THE RURAL HEW-YORKER. 
0©T <6 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
KL6EET S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Parr Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1S86. 
We tell the reader about all that is 
known of the half peach, half plum, Pru- 
nus Simonii, on page 6S9. It seems to us 
an acquisition, and it is probable that its 
seedlings may give us valuable fruit, in¬ 
termediate between the plum and peach. 
Two or three years ago, the writer 
grafted one of his seedling grape-vines 
upon a Concord. The seedling was of 
sturdy growth, but not remarkably so. 
This year upon the Concord the main cane 
has grown 25 feet—the longest growth we 
have ever observed at the Rural Grounds. 
We have a final word to say of Clapp’s 
Favorite Pear,as it is produced at the Rural 
Grounds. The trees bear a greater ireight 
of fruit than any we have ever raised, and 
they bear every year. The tree is very 
vigorous, fast-growing and bears young. 
The pears are uniformly large and showy, 
ripening a full week before the Bartlett. 
The flesh is white and quite juicy. That 
is all we can say for its quality. They are 
rather sweet, the sweetness of a little 
sugar and a good deal of water, without 
spiciness or sprightliness. The books de¬ 
scribe this pear as “juicy, melting, but¬ 
tery, rich, vinous, perfumed, sweet.” 
NOTICE. 
The Thanksgiving Number of the Ru¬ 
ral New-Yorker will be dated Novem¬ 
ber 20th. It will present a full account of 
the Rural’s next Seed Distribution, and 
wc shall issue 24 pages. Advertising rates 
will be the same as usual for the regular 
paper (30 cents per line) and 50 cents per 
line for the Supplement, which will be sent 
out from its date until next June. 
We have several times spoken of the 
Mikado Pear, to praise it as an ornamental 
tree; to praise it for the beauty of its 
round, golden pears which hang like so 
many balls suspended by slender stems 
two inches or more in length; to praise its 
wonderful productiveness, rapid growth, 
its early bearing; to condemn the qual- 
itj of the fruit, no matter how care¬ 
fully or in what way it is ripened. But* 
we have now to add that when canned it 
is as delicious as any pear we have ever 
eaten. It is a question for each one to de¬ 
cide whether this tree is or is not worth 
cultivating for its beauty as an ornamental 
tree and for the value of its fruit, so boun¬ 
tifully produced, when canned. The Mi¬ 
kado is a Japan pear,hardier than the Ivief- 
fer and earlier by two weeks to ripen. 
At a recent school meeting in a West¬ 
ern State a bluff old man, who had grown 
tired of paying taxes to support experi¬ 
ments in education, said: “We don’t 
want any more apparatus here—what we 
do want is more of the living stuff in our 
schools.” Living stuff ! He might have 
used a more elegant phrase, but hardly 
one that, would have put the truth more to 
the point. We do need “ living stuff” in 
our schools. We need originality, energy 
and common sense. We never will have 
it till we hunt it out and pay for it. If 
we try to economize on the teacher’s wages, 
or hire some “poor stick” of a teacher 
just because he is cheap, wc take the first 
step towards laying in a cargo of “dead 
stuff” that will not pay its passage. Our 
schools need looking after and overhaul¬ 
ing. Put “ living stuff” into them by all 
means. 
A friend had a lot of choice young 
heifers to carry through the Summer. 
The pasture fairly swarmed with blood¬ 
thirsty flies that rendered life for cattle 
almost intolerable. The heifers were 
‘fitted with jackets made out of light cot¬ 
ton cloth like the ordinary horse blanket, 
only arranged so as to button underneath 
the animal. With this covering only the 
head, neck and legs were exposed to the 
flies. This cover cost but little and made 
hardly any extra work. While cattle in 
the neighboring fields were driven almost 
crazy by flies, these little things enjoyed 
comparative comfort. The flies could 
only attack a part of the body'where they 
could be reached and driven away. Nor 
•was the increased comfort of this young 
stock the only point to be considered. 
We believe the heifers were in far better 
condition at the end of the season to pay 
for this protection. There is a good les¬ 
son here that stockmen will do well to 
heed. 
THE POOR MAN’S FRIEND! 
Before Congress the oleomargarine 
people claimed that from 50 to 60 per 
cent, of their product consisted of pure 
butter. The other day samples of the 
stuff were seized by the Dairy and Food 
Commissioners in Cincinnati and analyzed 
by Henry A. Weber, Professor of 
Agricultural Chemistry in the Ohio State 
University at Columbus, and according to 
the sworn statement of the Professor, the 
highest percentage of pure butter found 
iu any of the samples was 20 per cent., 
and the lowest six percent., “the balance 
of the adulteration—94 per cent.—consist¬ 
ing of lard, tallow, salt and coloring mat¬ 
ter.” Taking the average of the 12 sam¬ 
ples, “they contained just 10% per cent, 
of pure butter and 89'.V per cent, of'adul- 
terations.” This stuff was purchased at 
the rate of 20 to 23 cents per pound from 
parties who claim to keep first-class gro¬ 
ceries. The retailer pays from 11 to 12H 
cents per pound for it, and it costs the 
manufacturer from seven to eight cents per 
pound. Last year 150,000,000 pounds of 
oleo were turned out in the United States, 
costing, at an average of seven cents per 
pound, $10,000,000, and selliug for $87,- 
000,000. Take the whole country through 
and the average price at which oleo is re¬ 
tailed is not less than 25 eentsper pound. 
Every handler of the stuff claims, however, 
to be the “poor man’s friend,” yet what 
cost seven cents per pound is sold to the 
“poor man” for 25 cents! 
MAKE WINTER WORK. 
Can’t you make work for the hired 
man this Winter ? Try it. Can’t you 
make arrangements for feeding stock or 
cutting wood that will enable you to give 
the hired man a home, at least? The 
cities are filled every Winter with farm 
hands who have no place to stay after No¬ 
vember. Many of them would come here 
anyway, but. there are some who would 
stay at the farm if they knew they could 
have a good home. These are the men 
you should help. Many a young man 
can be made iuto a useful citizen by a lit¬ 
tle encouragement., such as you can easily 
give. You have a home, with plenty to 
eat and drink and enough to wear. If 
you have a promising young man at work 
for you, don’t let him go tramping off to 
the city this Winter—if a fe\y words from 
you will keep him away. Exert yourself, 
make a little extra work for the sake of 
giving him a job. We make no plea for 
the many foul-tongued rascals who are 
found on too many farms. Get rid of 
them by all means. They are worse than 
poison in your family. But if you'havea 
man who is capable~of appreciating a 
home, and who has good in him, keep 
him if you can. You have a chance to 
carry out a little practical benevolence 
that you will'never regret. 
HEAVY CHARGES. 
Last March we told how the great 
trunk railroad lines east from Chicago 
had put up the rates on shipments of 
dressed meat, much to the disgust of the 
packers, who roundly declared that the 
trade would be utterly ruined by the rise. 
It appears that between March 1 and 
September 1, this year, 176,677 tons of 
live cattle and 188,181 tons of dressed 
beef were shipped east from the Lake 
City. The increase in rates on March 1 
was from 25 to 35 cents per 100 pounds on 
live cattle and from 433s' to 65 cents per 
100 pounds on dressed beef. In spite 
of the payment, of this great increase in 
transportation charges, the live cattle 
trade has not fallen off, while, the dressed 
meat trade has largely increased and those 
engaged in it have made enormous pro¬ 
fits. The railroad pool which controls 
the charges, and among whose members 
the profits are divided, have also made 
heavy gains. The pool allows from 17 % 
to 20 cents per 100 pounds for service in 
transportation of live cattle from Chicago 
to the seaboard. At 20 cents per 100 
pounds, the cost of carrying 176,677 tons 
would he $706,708; while the shippers, at 
85 cents per 100 pounds, paid a grand 
total of $1,236,739, giving a clear profit 
of $530,031. The pool allows 27% cents 
per 100 pounds for service in carrying 
dressed beef, amounting, on 138,181 tons, 
to $759,995; at 65 cents per 100 pounds, 
the shippersj^paid $1,796,357, ’giving a 
clear profit ol $1,036,358, or an aggregate 
profit of $1,566,389 in six months, to be 
divided between the members of the pool. 
All this, together with the great profits of 
the shippers, has had, of course, to come 
out of the pockets of producers and con¬ 
sumers. 
FLEURO IN CHICAGO. 
The cattle affected with contagious 
pleuro-pneumonia in Chicago and those 
exposed to infection are stili quarantined 
under the direction of the National Bu¬ 
reau of Animal Industry. None of the 
animals have been yet officially killed for 
want of funds to pay for the slaughtered 
animals, and because m> decision has yet 
been reached as to the disposal of the car¬ 
casses. Last Sunday 160 of the quaran¬ 
tined animals are reported to have been 
“spirited away:” a number of others, 
the telegraph says, have since disappear¬ 
ed; the milk of most of the cows is sold 
secretly and openly in the neighborhood 
of the distilleries, and, according to all 
reports, the quarantine is maintained in a 
very inefficient manner. It is probable 
that the vanished beasts have been 
slaughtered for sale, though there is some 
fear that some of them have been shipped 
out of the city. The Board of Health of 
New York is closely inspecting all dressed 
beef from Chicago to prevent the sale of 
any diseased carcasses. A telegram from 
Baltimore this morning tells of similar 
precautions there, and doubtless other 
places where Chicago dressed beef is 
largely sold will be equally prudent. In¬ 
vestigation has proved that the reports of 
pleuro-pneumonia said to have been car¬ 
ried from Chicago to several other parts 
of the country were unfounded. Texas 
fever or some other diseases were mistak¬ 
en for the plague. The dilatory action 
on the part of the Illinois authorities is 
short-sighted and blameworthy in view of 
the importance of prompt and vigorous 
action. 
FORTUNES IN THE CLOUDS. 
"W ithtn the past week lengthy adver¬ 
tisements concerning enormous fortunes 
lying unclaimed in England, Holland and 
Germany have appeared in a great num¬ 
ber of papers—some of them among the 
best in the country. Indeed a good deal 
of judgment appears to have been exer¬ 
cised in selecting journals of wide circu¬ 
lation and high reputation for integrity 
as the means by which a very alluring 
bait has been placed before the public. 
The weekly editions circulated chiefly 
among the agricultural community, seem 
to be especially selected by the advertisers. 
A large alphabetical list of names is given 
of people who are alleged to have left for 
tunes for which no valid claims have 
hitherto been made, and which will be 
readily surrendered to the rightful heirs, 
who arc very likely to be among the thou¬ 
sands who bear the same names as those in 
the list given or in the far larger one which 
is promised for 50 cents. For this sum a 
list of surnames only is given with the 
number of unclaimed fortunes left by dif¬ 
ferent people of the same name—Brown, 
98; Lyons, 3; Smith, 264—and a heavier 
fee is then demanded for the given names 
of the defunct. For still larger fees more 
information will be doled out, and the 
gullible and greedy will be temptingly 
supplied with alluring hopes so long as 
they are able and willing to make dis¬ 
bursements. 
The assurance that there are large for¬ 
tunes awaiting Claimants in the English 
Court of Chancery, the Bank of England 
and other foreign depositories is utterly 
devoid of truth, and the accounts pub¬ 
lished every little while that some Brown, 
Jones or Smith has received a vast estate 
by tracing his pedigree to the defunct 
owner of millions thus held in trust, are 
entirely fictitious. The alleged extracts 
from foreign newspapers announcing the 
existence of such deposits are, in nine 
cases out of ten, either sheer fabrications 
or extracts from advertisements palmt-d 
off on the public as editorial statements. 
For years a number of swindling claim 
agents have made a precarious living in 
London by extorting money from the 
credulous on pretense of being able to se¬ 
cure for them enormous sums awaiting 
rightful heirs yet undiscovered. A fre¬ 
quent. advertisement of such a fraud in 
the London Times is always introduced 
by the assertion that “ to-day” an English 
laborer receives from the Court of Chan¬ 
cery £250.000. Minister Phelps, how¬ 
ever, says there isn’t a particle of truth in 
such stories, and readers of London newa- 
pa|)cr.H know that every few days these 
rascally schemers are dragged before the 
magistrates for swindling some “claim¬ 
ant” under pretense of proving his title to 
a fortune. Further information with re¬ 
gard to these alleged bonanzas is given in 
this issue, in the department devoted to 
the exposure of frauds. 
We earnestly urge our contemporaries 
in all parts of the country to disabuse the 
minds of the ignorant and gullible of the 
mistaken idea that a single dollar can ever 
be obtained by them through the allure¬ 
ments of this widely circulated advertise¬ 
ment.. Nobody will ever recover a cent 
except the claim agents, and every cent 
paid to them will be a dead loss. The 
advertisement was offered to the Rural 
New-Yorker last Tuesday, but knowing 
that statements it contained were false, 
it was, of course, at once refused. Most 
of the papers that have admitted it, would, 
no doubt, have done what we did, had 
they, like ourselves, been for years con¬ 
stantly watchful to detect, reject and 
expose, all schemes for duping the public. 
The least reparation they ran make to 
their readers, however, is to warn them 
that the alluring fortunes spoken of in the 
advertisement have an existence only in 
the clouds, the moon, the covetous fancy 
of a simpleton, or the scheming brain of a 
swindler. 
BREVITIES. 
Red-top Grass seed for'tbe lawn, 
Emmons Pond hits the nail pretty 
See page 670. “Push Ahead.” 
squarely. 
’ .''•v 
Secretary Campbell favors us with a 
very interesting article on seedlings of the 
Niagara. See page 689. 
From the continued crossing of rve upon 
our rye-wheat, hybrids we have now several 
plants which are by parentage seven-eighths 
The leaves of onr common cat el pa were 
wilted and discolored like those of a eanna bv 
the frost of last, week, while those of the 
L ntalpa speciosa are as green as ever. 
*. UWUUOI.IV, 
remarks: “Talking of landscape gardening 
m a city lot of a few rods or the farmer’s or 
dinnrv garden patch, seems like so much 
twaddle.” 
Several years ago in our Seed Distribu¬ 
tion. we sept to applicants the Thousand-fold 
Rye. It yields splendidly at the Rural Farm 
and we should like to hear how it behaves 
with others. 
D 8. Marvin writes us that the cause of the 
doubling of the flowers of gladioli must be in 
the air this season. The same thing which the 
Rural mentioned has Occurred with some of 
his flowers. 
Look over the Rural’s black list of Con¬ 
gressmen who voted against the “oleo” bill 
If you find one of them running for an office 
within your reach, throw your ballot under 
his feet and trip him up. 
It has long been the opinion of the writer 
that certain diseases may be communicated to 
both children and adults, but especially the 
t'nnmr. through milk. For t bis reason all the 
nnlk drank by the family is boiled. 
By selecting for seed those pods of Limas 
which have the most, beans, the average num¬ 
ber is increased certainly. For several years 
we have saved only those that contained' five- 
bill it is found that the beans (seeds) are small- 
ei mid that thus far nothing lias been gained 
What, is gained in number is lost in weight 
The strain known ns King of the Garden is 
thus far. the best Lima we have raised. 
O. H. Alexander, of Charlotte, Vermont 
referring to the R. N.-Y.’s remarks regarding 
Macoinber’s white seedling of the Antwerp 
Raspberry, says that he has tested it for three 
years by the side of Cuthbert, und finds it just 
as hardy. He prefers it to auy other. “The 
flavor,” He says, “is all that one could desire." 
So it is. and we hope it may prove as hardy in 
other places where there is' less snow than in 
Vermont. Mr. A. calls it “White Moimtain.” 
The Euglisb papers all contain reports of 
the root market.” Prices are given for 
mangels, beets nud turnips as regularly as our 
pupers give them for hay and straw. The an¬ 
imal root crop of Engiund is immense, and 
the feeding value of this cron adds greatly to 
the value of England’s agricultural wealth. 
Iu some sections of i>ur own country, the root 
crop is au important item, but iu others it 
seems to add little to farm forage. Iu a cool, 
moist, situation, roots will be profitable, It is 
idle to advocate the growing of roots exten¬ 
sively all over the country. In some sections 
other auimul foods can be more cheaply 
produced. 
The State Grange of South Carolina appeal^ 
to other State Granges, the National Grange 
und all funnel's throughout, the country to 
send aid to a large number of farmers in the 
lower section of the State who have been 
made destitutc by the earthquakes. Hundreds 
of farmers have bad their houses destroyed 
and ore unable to build them without finan¬ 
cial aid. They live in out-of-the-way places, 
and it takes time for reports of their condition 
to reach the towns and the world at large. 
Now that the Mayor of Charleston has an¬ 
nounced that no further aid is needed in that 
city, why shouldn’t the contributions which 
are still flowing iu be turned over to the relief 
of the suffering farmers? 
A PROVISION of the Pennsylvania constitu¬ 
tion forbids a common carrier t,o engage in 
any other business. A number of the railroads 
o( t he Stab* have also engaged ill coal mining, 
and have lately combined to restrict the pro¬ 
duction of coal, a necessary of life, ns well as 
to control its sale and extortionately advance 
its price. Governor 1‘attisoti has just very 
properly denounced the combination as “con¬ 
stantly, violently and flagrantly” violating 
thefcoustitution, and la* calls on the Attorney- 
General to enforce fcheflaw. Is there any check 
on powerful corporate monopolies!? 
