'JUNE 5 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
ANational Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
HUBERT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. Si Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, JUNE 5 1886. 
President Cleveland and Miss Fran¬ 
ces Folsom are to be married in the White 
House at Washington next Wednesday 
evening. Health, happiness, and all minor 
blessings attend the fortunate couple, and 
may their tribe increase! 
- ♦ ♦« --- 
Save seeds of your largest and best- 
flavored strawberries, blackberries, rasp¬ 
berries and currants, and sow them at once 
iu drills of fine, rich soil. They will then 
sprout much sooner than if permitted to 
get dry. It is easy to protect such plants 
so they will winter in safety. 
We are very glad to know that the out¬ 
look for the Agricultural and Mechanical 
College of Mississipi is very encouraging. 
A majority of the students who have 
spent one, two or three years at this col¬ 
lege have gone home to work on the farm. 
Its influence upon the adjacent country is 
shown. Prof. Gulley sajs, in the erection 
of 21 silos during the past 18 months by 
parties who have been watching the work 
of the college, while its plan of drainage, 
methods of planting and working crops 
and feeding cattle are being generally 
copied. _ _ 
In discussions of the labor question 
there appears to be a good deal of miscon¬ 
ception as to the relative importance of 
the various pursuits and .occupations in 
which the American people are engaged. 
According to the census of 1880, we had 
then a total population of 50,155,783. 
Of this number o'nly 17,392,000 people of 
both sexes and all ages were engaged in 
gainful occupations in every kind of 
t rade, busiuess, profession or pursuit. Of 
this grand total people generally talk as if 
the manufacturing and mechanical indus¬ 
tries employed the largest number of 
hands. This, however, was not so. Ag¬ 
riculture employed 7,670,000 people; 4,- 
074,000 were employed iu professional 
and personal services, and only 3,837,000 
were engaged in manufactures, mechan¬ 
ics and mining, and the remaining 1,810,- 
000 were employed in trade and transpor¬ 
tation. The fact that people employed 
in manufacturing and mechanical pursuits 
are chiefly massed in our cities, and are 
combined in trade unions, and agitate a 
great deal in behalf of their own interests 
leads to the prevalent mistake that they 
form the largest division in the grand 
army of labor. 
As is well known to our older readers, 
the R. N.-Y, has for years advocated the 
sowing of either Blue Grass, Red-top or 
both for lawns—rejecting the costly "lawn 
mixtures.” Other writers have taken this 
matter up, and the Rural press in general 
is now alive to the importance of the sub¬ 
ject. It is not economy to pay four dol¬ 
lars a bushel for lawn mixtures, made up 
chiefly of the two grasses mentioned, when 
either may be bought for less than half 
that sum. The pains-taking editor of the 
Weekly Press is iu favor of sowing Tim¬ 
othy with them, so that a quicker effect 
may be produced. The Timothy, under 
the lawn-mower, will gradually die out 
giving way for the others. Early this 
Spring we sowed two small plots with 
Blue Grass and Red-top. They are now 
(May 27) covered as thickly as possible 
with grass and, but for a lighter color, 
could not be distinguished from the sur¬ 
rounding sward. Would Timothy have 
helped in any way? 
Taxation without representation is the 
lot of the farmers of this country almost 
as much as it was of the colonies when 
the grievance drove them into rebellion 
against the mother country. There are in 
the United States Senate 76 members, and 
in the House 332, a total of 408 in Con¬ 
gress. Of these, how many represent the 
most important industry in the nation, 
that which gives employment to nearly 
half the inhabitants of the country who 
follow any business whatever? The Con¬ 
gressional Directory sho ws that 10 mem¬ 
bers of Congress from all the Northern 
States call themselves farmers, while 15 
Congressmen from the South call them¬ 
selves planters. Of the Northern 10, 
Michigan contributes four, Wisconsin two, 
Rhode Island, New York, Missouri and 
Kansas, one each. But even of this 
meager number, all are not real farmers; 
for instance, the “farmer” from the Em¬ 
pire State is the Hon. Warner Miller, the 
great wood-pulp paper manufacturer. 
The great majority of Congressmen are 
lawyers; wouldn’t it be better for the 
country if there were in its legislature 
fewer of these, and more of its agricul¬ 
turists? 
“OLEO” IN CONGRESS. 
Oleomargarine legislation has occu¬ 
pied more of the attention of the House 
of Representatives during the last four 
days than all other subjects combined. 
The bill taxing bogus butter, and placing 
its manufacture under government super¬ 
vision, has been eloquently, spiritedly, and 
learnedly supported, and bitterly assailed 
with invective, satire and ridicule. It will 
probably pass the House, as there appears 
to be a majority of about 50 in its favor. 
That Congress should place the manufac¬ 
ture and sale of bogus butter under govern¬ 
ment supervision is absolutely necessary 
to prevent the fraudulent sale of the stuff, 
and to injure that it; shall be made of 
wholesome materials. It is’a mistake to 
wage war against the product merely in 
behalf of the dairy interests of the coun¬ 
try, however vast and important these 
are. ft should also be opposed on behalf 
of consumers, upon the ground that the 
trade thrives only by fraud, and that no¬ 
thing but fraud can keep it alive. 
It is not a fight of oue industry against 
another, but of butter producers and con¬ 
sumers against an atrocious fraud by 
which both are injured to fill with dis¬ 
honest gains the pockets of a few wealthy 
manufacturers. The law providing for 
the honest manufacture and sale of the 
stuff must be general, so as to be applica¬ 
ble to every part of the country. It must 
therefore, be passed by the National leg¬ 
islature. The various States can legis¬ 
late, if desirable, with regard to minor 
details. The great danger to the bill 
lurks in the Senate. That is the strong¬ 
hold of corporate interests. The Sena¬ 
tors only very indirectly representing the 
people, are less sensitive than the Repre¬ 
sentatives to the force of public opinion 
and the wishes of the people. Pressure 
should at once be brought to bear on 
them through the legislatures of the vari¬ 
ous States; for as it is by these they are 
elected, they cannot afford to disregard 
their wishes. The farmers of the country 
should, therefore, at once urge the mem¬ 
bers of their State legislatures to take 
action in this matter. There is not a mo¬ 
ment to be lost. The bill will probably 
go up to the Senate early next week, and 
Senators should be at once enlightened 
with regard to the wishes of their respec¬ 
tive States as to the necessity for protect¬ 
ing one of the largest interests in the 
country.as well as the public at large, from 
in jury by gross fraud. 
PRICE OF WHEAT. 
Reports are general that stocks of 
wheat in farmers’ hands are smaller than 
usual. If true, this is fortunate in view of 
the steady decline in prices. No. 2, the 
speculative grade, is selling at Chicago, 
the great receiving center, at less than 74 
cents per bushel, and No. 3, at 67 cents. 
A good deal of the receipts will not grade 
higher than No. 3, the price of which av¬ 
erages from 7 to 8 cents below that of the 
speculative grade. On the basis of 74 
cents per bushel for No. 2, the average 
price of all receipts w ould not be much 
over 67 cents, as a good deal doesn’t grade 
at all. The cost of transportation and 
handling will average about 20 cents be¬ 
tween the market and the country buyer, 
wlio must also make a profit, so that there 
isn’t a vast sum left for the farmer. A 
similar showing can be made with regard 
to other grains, especially corn. It seems 
to us, prices ought to show an upward 
tendency. The visible supply of wheat 
has decreased from 58,432,389 bushels at 
the beginning of the year to 37,814.315 on 
May 22:—3,400,000 bushels less than a 
year ago. The “visible supply” now r in¬ 
cludes large quantities on the way to con¬ 
sumers by rail and water, and stocks at 
several collecting centers not counted in 
till less than two years ago. A year ago 
a large share of the enormous crop of 
1884 was still in the bands of farmers; 
whereas but a comparatively small pro¬ 
portion of last year’s meager crop is there 
now. Most of the available wheat must 
be included in the “visible supply,” and 
that is steadily declining. Europe is buy¬ 
ing freely at the present low quotations. 
In view of the foreign drain thus created, 
and the home consumption, it seems that 
prices should go up before the new crop 
can begin to come to market. In any 
case, there cannot be a heavy stock of old 
grain on hand to depress prices next har¬ 
vest. 
LABOR UNIONS AS REFORMERS. 
It is against the law to keep stores in 
New York open on Sunday; but in some 
of the streets, especially those in which 
Jew’s do a good deal of business, stores of 
all kinds are wide open from morning till 
night. The Central Labor Union, on 
complaint of the employes that they have 
to work 90 and sometimes 100 hours a 
week, has passed a resolution calling on 
all its members and friends to boycott all 
hat stores that keep open on Sunday, and 
has appointed a committee to see that the 
dealers should be duly prosecuted. This 
sort of boycotting seems hardly objection¬ 
able. It is the opiuiou of the most noted 
students of social life, that, opart from 
religious reasons, one day in seven should 
be a holiday. All who wish to give wage- 
earners a chance of rest and recreation, as 
w r ell as all who seek a strict observance of 
the Sabbath, should wish success to this 
boycott. Iu this case organized labor 
acts as a reformer and an enforcer, not a 
breaker, of the law. The same agency is 
becoming a powerful aid to the temperance 
cause. The onslaught made on drink by 
Master Workman Powderly, in a late cir¬ 
cular to the Knights of Labor, is likely to 
prove more effectual than the fervid ad¬ 
dresses of scores of ordinary temperance 
agitators. A boycott against rum is the 
only boycott he favors, and this be urges 
every workman to establish on his own 
account for his individual benefit. Other 
prominent labor leaders are of the same 
mind, andinallthe late labor strikes the ex¬ 
cesses due to drink have been remarkably 
few. The labor leaders waut their follow¬ 
ers to be cool, fore-handed, and amenable 
to discipline; for thusthey will have a bet¬ 
ter chance of wiuni ng what they seek. The 
Anarchists, on the other hand, favor rum 
and riot. They want their followers to be 
hot-headed, miserable and always poor, 
so that having no stake in the country, 
and being in a muddled, semi-crazy con¬ 
dition, they may be at all times ready for 
outrage and havoc. 
AN INVITATION. 
Tue Rural hybrid rye-wheat plants 
show still further remarkable changes. 
We bad hoped that it would be otherwise 
the present season, and that we might 
count upon such a constancy of character¬ 
istics that they might be propagated, 
named and in small quantities distributed 
over the country for general trial in a year 
or so. We had supposed that those 
plants which we have designated as 
“most resembling rye” had already as¬ 
sumed, more than the others, a fixed 
character, since from the beginning they 
have varied the least of all. It would 
appear, however, that they have just be¬ 
gun to vary, and that just when variation 
will cease, no oue can tell. All of the 
seeds sown were from selected heads of 
tolerable uniformity with stems downy or 
hairy beneath the lower breasts. All 
were slightly bearded and of the same 
shape. Now we have stems perfectly 
smooth, partly hairy and densely so; 
heads that actually resemble barley more 
than either wheat or rye, while some are 
beardless. We shall not at this time 
dwell upon these strange variations. Our 
object in writing this note is to invite all 
botanists and all wheat specialists to visit 
the Rural Grounds between the present 
time and wheat harvest, that they may see 
for themselves, and study these hybrids 
that, in our humble estimation, present 
the widest differences and strangest de¬ 
velopments known iu cereal cultivation. 
No reference is made iu the above remarks 
to our hybrids which arc by parentage 
three-quarters rye and one-quarter wheat. 
We shall speak of them later. 
Trains leave the foot of Chambers St. 
(Pavonia Ferry, N. Y. & N. J. R. R.) for 
River Edge, New Jersey, at 7:40, 8:40, 
and 9:50 A. M., and at 1, 4, and 5 r. m. 
The distance from the station to the 
Rural Grounds is one mile. If we can not 
in all cases give personal attention to our 
visitors, as we should be pleased to do, 
others will wait upon them. 
WINTER WORK 
Farmers should plan work that will 
justify them iu hiring laborers for the en¬ 
tire year. As it is, too many farm work¬ 
men live two lives. They work through 
the Summer and Fall on the farm, and 
then go to the cities where they spend 
the Winter as best they can. Boston and 
the smaller cities of New England piovide 
shelter for thousands of these laborers 
through the Winter. Work for all of 
them is impossible in these times when 
hundreds of city laborers are seeking 
vainly for employment. Many of them 
find work shoveling snow, sweeping the 
streets or performing other work for the 
city, but such a life must be at. best but 
a most precarious one, and the tendency 
is to drift into crime. It is estimated 
that 5,000 such farm laborers spent last 
Winter in Boston. Many of them find 
their way into the bands of the police, 
while all of them take back to the farm 
germs of disorder and vice to spread in 
the farmer’s family. Doubtless some of 
these laborers prefer to spend their Win¬ 
ters in this way, yet there are others who 
would gladly stay on the farm for nomin¬ 
al wages and the sake of a home. The 
trouble is that, farmers, under the present 
system of agriculture, arrange for so little 
winter work that they really need no 
help. Is it not possible for them, even in 
New England, to find profitable winter 
work that will enable tlicm to keep a good 
proportion of this transient city popula¬ 
tion on the farm? The question has been 
answered satisfactorily by hundreds of 
good farmers who, by means of winter 
dairying and stock feeding, have been en¬ 
abled to turn much of this wasting labor 
into cash. Their example is well worthy 
of imitation. The work of the year should 
be spread through the year instead of be¬ 
ing crowded into seven months of hard 
labor with five months of comparative 
idleness. The work for the coming year 
is now in its infancy. Is it not possible 
to plan so that a little of the old order of 
things may be done away with? Try it. 
BREVITIES. 
Get the grape-bags ready. 
For strawberries, probably there has never 
been the promise of a more abundant crop in 
many parts of the country than now. 
It was 26.(^9,819 acres of the public domain 
that were “taken up” in 1884. not 261.649,819, 
as the types made us sav in the editorial on 
Land Legislation in last issue. 
Dudley Miller, of Oswego, writes us con¬ 
cerning our last cattle picture: “The Rural 
deserves congratulations most heartv, for 
presenting its readers with the superb, life-like 
portrait of Ladv Pulton, and will receive 
them iu spirit, if not otherwise, from all lovers 
of fine stock who see this excellent and rare 
production.” 
Remember that eggs are now worth 12 cents 
per dozen at wholesale in this market. Three 
months ago they were worth 25 cents. You 
are pushed with work now. Then you had 
plenty of time to sit about and talk. It takes 
very easy arithmetic to prove that six eggs 
then would bring as much cash as 12 eggs will 
bring now. Is there that difference in the 
cost of production ? By watching the market 
reports you will find that there is almost as 
wide a margin in the prices of butter, beef, 
fruits, and other produce. The man who 
makes farming pay watches the markets. If 
he misses the best price one year, he is sure to 
tie on hand the year following. 
We have just been looking over a copy of 
Moore’s Rural-New-Yorker, dated May 13, 
1*54, sent to us by a friend. It consisted then 
of but eight pages, the quality of the paper 
being about the same as that upon which the 
N. Y. Herald is printed to-day. The price 
was 82.00 per year. It was conducted by Mr. 
Moore assisted by Joseph Harris and several 
“corresponding editors.” On the first page 
we find Oops fof Boiling, a few words on Un¬ 
der-draining, the Grains and Grasses and an 
illustration of a Tumbler Cart. On the sec¬ 
ond page we have Charring Posts. Coal-tar, 
Drilling and Flat Culture, bv L. B. Arnold; 
Shade and Fert ilizer. Beaus not. an exhausting 
crop, and a column of Miscellany. The third 
page is devoted to horticulture: the fourth to 
educational topics: the fifth to poetry, short 
stories and to a ladies’department; the sixth to 
news items, the seventh to markers, deaths and 
marriages and advertisements, and the last to 
poetry, short sketches. Youth's corner and ad¬ 
vertisements. As we look over this journal of 
82years aeo, which was then ranked ns among 
the first of its class, and compare it with the 
present Rural New-Yorker, wo are im¬ 
pressed that Mr. Moore’s favorite motto of 
“Progress and Improvement,” lias uot been 
entirely lost sight of since. 
The lawn-mowers of to-day seem to be near¬ 
ly perfection. They are light-running, dur¬ 
able and cut the grass evenlv at the desired 
length. But an inexperienced person may in 
a year ruin a lawn-mower that with proper 
care would last five. The fatal mistake gen¬ 
erally made is in screwing the revolving 
blades so low that they touch the horizontal 
blade. Of course, the machine outs beauti¬ 
fully. The blades are sharpened by the con¬ 
tact., but wear away iu a few days. Then the 
revolving ldades are again lowered, and this 
is continued until they can l>e lowered no 
more and the machine needs repairs. Our ex¬ 
perience is that whon the essential parts of a 
mower need to be replaced, It is just as well to 
buy a uew machine. The proper way Is to see 
that the revolving blades of a new machine 
are so set. that they can not. be lowered with¬ 
out touching. Then it may be used one day 
at least, in every week during the entire sea¬ 
son without, readjustment. The next year the 
knives may need sharpening, which is best 
done by lowering the revolving blades, or, 
properly speaking, raising the horizontal blade 
until they touch slightly, being careful that 
the pressure shall be equal in every part. Of 
course, machines should bo oiled frequently 
and the bearings protected from sand and soil. 
