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£46 THE RURAL. MEW-YORKER. 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Homes, 
Conducted by 
EJ.BKKT S . CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, ' 
No. 84 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 7, 1886. 
The most vigorous watermelon vines 
about the Rural (Grounds are those of the 
Mountain Sweet. The seeds planted were 
six years old. 
This year we have seen quite a number 
of little gardens of flowers raised from the 
Rural’s Garden Treasures. There seems 
to be no end to the varieties which are 
coming into bloom daily, affording a deal 
of pleasure and, to those so inclined, in¬ 
struction 
We have this year raised the Early 
Ohio among 70 different varieties of pota¬ 
toes, some of which are claimed to be the 
earliest known. The vines of the Ohio 
died at least 10 days before any other. 
This is a grand potato where it succeeds, 
as the R. N.-Y, lias often said, and it is a 
pity that it does not thrive everywhere. 
All who desire advertising space in the 
Supplement to our next Special are asked 
to send in their copy before August 15th. 
The issue will be distributed by mail and 
otherwise from the comiug September 
until May of 1887. The price per agate 
line will be 50 cents. The Supplement 
will be complete in itself, and be provided 
with a cover printed in colors. 
The objection has often been raised to 
the level cultivation of potatoes that some 
of the tubers grow' above ground and be¬ 
come greened and worthless. This objec¬ 
tion is not well founded, according to our 
experience. Perhaps it is because, we 
plant the seed in trenches deeper than 
others. A few days ago the writer went 
through a greater part, of the potato field 
and failed to find a single exposed tuber. 
♦ • » -- 
It has been stated again and again that 
bagging grapes prevents rot; that the 
1 tagged grapes ripen earlier and ship bet¬ 
ter to distant markets, etc. Inexperienced 
writers do a lot of harm in making such 
statements. The R. N.-Y. was the first 
American paper to advocate the bagging 
of grapes; to illustrate how T it was done 
and the best way to do it. We wrote 
from experience and tried to impress upon 
our readers that while the objects of bag¬ 
ging grapes were (1) to preserve the 
bloom, and (2) to protect them from birds 
and insects, the bags afforded little pro¬ 
tection against rotor mildew; that the 
bagged grapes ripened later and would 
not endure long shipments so well as the 
unbagged. 
A friend writes: “We are (righteously, 
of course) bucking against oleo in our leg¬ 
islatures, without even thinking how un¬ 
ready we and our farms are to supply the 
place of the bogus with the genuine article, 
while every pasture within 10 miles of a 
factory is growing up to brush. Our 
oleo-bills are worthless—like a dam of 
w r hite beans in the Hudson—unless we 
back them with a determination to make 
honest butter plenty at any price at all. 
That would mean more grass and a far 
greater knowledge of it and all its differ¬ 
ing habits, for the common people of the 
land. A collection of grass-recipes which 
would give seedsmen a sure profit, while 
the sowers would never know whether 
they are right or wrong, wouldn’t 
amount to a huckleberry. That track— 
that blind leading of the blind—has led 
us too far out of the way already.” 
Many portions of Chinese soil are very 
poor indeed, and yetthe country is one of 
the best-farmed in the world. For thous¬ 
ands of years it has supported a vast pop¬ 
ulation. Two points of Chinese agricul¬ 
ture are worthy of note; no weeds are 
grown, and every available, substance is 
tufned into manure. It will be seen that in 
our “high farming” of the present day 
both of these points are considered funda¬ 
mental. The best crops are grown on 
soil that is kept free from weeds by clean 
culture, and kept strong and hearty by 
liberal manuring. The good fanner will 
as soon think of leaving dirt on his face as 
to let his fields grow up to weeds, and the 
sight of a crop trying to grow without, 
sufficient plant food, gives him a feeling 
akin to that, he would experience in de¬ 
priving his own family of proper food. 
The successful farmer falls in love with 
bis farm and treats it reasonably. 
The well used soil is grateful. 
In 1861, Congress passed an act. grant¬ 
ing a vast aggregate area of land to be 
sold to aid the cause of agricultural edu¬ 
cation. Land to the value of $10,000,- 
000 has been sold from this tract, and 
ouildiugsand apparatus valued at $7, 000.- 
000 have also been given. The people 
have the right to expect vast results from 
this outlay. There are some 40 agricul¬ 
tural institutions in this country reaping 
the benefit of the original land grant. 
About 85 per cent, of the students in ag¬ 
riculture are found in five of these 40 
schools. The majority of the remaining 
35 schools are so completely under the 
wing of a “State University” that they 
are likely to die in darkness. These 
schools should either be killed off or fill¬ 
ed up with students. This sum of mon¬ 
ey is too large to be thrown away. A cer¬ 
tain class of farmers have tried for years to 
kill the schools without much success. It 
is time they tried a better plan, and sent 
their boys to make these schools what, they 
ought to be. 
What do you propose doing towards 
securing a good teacher for your school 
this Winter? Make an effort this year to 
improve the school. Find out what teach¬ 
ers can be secured before you go to the 
school meeting. Talk things over with 
your neighbors, and see. what they want. 
Put some good busiuess man on the school 
board, and support him heartily in all 
needed reforms. Make the grounds at¬ 
tractive and the house comfortable, even 
if it does cost a little to do it. Visit the 
school as often as you can. Tell your 
children to mind the teacher, and never 
encourage them in rebellion. If you 
think the school is unfit for them to at¬ 
tend, take them out of it, and do not send 
them there to carry on an authorized in¬ 
subordination. Watch the teacher, and 
still be reasonable with him. If your 
boy does not learn as rapidly as he should, 
see if some of the fault is not in the boy. 
If you neglect the school, you neglect 
your duty as a citizen. 
Statistics show that consumption, 
which has in years past made such fright¬ 
ful ravages in this city, is now on a de¬ 
cline. Between 1881 and 1885, though 
the population increased nearly 200,000, 
the deaths from consumption decreased 
116. It is doubtless true that many con¬ 
sumptives who contract the disease here, 
go elsewhere to die, yet it seems probable 
that something has occurred to stay in 
part the ravages of the disease. Doctors 
attribute this decline to the fact that 
people know more about the disease than 
formerly. They are being educated up 
to the idea that* in prevention alone lies 
the cure. It seems to be generally admit¬ 
ted that people, as a rule, have more re¬ 
gard for the laws of health. They are 
dressing more warmly and strive more 
successfully to avoid exposure and im¬ 
pure air. Women are wearing heavier 
shoes and shaping their dresses so as to 
allow more space for their lungs. Millions 
of dollars are spent each yeavfor nostrums 
warranted to cure the disease. The con¬ 
sumptive is always hopeful, always imagin¬ 
ing he is better. This hope lures him on 
from one treatment to another. The only 
“cure” for consumption lies in taking 
care of one's self, and thus resisting ail 
inroads of the disease. Good food, good 
and warm clothing, shelter from severe 
exposure, plenty of sleep and a happy, 
restful mind, are the conditions needed to 
stay the disease. 
TWO FARMERS. 
Two farmers wo know, own two farms 
which join. One farm contains 50 acres, 
the other 110. The farms are in New 
England. Farmer A, with his 50 acres has 
time to go to church, to the picnic and 
Grange. Time and again, while out riding 
with iiis family, he passes by fanner B, 
toiling in the field with never a thought 
for anything but labor. Farmer A’s wife 
has a borsc of her own, which she can 
drive as she likes. The boys and girls 
have books and magazines and the time to 
read them. Mrs. B. has to beg for days 
for a horse, and then must take the old 
mare that can only be induced to hasten 
out of her slow walk bv a thorough ap¬ 
plication of the stick. 
Every rod of the smaller farm does its 
work. Manure is a respected friend. The 
crops raised are those that sell for cash. 
The soil does not run out because the 
farmer makes a business of keeping it up. 
On the larger farm there are weedy past¬ 
ures. The manure is put into small strips 
of the best land. The grass is never fer¬ 
tilized. The soil is expected to make up 
in area what it lacks in quality. Farmer 
B. makes mouev, for he never spends any. 
He looks across at his neighbor and 
sneers. Do these extra horses, these 
books and papers pay? Not a cent iu 
cash. Farmer A. puts it like this: 
“Neighbor B’s idea of (rue profit is differ¬ 
ent from mine—that’s all. lie wants his 
in hard cash; I’m ready to spend a 
part of mine in comfort. I cau’t spend 
my money to a better advantage than in 
making my family conhutcd. I could 
save this money and buy more land, but 
1 like my little farm, i feed it and it 
keeps its strength. Why should I spend 
the best part of my hie in continually 
grubbing for money that will never bene¬ 
fit me?" Now friends, which plan do you 
like best? Which are you following? 
What is your idea of true profit? Is your 
money in the bank, or is it invested in 
happiness? Think it over. 
PROPOSED CURTAILMENT OF INDIAN 
RESERVATIONS. 
Under the late Indian Appropriation 
Act, the Secretary of the Interior has just 
appointed a Commission, consisting of the 
Hon. J. V. Wright, of Tenn., Bishop 
Whipple, of Miuu., and Charles F. Lara- 
bee, of the Indian Office, to negotiate 
with certain tribes of Indians in Minne¬ 
sota. Montana, Dakota and Idaho for the 
purchase of such surplus land as they may¬ 
be induced to sell. The Commissioners 
are charged to make no arrangement with¬ 
out the full Consent of the tribes con¬ 
cerned—that is, of course, the consent of 
the majority of each tribe—aud no agree¬ 
ments will be binding until they have 
been approved of by Congress. They 
will first try to satisfy the Indians of 
Leach Lake, Fond du Lac, Gruud Portage 
and a few other small reservations about 
the head-waters of the Mississippi, for 
damage done to their lands by the over¬ 
flow from the reservoirs constructed by 
the Government half-a-dozen years ago. 
About 1,600 Indians have been ruined by 
these overflows, and an effort is to he 
made to remove them to the White Earth 
Reservation iu Western Minnesota, to¬ 
gether with a few other half-starved 
bands in the same section, indemnity 
being assured to them. 
The Commissioners will next move west 
to the Fort Berthold Reservation on the 
Missouri, iu Dakota. Tins has an area of 
2,000,OOOaeres and a population of only 
1 ,t)00—Blaekfeet, Piegeansand Gros Ven¬ 
tres. These are about the most back¬ 
ward of all the Indians, and are support¬ 
ed almost entirely by the Government. 
They can do nothing with such a vast 
allotment of land, and would do bet¬ 
ter on a more limited range, aided by 
Government instruction and support in 
agriculture and stock-keeping. 
Westward, in Montana, the Blaekfeet 
Reservation contains 21,500,000 acres and 
a population, of less than 7,000 Indians. 
Allowing 320 acres to each Indian family, 
the surplus land would equal the State of 
Maine, and if bought by the Government 
at $L25 per acre, and paid for in bonds 
bearing four percent interest, it would re¬ 
turn an income of $1,000,000 a year. 
Under the same conditions the surplus 
land of the Crow Reservation, extending 
200 miles along the Northern Pacific 
Railroad and thence south to the Wyom¬ 
ing, would produce annually $223,000. 
Now every buck, squaw and pappoosehas 
an average of two square miles of land very 
well adapted to agriculture,especially with 
irrigation. 
According to a report made by Gen. 
Sheridan, there are in the Indian reserva¬ 
tions in Dakota and Montana an aggre¬ 
gate area of over 54,000,000 acres, and a 
population of loss than 45,000! “I he sur¬ 
plus area of 81,000 square miles would 
produce an annual interest of $2,500,000" 
—and be just the size of Kansas. 
The Commissioners will then go fur¬ 
ther West into Idaho and Washington 
Territories and try to induce the Spokaues 
and Pen d’ Oreillas to go on the Flathead 
Reservation in Montana, where they will 
have a magnificent country of noble 
mountains, frequent streams and rich 
lands, and be among the most advanced 
Indian farmers of the Northwest; 
for the Flatheads cultivate fine farms 
and live in comfortable log houses. 
It is against the best interests of the 
Indians that they should be allowed such 
vast areas of laud, of which they can make 
no use. They arc not advanced enough 
in civilization, and are too poor and shift¬ 
less, to engage in agriculture or stock- 
raising successfully. The buffaloes, on 
which they mainly depended for support, 
have been nearly exterminated, and at pre¬ 
sent they would starve on the results of 
hunting over these large areas. Railroads 
and settlements arc pushing westward, 
and the country all around the reservations 
is being rapidly taken up, and it will be 
better for the Indians and white men if 
the former get an allotment of a 
liberal area of land for each family, and 
are honestly indemnified for the sur¬ 
plus of their reservations surrendered 
to the Government, which can, in turn, 
sell ir to bona-fide settlers. Railroad com¬ 
panies and cattle kings and syndicates are 
the most persistent advocates of the open¬ 
ing up of the Indian reservations at pres¬ 
ent. Hundreds of reckless adventurers, 
like the Oklahoma boomers, are either 
paid or encouraged by these to keep the 
subject constantly before the people. In 
whatever measures the Government may 
take, however, the interests of honest 
settlers—pre-emptors or homesteaders— 
must be always held paramount to those 
of all others. Nor should the interests of 
the Indians be for a moment neglected. 
The names of the Commissioners give 
universal satisfaction, and it is to be 
hoped that the results of their labors will 
also meet with the approval of all fair- 
minded men. 
BREVITIES. 
We repeat the suggestion already presented 
in these columns, that the very best way we 
know of to break a hen of the sitting propen¬ 
sity is to confine her in a yard with a harmless 
dog. 
Don’t you see how our pious political parti- 
zans are collecting all the benevolent Indian 
sentiment they can, so as to divide the reser¬ 
vations among themselves aud add more fuel 
to the fires of railway greed that are consum¬ 
ing us? 
The white blackberry Crystal White is now 
in fruit at the Rural Grounds. It is delicious 
in quality—the berries of medium size and as 
white as a White Mulberry. There are two 
pities as to this: one that it is not hardy; the 
other, that it is not prolific. 
Four or five years ago the Black Champion 
Currant was advertised in England as in size 
of berry and raceme far ahead of any other 
black currant. We imported a plant which is 
now ripening its fruit. Beside it is the Prince 
of Wales, and they seem to be the same. 
“Give us good mothers; they make us what 
we are.” says Mr. Stahl in his article on next 
page.—“Diil you ever seen baby that would 
not crawl towards u blossom?” Read Mr. 
Stahl’s excellent, paper, good mothers and 
fathers. Tho careful reading of it may do 
you a world of good by influencing your 
“policy” in the management of your children. 
It will interest you at any rate. 
Mr. Stewart, writing us from bis home in 
Highlands, N. C., speaks of the bright, suuny, 
brisk, invigorating Winters they enjoy there, 
“with cold enough to make the warm sun¬ 
shine pleasant, and sunshine enough to make 
the cold bearable without thick clothing. 
And tho water—the purest and softest.; and 
the air the clearest and brightest, making the 
stars seem like lantern-lights floating midway 
in the atmosphere.” 
The fault of many journals now-a-days is 
that they consume so much space in giving 
humau names to plants and personal authori¬ 
ties for facts whan they should lx- quoting 
more direct from the ground, and let plants 
and animals have their say. The other way 
ministers to our absurd American egotism, 
which is really of no more account in science 
than the identity of the particles of water in 
the rising and falling tide. 
The Rural, as has been stated, is now try¬ 
ing the Langshan breed of poultry. We se¬ 
cured three settings and have but nine chicks, 
seven of which are roosters. ()b! the perver¬ 
sity of eggs! We are preposessed in favor of 
Langshaus. The Black Cochin is itself a line 
breed, though never a good glossy black. The 
Langshan comes from a country colder than 
(.he climate of some of our Northern States, 
and the breed is no doubt a very hardy one. 
A well-known agriculturist aud farm 
writer says, in a private note to the Rural, 
that wo should try to teach our Government 
authorities something about grass. The edu¬ 
cation of our Government, is the most fearful 
tax wo have to pav in a republic. If our 
officials would only draw their pay and go to 
sleep comfortably'when we get them iuto a 
suug office, wo should be all right; but they 
won’t. They are bound to do something, and 
ten to one ir, will be mischief. 
The Oleomargarine gang arc said to be de¬ 
termined to oppose the re-election to Congress 
of every Representative who voted in favor 
of the Oleo. Bill, wherever there is a chance 
of defeating him in the nominating conven¬ 
tions or m the noils. A large “■corruption 
fund” has been collected for this purpose, and 
tnc first attempt Is being directed against 
Representative Allen, of the Lowell District, 
Mass. Jt. ought to be an advantage to candi¬ 
dates to be opposed by this unscrupulous, 
fraudulent monopoly. 
At the recent Connecticut Prohibition Con¬ 
vention, our esteemed friend and contributor, 
P. M. Auger, was nominated for Lieut.-Gov 
ernor. This is an admirable selection. We 
are glad to commend it. Mr. Auger is a 
sound, sensible man, with honest convictions 
and the courage to stand up and enforce them, 
lie Ls a practical farmer—a man of the people. 
The farmers of the country are prone to com¬ 
plain that their rights arc not respected ns 
they should be. Here is a chance tor Connec¬ 
ticut farmers to stand up and be counted, by 
voting for one of their own fellows. We shall 
see how much of their complaining is all 
j “talk,” and how sincerely they want a repre- 
. sentative from their own ranks, 
