THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
SEPT 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Homes, 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1886. 
We hope to retain for years to came as in 
years past, the half of our old subscribers 
without any f urther in ducement than that 
which the Rural New-Yorker itself 
offers. If they continue to need and to 
prise it, they will continue to subscribe for it. 
In order to induce those who would gladly 
see its circulation largely increased to aid 
us in this work, we have placed before them 
two propositions. The first is that in clubs 
of five or over , the price will be (until further 
notice) $1.50 per year. The second is em¬ 
bodied in the premium-list, a careful ex¬ 
amination of wh ich will certainly show that 
adequate compensation is offered far any 
effort our friends may hindly male in the 
Rural’s behalf. 
We would call attention to the zinc 
label, and the way of attaching it to .stakes 
as well as to the branches of shrubs and 
trees, which we have finally adopted at 
the Rural Grounds, as at once the 
simplest, cheapest and most durable of 
all labels and attachments known to us. 
Particular attention is called to our 
clubbing combination list on pages 610 and 
614. Any of our readers desiring to sub¬ 
scribe for any of those papers in connection 
withtlie R. N. Y., may subscribe through 
us, with the assurance that the promptest 
attention will be given their favors. 
Among the newer kinds of grapes, we 
think it may be said that Moore’s Early 
is among early grapes what its parent, the 
Concord, is among later. We know of 
no other grape of its season about which 
so much good can be said, while nothing 
can be said against it except that it is no 
better in quality than the Concord. 
It is desirable that the Rural New- 
Yorker should be represented at all the 
agricultural fairs of the country. Those 
who are willing to act as agents will be 
furnished upon application with posters 
and all the specimen copies they may 
need. 
The difficulty of forecasting prices of 
agricultural products is well exemplified 
by the contradiction now noticeable in 
the cotton market. The price of the 
staple is more than a cent a pound less 
than a year ago ; yet the visible supply 
is 25,000 bales less, and the current esti¬ 
mates of the new crop are half a million 
bales less than the current estimates a 
year ago. True, the stocks of raw ma¬ 
terial in the hands of manufacturers are 
thought to be heavier now than then; but 
it is known that the stocks of manufac¬ 
tured goods are lighter. 
A United States cutter has seized three 
vessels belonging to the Canadian province 
of British Columbia, for fishing for seals 
in Behring Sea within the marine juris¬ 
diction expressly ceded by Russia to the 
United States on the purchase of Alaska. 
It seems, therefore, that there are two sides 
to the fishery question, and that Ameri¬ 
cans can retaliate for Canadian seizures of 
offending fishermen. Apart from this, 
there is considerable complaint regarding 
increased stringency in the enforcement of 
customs regulations on both sides of the 
line. It seems to us that the present 
trouble is somewhat of a childish nature, 
and that an amicable adjustment of the 
existing difficulties would be hailed with 
satisfaction by all sensible men in the Do¬ 
minion and the Union, 
The offense must not be repeated. The 
reputation of American young men ; the 
delicacy of English young women, and 
dread for our foreign commerce for¬ 
bid it. An English shopkeeper writes to 
the London Daily News that lately one 
of his assistants, on cutting open an 
American cheese, discovered a tin box in 
the center of it. Inclosed in it was—not 
dynamite, but something more dangerous 
to the well-being of English households— 
a letter which said that the writers, two 
young men, would be pleased to receive 
correspondence from two young ladies, 
the names and addresses of the writers 
being given. If nice, modest English 
young girls are to be exposed to the 
temptation of clandestine correspondence 
in this way, how long will it, be before 
careful English matrons will forbid 
the entry of American cheese into their 
houses ? * Again we say, therefore, that 
this offense, fraught with such dire con¬ 
sequences to one of our most important 
dairy interests, must not be repeated, 
and we very earnestly entreat all cheese- 
inakers to keep a watchful eye on their 
young men. 
THE SAME OATS UNDER DIFFERENT 
NAMES. 
During the past season we raised side 
by side 19 varieties of oats ; that is, oats 
with different names. A report of all 
will be made later. It may be w ell that 
we should hasten to state that the seven 
kinds sold respectively as White Aus¬ 
tralian, Welcome, Badger Queen, Clydes¬ 
dale, Racehorse, White Belgian and Da¬ 
kota Chieftain are, so far as the writer 
could judge, all the sa?ne. We further 
find that the Yankee Prolific is the Rus¬ 
sian White or White Russian. Now, the 
Welcome was sold several years ago at a 
very high price as a novelty. The first 
season they were offered, we found them 
to be the Australian, and so stated in 
these columus. They are now offered at 
$1.25 a bushel. The Racehorse are now 
offered at $1.25 ; the Clydesdale at $3,50: 
the White Australian at $1: the White 
Russian at $t; the Yaukce Proliffc were 
offered last year at $10 (!) per bushel. 
We have no catalogue of this year lo re¬ 
fer to. This is bad business. We do not 
suppose that reputable seedsmen will 
wittingly buy old varieties and sell them 
as new; neither is it reasonable to assume 
that seedsmen cau give that careful study 
to flowers, vegetables and grains, which 
would enable them to recognize old va¬ 
rieties, grown perhaps under the most 
favorable conditions, and offered to them 
under new names. But when, by careful 
tests, they are found to lie the same, the 
new name should be discarded—ab¬ 
horred ! Can any conscientious seeds 
firm sell “ Yankee Prolific’’ Oats at 
$10 a bushel, knowing they are White 
Russian, which are worth but $1 ? 
- ---♦ ■ — 
'1 HE RURAL NEW-YORKER NO. 2. 
Thirty-three bills of this R. N.-Y. 
seedling potato were dug Aug. 31. We 
may be pardoned for thinking that it is 
of its class the nearest to a perfect potato 
which the writer has ever seen, since in 
the plot where it was grown probably 
over GOO varieties have been tried during 
the past ten years. The yield of the 33 
hills was 120,25 pounds, which as the hills 
were one foot apart and the trenches 
three feet apart, would be at the rate of 
881.83 bushels (00 pounds) to the acre. 
There were but 187 potatoes, and of these 
all were of marketable size but 22. Even 
the largest (five of which weighed 4% 
pounds) were smooth and shapely. Its 
form is oblong, inclining to round, and 
much flattened, while, except at the “seed 
end,” there aie but three or four eyes, and 
those are nearly level with the surface. 
The skin is white; the quality is the best 
as far as can be judged at present. 
This potato has been placed in the 
hands of one of our first seedsmen for 
propagation, and it will lie sent to our 
subscribers as soon as the supply will ad¬ 
mit. We had intended to place the R. 
N.-l r . No. 1 (Rural Calico) in our next 
seed distribution, but it has this season 
developed failings, and we shall try it yet 
another year. We do not care to intro¬ 
duce any of the Rural seedlings until we 
are satisfied that they are better than any 
of the kinds already in the market. 
ONE TEACHER OR THREE. 
In many country school districts there 
is a new teacher for every term in the 
year. It will pay to appropriate a little 
more money and secure one good teacher 
for all three terms. As a rule, young 
women who will teach for low wages are 
placed in charge of the school during the 
Summer. In the Winter, when the larger 
boys and girls go to school, aud when it 
is considered that the best teaching is re¬ 
quired, a man is engaged. By adding $50 
to the amount now paid to all three teach¬ 
ers, one good one could be secured who 
would teach for the same length of time 
and do far better work. Our experience 
with district schools shows us that it takes 
at least three weeks to find out what the 
previous teacher had taught the scholars, 
and then the methods employed by one 
teacher are so different from those of an¬ 
other that often the best half of the term 
is wasted in getting ready to begin. 
Where the teacher is selected for the 
whole year and the whole school money is 
to be contracted for at once, far more care 
will be exercised in securing a suitable per¬ 
son. Where the teacher is engaged for 
only three months there is always a feel¬ 
ing that it is a small matter; if he does 
not suit he can go at the end of the term 
anyway. Those who think the older boys 
and girls need all the careful instruction, 
and that anybody who can “hold down a 
chair” will do to teach the little people, 
are sadly mistaken. These points should 
be considered this Fall. Get one good 
tcacber and pay him well. 
FIX THE ROADS. 
W hat is to be done about the roads in 
your township this year ? Are they good 
or bad, and wbat do the people propose 
to do auout them ? Too many of our 
country roads are in a very bad condition. 
Most of the work on them is done in the 
Fail, and in a very half-hearted manner. 
“ Working on the road ” is generally a 
disagreeable task, and the workers are 
ever ready to “kill time.” The usual 
system of road-mending is to scrape the 
earth at the side on to the crown of the 
road, or to dump a great mass of gravel 
into every bad place. The work is all 
done at one season, and for a few weeks 
the roads are about impassable; until they 
can be “worn down ” there is little com¬ 
fort for man or beast. Then the work is 
dropped lor the year, the same practice to 
be gone through with the following Fall. 
If each little leak or washout could be 
taken in time, the roads could be kept in 
fair condition all through the year at a 
moderate expense, but the money gives 
out after the fall work, and there is 
nothing left for repairs. Many towns¬ 
people spend too little money upon their 
roads, and what they do spend is poorly 
applied. In some localities the system of 
hiring a man to make a business of keep¬ 
ing the roads in order has been very suc¬ 
cessful. If a man takes a contract to 
keep the roads of a towuship in order, he 
is bound to do it, and he will have to 
watch them carefully. Iu the cities and 
larger towns repairing is constantly go¬ 
ing on. Every little defect and failure 
in the road is corrected at once. The 
streets never become impassable, because 
bad places are not allowed to grow. 
Something of this system should be em¬ 
ployed in the country. Farmers are busy 
men, and cannot always leave their work 
to give half a day to road-making. If 
some man could be made responsible for 
the performance of the work, and paid for 
doing it, there would be a difference. 
No arguments are needed to prove that 
good roads are a blessing. They add to 
the value of property, increase the social 
features of any neighborhood, and pro¬ 
mote the welfare of the people in every 
way. ___ 
THE FARMERS’ CONGRESS OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 
The Farmers’ Congress which met last 
week at St. Paul decided to make the in¬ 
stitution permanent, aud measures were 
taken to incorporate it under the laws of 
the United States as “The Farmers’ Con¬ 
gress of the United States.” Every year 
delegates are to be sent to it by assemblies 
of farmers in the various States in the pro¬ 
portion of one for each Senator and Rep¬ 
resentative in Congress. It is proposed to 
hold regular sessions each year,and in this 
way to give expression to the opinionsand 
wishes of the farmers of the nation, who, 
with their sons and helpers, form more 
than half the voters of the country. 
In addition to the resolutions mentioned 
last week, the assembled farmers also 
passed others favoring the development 
of the system of water transportation as a 
check to railroad extortion, and asking the 
intervention of the Government to pre¬ 
vent unjust restrictions by foreign pow¬ 
ers against the importation of American 
farm products. This was especially di¬ 
rected against the action of France, Ger¬ 
many and other Continental countries in 
excluding American hog products on 
false pretences. It was also resolved 
that the tariff of 1867 on wool should be 
restored, and that protection should be 
given to home-grown rice and sugar by 
the imposition of heavier duties on 
importations of their foreign rivals. A 
resolution also favored the extension of the 
Signal Service so as to give timely warning 
of approaching changes in the weather to 
the farmers of all parts of the country; 
while another urged the general Gov¬ 
ernment to regulate inter-state commerce. 
This resolution was one of the most im¬ 
portant of the series, as a change in freight 
rates is virtually a change in the value 
not only of the marketable products of 
the farms, but even of tbe farms them¬ 
selves, and it is intolerable that frequent 
changes in matters of such great impor¬ 
tance should depend on the selfish de¬ 
cision of a handful of unscrupulous rail¬ 
road speculators and monopolists. It is 
very easy to point out evils of this kind, 
however, but very difficult to devise a 
remedy, and hence the convention could 
not agree upon indorsing either of the 
bills on the subject pending before Con¬ 
gress. Sonic supported the Cullom bill 
passed by the Senate ; others the Reagan 
bill, passed by the House. Tbe meeting 
throughout was orderly; its delibera¬ 
tions were calm and dispassionate, and 
its recommendations are worthy of at- 
tion by the people at large and their 
Representatives iu the National and 
State Legislatures. 
32 PAGES. 
BREVITIES. 
Potatoes at the Rural Grounds are rot- 
thig more than ever at this season of the 
year. 
Farmers pass excellent resolutions at their 
conventions ; why don’t they vote in accord¬ 
ance with them at the elections ? 
The new white Jessica grape was fully ripe 
at the Rural Grounds Aug. 20; Moore’s Ear¬ 
ly Sept 1 ; Florence (black) was ripe Aug: 
20, but the quality is very poor. 
Many farmers do not care to sow nitrate 
of soda or sulphate of ammonia upon the soil 
and leave it exposed to the action of the air 
lest the ammonia may be lost. Though solu¬ 
ble in water, and very roadily so, not a parti¬ 
cle is lost by exposure to the atmosphere. 
We have some proof that tubers from 
young seedling potatoes maybe improved in 
shape and productiveness l>y selecting the 
best tubers from the best hills for seed, and 
we are impressed that it pays to select all 
our potato seed, whether from old or new 
kinds, in the same way, with the same object 
in view. 
We say mulch heavily between the rows of 
strawberries as soon os the ground freezes,and 
cover the plants lightly. In the Spring the 
plants will easily grow through the mulch aud 
the berries will rest upon it, Leave the mulch 
between the rows until after fruitage—Men 
cultivate. 
We are told that Ayrshire cattle are at¬ 
tracting increased attention iu England, both 
at the shows ami iu the dairies. In our own 
country the Ayrshires have gained many 
friends of late. Can it be that we are to have 
a “boom’’ for the Ayrshires? There aro 
many worse things that might happen to the 
dairymen of the country than this same 
“boom.” 
Mr. H. H. Haaff, of Atkinson, Ills., whose 
excellent book on “Dehorning Cattle” was re¬ 
viewed in a late Rural, writes us that in one 
hour, in the barnyard among cattle, he could 
convince us that dehorning, as he performs it, 
is not necessarily painful. He is positive that 
his system of dehorning has never been prac¬ 
ticed before, aud that it is bound to come into 
general practice. Mr. Haaff has the good of 
stockmen at heart. He is working earnestly 
to increase the usefulness of his discovery. 
You can hardly do better than to sow the 
Armstrong (sola as Landreth) Wheat. It 
is os hardy as any of the hundred varieties 
tested at the Rural Grounds, very productive, 
and makes a good flour. Some day we hope 
that one or the other of the Rural crossbreeds 
may supersede It. Martin's Amber is also 
a first-rate wheat in every way, though it is so 
like the Landreth that the one answers for 
tbe other, except it may be in milling quali¬ 
ties, which we don’t happen to know any 
thing about. 
Ten dead calves and twenty two dead sheep 
were taken out of two “ double-deck ” cattle 
cars that arrived at Newark, N. J., from 
Owego, N. Y., Thursday morning. The 
wretched animals on the cars were wedged 
closely together, and the odor was sickening. 
They had been on the road 36 hours, aud no 
attention whatever had been paid to them on 
the journey. The Society for the Prevention 
of Cruelty'to Animals Is to bring suit against 
the railroad company ; but are the brutes who 
shipped them, and the other brutes who were 
supposed to nave charge of them to go scot- 
free ? 
A little band of agitators claiming to rep¬ 
resent the Knights of Labor, a number of ag¬ 
ricultural associations, anti-monopolists,trades 
unions, the Peoples’ Party, and teminirance re¬ 
formers, met at Indianapolis n week ago and 
resolved to form a new party; but they exhib¬ 
ited a wide and apparently irreconcilable dif¬ 
ference of opinion as to the basis on which it 
should rest'. A great deal of long winded res¬ 
olutions and fine-spun theories occupied much 
of the time. Although u majority of those 
present belonged to the Grange, Wheel, or 
Farmers’Alliance, the Knights of Labor and 
Greenhaokers had things all their own way. 
A eonnnittoce of eight was appointed to ar 
range for a national convention at Cincinnati 
next February; but noplace on the committee 
was given to any repfeseotativa of the agricul¬ 
tural interests. The whole thing, though 
loudly puffed iu advance, wu-s a sheer fiasco. 
It indicated, however, a certain amount of dis¬ 
content with existing purties, but wide as this 
may be, they certainly will not be superseded 
by this “party of the future,” 
