr. Gko, C. Rixford, of Rixford, Florida, 
sent us, Mav 13, a few mulberries from a var¬ 
iety so much superior to any he has seen, that 
he is disposed to law it. He has the Downing’s 
Everl*?arimr, but those who taste the new kind 
have no wish to eat the other. The tree is four 
years old from the cutting. The berries had 
begun to ferment before reaching us. They 
were nearly two inches long, and aln>ut half 
an inch in diameter—long and round, with 
small, crowded drupes of a reddish color. 
Titk element of hope is a necessary part, of 
all successful agriculture. Unhappy indeed is 
the farmer’s lot who never expects to do better 
fai ming and sees no possible prospect of im¬ 
provement before him Hope directs every 
farm improvement. We grade up our stock, 
try new grasses or fruits, buy improved im¬ 
plements and study new methods because we 
hope, through their help, to make life broad¬ 
er and bettor. The times arc close and many 
farmers are pinched os they have not been in 
years, but let ns not think of giving up. Let 
us rather hope for the better times that surely 
must come again, and in the meanwhile study 
to cut. off every habit or method that, stands in 
the way of true economy. If we can do this 
and hold to the good resolutions when the 
times get. better again, we may live to count 
the]“hard times” as a blessing. 
It is becoming the fashion now-a-days 
among certain farm journals that are mean 
and dishonest enough to do such things, 
to copy from the public reports of distin¬ 
guished farmers and horticulturists in 
such a way as to make it appear that the 
quotations are written specially for those 
journals. Thus we see the names J. B. 
Lawes, W. J. Beal, Marshall P. Wilder, 
P. Barry, T. T. Lyon, J. L. Budd, L. B. 
Arnold et al. appended to articles or par¬ 
agraphs taken from public addresses, an¬ 
nual • reports, etc., without any credit 
whatever. These are pretty examples for 
the editors of respectable farm journals to 
set! 
LAND LEGISLATION, 
The public lands now remaining to the 
United States amount to only about 200,- 
000,000 acres. Last year 20, *113,663 acres 
went into the hands of corporations or 
private owners, and 261,649,319 acres the 
year before. If the public domain con¬ 
tinues to be taken up at this rate, how 
loug will any remain? This consideration 
has given a great deal of prominence to 
land legislation iu Congress during the 
present session. A large number of bills 
relating to various corporations seek to 
restore to the public domain about 130,- 
000,000 acres withheld from settlement in 
favor of railroads which have no legiti¬ 
mate claim upon it. The House has just 
passed a bill creating a commission of 
three persousto ascertain and settle land 
claims in Colorado, New Mexico and Ari¬ 
zona, held under Spanish or Mexican 
grants and treaties, and it is provided 
that “no alien or person not a citizen of 
the United States shall acquire any land 
under this Commission, unless his title 
to the same shall be clearly proved 
under some of the treaties or grants.” 
Enormous frauds iu connection with 
these old land grants have already occurred, 
and the number of exaggerated and fraud¬ 
ulent claims now outstanding cover vast 
areas, and a large proportion of them are 
in the hands of foreigners. Over 30,000,- 
000 acres are owned in large bodies by 
aliens, besides a large aggregate area made 
up of smaller possessions, and vast tracts 
of the public, domain are occupied rent- 
free and illegally fenced by alien cattle 
kings and corporations. A bill is now 
before Congress prohibiting alien owner¬ 
ship of laud in the Territories. This 
affects only the land in the latter, where 
the General Government, is supreme, 
and cannot, of course, affect, the present, 
holdings; but the passage of the bill would 
prevent an increase of an acknowledged 
evil. The States must deal with the ques¬ 
tion within their own limits, and the 
Legislatures of Illinois and Iowa have 
been discussing late. 
Our Government has demanded from 
the English Government the surrender of 
the two fishing vessels seized by the Can¬ 
adian authorities. Should the latter con¬ 
demn and sell them, it is likely a demand 
for indemnity will be made on the Im¬ 
perial Government. There is a great deal 
too much intemperate talk in the papers 
about this fishery squabble. There is no 
doubt that the Canadians have a fair 
prima-facie case. The matter at. issue is 
merely the construction of a treaty, and 
passion will prove no satisfactory help iu 
arriving at a correct interpretation. The 
question will be ultimately decided by the 
Governments at Washington and London, 
and we believe that the trouble will be 
adjusted through British repudiation of 
the Canadian attitude. 
The city relative is now looking very 
graciously towards the country cousin. 
The summer vacation approaches, and 
there will be an unusual demand this year 
for couotry board. There are hundreds 
of city families who could hardly get 
through the year but for the help afforded 
by their relatives in the country, and it is 
surprising that it is, in general, this very 
class that has the most sneering to do at 
the farmer’s life. The relations between 
city and country people have always been 
peculiar. Each class appears to thoroughly 
misunderstand the other. The country 
has always distrusted the city, while the 
city has been disposed to look down upon 
the country. 'There is no reason why this 
should be so. City wage-workers, as a 
rule, endure as great a care and worry as 
any farfuer; Vliile the intelligent_fanners 
THE FARMER’S COW. 
Last year, after much discussion, the 
Ohio State Board of Agriculture offered a 
special premium for the best, general-pur¬ 
pose cow. It. was designed to organize a 
contest between the different breeds in 
which, beef qualities, milking qualities, 
gentleness, working qualities, and, in 
reality, fighting qualities as represented 
by horned and polled breeds, should be 
taken into account. The plan failed last 
year owing, doubtless, to lack of time for 
preparation on the part of breeders. We 
hope an attempt will be made this year to 
carry the idea through, for it is a good 
one. It is not probable that the question 
will ever be settled to the satisfaction of 
