§48 
THE RURAL. HEW*YORKER. 
AUS 21 
THE 
RURAL- NEW-YORKER, 
ANational Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. CARMAN. 
from seed. Years ago Dr. Peters, of New 
York, during a virulent outbreak of the 
disease here, concluded tlrat it afflicted 
the lower animals as well as man, and 
another physician declared it. could be 
prevented by inoculation. Have the 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. SI Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 1886. 
Has Simon’s Plum fruited with any of 
our readers? If so, we would be glad to 
hear about it. 
- - » » 
t The SUPPLEMENT of the RURAL 
FEW-YORKER Special to be issued Sept. 
4 th will be mailed to subscribers and all ap¬ 
plicants from its date until next May or 
June. 
Advertisements for the Supplement should 
be sent in at once . The price will be 50 
cents per line to all. Advertising patrons 
need never apply to m for special rates. 
We have no special rates . 
The plot upon which our experiments 
with different fertilizers upon potatoes 
were made this year, is about one-eighth 
of an acre. Two men were engaged 16 
hours of last week in digging, weighing 
aud counting these potatoes. The yield 
of the entire plot, will not exceed 90 bush¬ 
els to the acre. Some of the trenches 
yielded not over 25 bushels—others as 
high, probably, as 400. The longer we 
are engaged in purely experimental farm¬ 
ing, the more evident it becomes that the 
average fanner can not afford to experi¬ 
ment in a careful, systematic way for him¬ 
self. Hence the vaiue of Experiment Sta¬ 
tions, if only they be conducted by intel¬ 
ligent, earnest, practical men. 
In the Rural’s potato experiments of 
the. present year, the potatoes fertilized 
(separately) with acid phosphate and 
muriate of potash were more corroded, so 
to express it, than those fertilized with 
bone or sulphate of potash. Whether 
this corrosion of the surface was due to 
wire-worms or to a fungus, or both, we 
cannot say. The entire report, which, 
we think, will be of special interest to all 
readers who use, or intend to use, con¬ 
centrated fertilizers, will appear in a few 
weeks. It strengthens our previous ex¬ 
periments, which, in the worn-out soil 
where they were made, tell us that only 
complete fertilizers will materially increase 
the crop._ 
DOES SCARLET FEVER COME FROM 
THE COW? 
Early this year, something like an 
epidemic of scarlet fever occurred in a 
part, of London, and strict investigation 
showed that it started among the custom¬ 
ers of a certain dairy. The supply of 
milk from that source having been stopped, 
the cases grew fewer. The strictest search, 
however, could find no cases of fever 
among the people at the dairy, and the 
cows appeared in fairly good health. At 
length it was noticed that there were 
sores on the milk bags of some, and that 
along the back and on the tail, the hair 
did not grow firmly. The beasts were 
killed, and it was found that their lungs, 
livers and kidneys were affected. The 
loose hair and the local sores, like the red 
skin in man, were only outward signs of 
a disease tainting the entire system. A 
dog and a calf were iuoculated by virus 
from the sores on the udders, and in each 
case the diagnosis was confirmed by the 
post-mortem. It has long been known 
that the cause of scarlet fever is as speci¬ 
fic as that of yellow fever or dyphtheria; 
that it is carried very easily for long dis¬ 
tances, and that milk can be a medium of 
carrying it from house to house; but it 
forward in advocating the measure, met 
the other day, and passed resolutions of 
thanks to the Congressmen and others 
who were the most energetic supporters 
of the bill. It reported that it had spent 
$7,090.32 in championing .the bill, of 
English physicians drawn too wide an in- which $5,059 had been collected from the 
ference from insufficient data ? In any butter and salt dealers of this city, and 
the remainder has still to be contributed. 
ference from insufficient data ? In any 
case, what American doctor will earn 
the great honor justly due to the dis¬ 
coverer of some antidote against this most 
deadly of children’s diseases. 
MORE VETERINARIANS. 
If a fair proportion of the young men 
who graduate at medical schools each 
year would devote themselves to the 
practice of veterinary science, the world 
would be better off. The last census 
gave us 64,137 lawyers and 85,671 phy¬ 
sicians, and these numbers increase at. the 
rate of 1,000 or more each year. At the 
same time there were but 2,130 veterinary 
surgeons. We have doctors enough al¬ 
ready. The more we have the more 
easily shall we be inclined to believe our¬ 
selves sick. We need better treatment 
for our animals. The live stock of thq 
country is increasing in value with great 
rapidity. Over $300,000,000 have been 
added to the value of our cattle alone by 
care in selection and breeding. Where men 
have $500 or more invested in a single 
animal, they will be careful to cousult au¬ 
thorities as to its health. The business 
of the veterinarian will be sure to grow. 
Every large stableman or breeder will 
eventually be forced to employ some one 
to look after the health of his animals. 
There will be money in such a position; 
it is an honorable profession and it. offers 
a wide range for usefulness. Farmers’ 
boys who desire to obtain an education 
and enter some profession may well turn 
their attention to veterinary science. 
Boys brought up on the farm, accustomed 
to watch animals in health and disease, 
will find no inconsiderable portion of the 
course in veterinary mastered when they 
come to attend the lectures. It will not 
be like making a complete change in his 
habits of thinking and liviug as he would 
be obliged to do in order to enter one of 
the so-called genteel professions. There 
is hardly a line of work in which success 
is more likely to follow hard and earnest 
labor. Some of the young men who have 
turned their thoughts towards the work 
of experimenting with the health of their 
fellow men will do well to consider the 
chances for energetic and studious men in 
veterinary science. 
OLEOMARGARINE. 
Nearly three-fourths of the oleomar¬ 
garine made in this country is turned out 
at Chicago. The large local manufactur¬ 
ers met there Wednesday last to consult 
with the Collector of Internal Revenue 
about the new law and its effects. It 
was at first determined to test the consti¬ 
tutionality of the law; but on due consid¬ 
eration it seems hardly probable this step 
will now be taken. A test case would be 
expensive and could not be decided un¬ 
der three years; and even if successful 
would certainly lead to the passage of an¬ 
other statute less open to legal objection 
and more grievous to them. The great 
objection is to the tax of $48 a year on 
retailers. It is thought that many of 
these will decline to pay this impost for 
As a result of the passage of the law 
the price of butter lias gone up two cents 
a pound within the last fortnight. The 
Commissioner of Internal Revenue says 
that if “moonshine” oleo factories are 
suppressed as vigorously as illicit distiller¬ 
ies the law may have an effect entirely 
different from what its advocates antici¬ 
pated. One of its first effects will be to 
drive small manufacturers out of the busi¬ 
ness, thereby increasing the profits of the 
larger establishment* which will have a 
mouopoly of the trade. It is thought 
they may entirey evade the law by color¬ 
ing* the stuff pink or green ; for, as the 
President pointed out, the statute applies 
to a substance “made in imitation or 
semblance of butter,” and they would 
thus escape the reproach conveyed in 
another part of the President's messsge— 
that “hardly a pound ever entered the 
poor man’s house under its real name and 
in its real character.” 
FOREST FIRES. 
Durtno the past few weeks, forest fires, 
nearly unequaled in extent and in the 
value of the property destroyed, have 
meed in different parts of the Northern 
States, From Maine to Minnesota the 
air has been black aud heavy with the 
smoke and ashes of burning forests of 
white pine, spruce, beech and hemlock. A 
few weeks ago, the forests in the upper 
counties of Maine, the slopes of the 
White Mountains in New Hampshire, and 
to a less extent in parts of Vermont were 
sadly laid waste by extensive fires, which 
destroyed hundreds of thousands of dol¬ 
lars’ worth of timber, besides much other 
property. Smaller fires have darkened 
the sky by day, and lit it up by night, 
along the timber regions of Northern New 
York, and westward through Ontario, 
Canada. The most destructive of all, 
however, have been raging for the last 
week in the great pine belt of upper 
Michigan and Wisconsin. Here lay the 
most valuable and productive white pine 
in the world, while beech and maple also 
abounded. The reports of disaster come 
from widely separated parts of both 
States. The two Michigan peninsulas 
are equally affected Thousands of acres 
of valuable timber have been destroyed 
all along ihe Lake Superior water-shed of 
the upper Michigan peninsula, while re¬ 
ports tell of widely scattered devastation 
in various parts in the northern part of 
the lower peninsula also. Bay, Mecosta, 
Newago and Lake Counties have been 
heavy sufferers, aud the fires are still 
spreading. 
Still greater has been the devastation 
in Wisconsin. Vast areas of timber have 
been destroyed on the waters of the 
Upper Chippewa and on the streams that 
flow into the Menominee both from Wis¬ 
consin and Michigan. A great line of 
flame and smoke with a frontage 100 miles 
in extent, is reported along the St. Paul 
Railroad east of Ashland. Other con¬ 
flagrations are reported from various 
the privilege of selling bogus butter under widely separated parts of the upper sec- 
present risks and restrictions. The tion of the State. 
wholesale dealers also want the retailers The destruction of standing timber 
must be enormous. 
to be allowed to put the concoction into 
of standing timber 
A careful estimate of 
any dish or jar brought by a customer the pine burned in the Menominee region 
simply putting a printed statement around alone places it at upwards of 100,000,000 
it before putting it in the vessel. feet, and this is a small area compared 
m t d-t ‘ * „ . _ _ a’ T 1.. »v ...UL ikn rnrrlAll rlnVOQ? of/lll A T1 Oil . 
The Commissioner of Inland Revenue 
has sent out circulars to the makers of 
oleo and the local collectors in the chief 
centers of the trade, asking for suggest¬ 
ions as to the most convenient yet effect¬ 
ive means of carrying the law into effect. 
The Bureau of Printing and Engraving 
was thought it must be first contaminated has begun to prepare the plates for priut- 
from a human source. Beyond this, ing the oleomargarine internal revenue 
science has never hitherto been able stamps. They arc to be in form and de- 
to coniecture how or where it originated. sign like the tobacco stamps, and to be 
4*1 4 ... it 
From the above discovery, however, the 
honor of which is due to Drs. Power and 
Klein, it is now claimed that it starts 
from the cow, like cow-pox, orlike rabies 
from the dog or glanders from the horse. 
The disease was identified in the cows 
by well known symptoms ; it was made 
to reproduce itself in other animals, and it 
was shown that it produced scarlet fever in 
man. The doctors believe the milk in 
the udders of affected cows is whole¬ 
some ; butinmilkiDg, it becomes charged 
with disease germs which rapidly multi¬ 
ply. They claim to have seen the chain- 
stamps. They arc to be in form and de¬ 
sign like the tobacco stamps, and to lie 
for 10, 20, 40, SO cents and $1. The stuff 
is, it seems, to be put up in packages of 
from 10 to 60 pounds generally, and in 
Winter in barrels of 200 pound. It is 
under consideration whether it can be 
put up in stone jars. Thursday last, the 
Civil Service Commissioners at Washing¬ 
ton gave directions that the examiners 
should devote their entire time to the cx- 
aminatioiisof candidates for clerkships and 
other appointments rendered necessary to 
carry the law into effect. 
In this city, the directors of the self- 
constituted American Agricultural and 
like disease germ (streptococcus) and to Dairy Association, composed of a hand 
have cultivated it in pure milk more easily ful of large butter and salt dealers, but 
‘ ' which has put itself very prominently 
and as certainly as plants^can be raised 
with the vast region devastated. An en¬ 
ormous amount of cut-timber, lumber, 
shiugles and cord wood lias also been 
destroyed. A great deal of dressed lum¬ 
ber has met with the same fate, 150,000 
feet of chair stock, for instance, were 
burnt up, with the factory, at Marshfield. 
Farm-houses, outbuildings, fences, stand¬ 
ing and harvested grain and all kinds of 
fixed farm property have been swept 
away. Several towns have been threat¬ 
ened with destruction, and some have 
been injured to a greater or less extent, 
while a few villages have been entirely 
destroyed. Such was the fate of Spencer 
where the loss was over $300,000. It is 
greatly feared that some lives were lost 
among those traveling, hunting or work¬ 
ing in the forests and settlers in isolated 
clearings. 
Great as must, he the present loss, how¬ 
ever by the destruction of these great 
areas of timber, and of prosperous villages 
and farm property, it is probable that the 
country will suffer more from the perma¬ 
nent injury done to the soil by the con¬ 
flagration. Forest fires destroy not only 
the forests, but the soil that produces 
them. Many years, perhaps generations, 
must, pass away before the slow growth 
and decay of humbler vegetation can 
build up a fresh soil rich enough in plant 
food for new forests to thrive and mature. 
The devastated region is naturally a for¬ 
est country. Its severe climate, sandy 
and often barren soil, and inadequate 
natural drainage, render it iinsuited for 
ordinary agriculture; while pine and sev¬ 
eral other species of trees grow there to 
perfection, and the most profitable use to 
which nearly the whole region could be 
devoted, would be the perpetual produc¬ 
tion of forests. 
The area of forests burned in the cen¬ 
sus year of 1880, as estimated by Profes¬ 
sor Sargent, was 10,274,089 acres, involv¬ 
ing a loss of $25,462,250, besides the. 
incalculable injui'y done to the soil by 
rendering it, in most cases, incapable of 
reforesting. It is highly probable that 
the forests consumed every year by fire 
are as extensive as those removed 
by the axe. The most numerous 
causes of fire in Michigan and Wis¬ 
consin, as in the rest of the country, are 
the burning of trees and brush-wood to 
clear the land; carelessness on the part of 
hunters, who leave the embers of their 
fires unheeded, or throw brands or lighted 
matches among the dry grass, or set this 
ablaze with ignited gun wadding; sparks 
from locomotives; fires made by settlers 
for improving pasturage; and fires kindled 
from sheer malice. The wide extent and 
rapid course of the fires in Michigan and 
Wisconsin, are also in a great measure 
due to the methods pursued by the lum- 
ermen of the region. Long ago they cut 
down all the trees that answered their 
I iurpose, trimmed them up and left the 
rimmings behind. These in course of 
ime became as dry as tinder, and only a 
park was needed to make a blaze. 
What can be done to put an end to or min- 
mize the danger from those causes ? Evi- 
lently settlers must be more careful 
ibout clearing laud and improving pas- 
ures by means of fire. They and their 
ellows * will be the greatest sufferers 
hrough carelessness ; but in addition to 
his cause for caution, heavy penalties for 
•ecklessness should be enacted. The 
carelessness of hunters and travelers 
should also be severely punished, when¬ 
ever detection is possible. Unless laws 
ire made and enforced in this direction 
forest fires must increase with the increase 
of our population. Railroad corporations 
operating in forest regions should be com¬ 
pelled by law to provide safeguards 
against the Deedless spread of fire. If 
carelessness deserves punishment, how 
much more so does malice ? Little 
mercy should be shown to the wretches 
who purposely start a conflagration 
which may cause an incalculable loss of 
property and even life. 
The lessons taught by the misfortunes, 
of Michigan and Wisconsin should teach 
the people of every well-timbered State 
the importance of* passing appropriate 
laws for the protection of forest property, 
and make their enforcement possible by 
teaching a true appreciation of the value 
of forests to the community and nation. 
Our forests have been too much reduced 
by a century of mismanagement, to allow 
the country to regard with iudiffcrence 
the losses incurred within the last few 
weeks. 
-♦ -- 
BREVITIES. 
A fit subject for our agricultural Ex. Sta¬ 
tions to investigate: the relative value of 
sulphate aud muriate of potash. 
Suppose you exclude from the food of any 
animal either phosphoric acid, potash or ni¬ 
trogen. Would the uuimal thrive? No more 
thau the plant, we believe. 
The American Agricultural and Dairy As¬ 
sociation, which was started here a short time 
ago by some butter and salt dealers, who were 
disgruntled at the refusal of the old Americau 
Agricultural Association to permit them to 
run it, has called “a National Convention of 
all interested in agriculture,’’ etc., to meet in 
Philadelphia, next September 15 and 16. It 
says “proposals are now making to combine 
all the agricultural, dairy, live-stock and 
wool growers’ associations in this organiza¬ 
tion for the most perfect work, and we shall 
yet sec in it the most powerful institution for 
good the country bn-s ever had." Well, no¬ 
body could ever justly charge the President 
and mouth-piece of the Association with too 
much modesty. 
A COORD I NO to the August, report of the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture the winter wheat 
crop amounts to 295,000,000 bushels, and there 
is no likelihood of any considerable variation 
from this estimate. The spring wheat crop is 
estimated by the same authority at 136,000,000 
bushels, or an aggregate of -131,000.000 bushels. 
Our estimates on July -‘trd were: Winter 
wheat, 295,000,000 bushels: spring wheat., 140,- 
000,000 bushels; aggregate, 435,000,000 bushels 
—difference, 4,000,000, altogether in spring 
wheat. Our estimate was made on reports up 
to July l. This was before the groat injury 
to spring wheat by the long-continued 
drought; but wo made allowance for consider¬ 
able injury from the drought theuiu progress. 
