468 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
JULY i9 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
TIMES BUILDING, NEW YORK. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
ELBERT S. CARMAN, 
HERBERT W. COLLINQWOOD, 
i EDITORS. 
Rural Publishing Company: 
LAWSON VALENTINE, President. RURAL NEW-YO'KER, 
THE AMERICAN ARDEN, 
EDGAR H. LIBBY, Manager. OUT-DOOR BOOKS. 
anything they must work early and late. The 
farmers of this country discovered this fact long 
ago. It would be well for the country if many of 
the immigrants learned it before leaving their native 
homes. Many of them are induced to come to this 
strange country by the deceptive representations of 
the agents of steamship and railroad lines, who care 
only tor the pittance received as passage money. 
The freedom, the opportunities for acquiring prop 
erty, are all painted in such glowing colors as to be 
irresistible. It is a sad sight to watch these im¬ 
migrants embarking for the West, with such hope¬ 
fulness for the future expressed on every counten 
ance, and to realize that bitter disappointment 
awaits so many of them. 
Copyright, 1890, by the Rural Publishing Company 
SATURDAY, JULY 19, 1890. 
No man can ever rob you of the good qual¬ 
ities you build up for yourself. 
There are ninety and nine that toil and slave, 
And spend every cent they earn ; 
While one ties fast to the savings bank 
With a strength and a purpose stern. 
Then the niuety-and-eine who’ve had their fun. 
Propose to divide with the saving one. 
It is a fact and a very suggestive one, after last 
year’s experience, that potatoes about the Rural 
Experiment Grounds never looked better at this 
date. There are few potato beetles, few flea-beetles 
and no blight. What do you think about it, entomol 
ogists ? _ 
‘‘ If the farmer waters his milk he is a fit candi¬ 
date for the State prison and a sojourn there would 
serve him right; but the railroad man waters his 
stock for the same purpose (to get something for 
nothing) and he is a fit candidate for the U. S. 
Senate.” The above is the forcible way in which 
Mr. Coats put it. See page 462. 
In last week’s R. N.-Y. the lady who is describing 
“A Woman’s Farming,” told us of her experience 
with wildcat investments. The R. N.-Y. knows 
that hundreds of its readers could tell similar stories 
of investments that promised a fortune and deliv¬ 
ered nothing. The story as it progresses will show 
that money put into the farm itself paid the best in¬ 
terest. Have faith enough in your farm to put 
money into it or abandon it. If you put your 
treasure in your pocket your heart will be there 
too. 
Why keep a horse “ hog-fat ” in summer ? Many 
such horses have suffered intensely from the heat 
during the past week. There is no reason why a fat 
horse should not suffer from the heat as well as a 
fat man. Our grass-fed horses have not suffered as 
have those fed on dry hay. This is what we would 
expect after noticing the effect of the hot weather on 
fruit eaters and meat eaters in the human family. 
We are advised to bathe the horse’s head and limbs 
with cool water at an indication of sunstroke, but 
under no circumstances should we throw water on 
his back at such a time. 
The campaign in South Carolina is just now, at 
fever heat. We have a letter from a friend in that 
State, to be printed next week, which brings out 
quite forcibly one point concerning this canvass 
which Northern men can hardly comprehend. The 
battle is between the farmers and the towns’-people. 
Mr. Tillman who represents the farmers, is making 
a strong fight for the Democratic nomination for 
Governor; and he has more than a fighting chance. 
Should he be elected, it is certain that many of the 
old ideas and methods of the politicians will be badly 
shaken up. _ 
For the past two or three years abundant rains 
have kept pastures in good condition, and this has 
caused many dairymen to feed less grain than 
usual. In fact, while pastures are abundant, it 
frequently does not seem profitable to feed grain at 
all. If we were to have a severe drought next 
month many dairy cows would be severely set back 
because their owners would not realize the necessity 
of making up for the scarcity of grass by liberal 
grain feeding. Once let a herd of cows begin to 
lose in their milk yield through a shortage of food, 
and it is exceedingly difficult to bring them back to 
their full flow. This has been proved so many 
times that it is foolish to experiment with it. If 
the pastures begin to fail there is only one thing to 
do if you want a full supply of milk and butter— 
provide bran or other grain enough to make up for 
the loss of the pastures. It will not do to let the 
cows fall off in their yield and then try to bring 
them back by extra feeding. After once falling off 
they are more likely to make beef than milk when 
once more heavily fed. 
A significant movement is the recent return to 
their native land of a party of Hungarians who 
had been laboring for several years in this country. 
They assert that they can live as well there by 
working fewer hours than are necessary here; that 
while they earn more here, the increased cost of living 
absorbs their extra earnings and in order to save 
On another page we print a summary of the gov¬ 
ernment crop report for July. There is a tendency 
in some quarters to sneer at these reports and to 
underrate their importance. The collection of the 
data for each of tnem, together with the cost of 
printing and other expenses, costs the country at 
large about $8,500. Some of the best agricultural 
authorities and leading farm journals of Europe 
speak in high terms of their completeness and 
value ; they are called the best issued by any coun¬ 
try in the world. They are issued “ by the people 
for the people,” and not in the interest of any 
clique. Some of the one-horse papers issue crop re¬ 
ports spasmodically for more or less limited sec¬ 
tions of the country, and generally in the interest 
of speculators, and these affect to despise the gov¬ 
ernment report,.perhaps in the same way that a 
lightning bug might despise an electric light. In 
this city, one day this week, business on the 
Produce Exchange was nearly at a standstill, wait¬ 
ing for the government report due next day. 
Farmers ought to appreciate the value of these re¬ 
ports and make the most of them. 
Two Posers: The R. N.-Y. has a Russian Mul¬ 
berry tree growing in a hedge thicket, which bears 
full crops of fruit yearly. For two years we have 
unsuccessfully tried to find a male flower on this 
tree. There is not another mulberry tree (male or 
female) iu the neighborhood. 
The R. N.-Y., some eight years ago, carried on a 
warm controversy with the late J. B. Moore and 
Prof. Asa Gray. We contended that the so called 
female asparagus plant was in fact hermaphrodite 
and that the male asparagus plant was therefore of 
no especial use, in so far as sexual services were con¬ 
cerned. In confirmation of this view, we have 
noted, the present season, that a single female plant 
growing on the south side of a hen house and 
hemmed in with White Pines and Hemlock Spruces 
is laden with berries. Every flower apparently set 
a fruit. We do not know of any asparagus bed 
within a quarter of a mile or of isolated plants 
within 100 yards. Where did the pollen come 
from? Is it supposable that insects or the wind 
carried it so great a distance and in such quantity 
as to pollenate every flower? 
The statisticians are having a lively time just now 
figuring out the future of American wheat grow¬ 
ing. We are told by one class of economists that 
within 10 years we shall be obliged to import a good 
deal of our wheat or resort to irrigation to make 
fertile land out of the arid wastes. On the other 
hand, we are told that within a few years, the im¬ 
mense tracts of waste lands in Russia, Argentine 
and Australia will be used to supply the whole 
world with wheat at a cost of production so low 
that it will be folly to think of competing with 
these great wheat farms. Which side is right ? Is 
American wheat growing doomed, or are American 
farmers to receive a fair price for their grain as 
soon as the great wheat fields of the West shall have 
been so far robbed of their fertility that it will be 
necessary for them to stop growing wheat and re¬ 
cuperate ? If our opinion is worth anything, the 
latter outcome is the more probable. Wheat is 
not like cotton and sugar, dependent for its profit¬ 
able growing upon the cheapest sort of labor. It is 
the crop which the most skillful farmers may look to 
for profit for it will respond quicker than almost 
any other to scientific culture. No class of half- 
civilized workmen will ever be able to compete at 
wheat growing with American farmers who are 
willing to master their business. The future bread 
of this country will not come from bonanza farms, 
but from the smaller homesteads. One thing is 
certain, in these times it behooves a farmer to have 
his laud in good heart, waiting in readiness for 
the time when a good crop of wheat wall represent 
a good supply of dollars. That time is coming. 
Another severe lesson of the cruelty and wasteful¬ 
ness of their methods is now being impressed on the 
cattle barons and syndicates of the Western plains. 
Although last winter was unusually mild in 
nearly all parts ot the States, it proved extremely 
bitter, by spells, on the bare, bleak, elevated ranges 
of the Territories, and the losses of the stockmen 
were very heavy. Those whose animals were lucky 
enough to survive unprotected that season of drift¬ 
ing snow storms and blinding blizzards are now 
confronted with even more appalling destruction. 
From Southwestern Colorado down through the 
vast cattle ranges in New Mexico and far into Old 
Mexico not a drop of rain has fallen for months, and 
the plains and foot hills, instead of being verdant 
fields of waving succulence, are as dry as parchment 
and with not enough grass to keep life in a prairie 
dog. Never before in the history of cattle raising in 
that section has there been such a long spell of dry, 
hot weather. The rivers and creeks are dry except 
occasional pools, the beds of the streams are encum¬ 
bered with the festering carcasses of cattle that had 
sought water there in vain, and thousands of lifeless 
animals are scattered over the plains. Stockmen 
who can afford to do so are shipping their cattle 
east to the green pastures of Kansas ; but, at the 
best, the losses must be enormous. From the first 
the syndicate methods of cattle raising on the plains 
and prairies, have been, with a few trivial modifica¬ 
tions, Nature’s methods, and in spite of all the pre¬ 
tentious platitudes that have been spoken and 
printed about the wisdom of imitating Nature in 
treating plants and live stock, her methods as 
practiced on the cattle ranges both from humane 
and economical standpoints have always and 
everywhere been woefully cruel and extravagantly 
wasteful. 
While there are, no doubt, by far too much cor¬ 
ruption and extravagance in our municipal, county, 
State and National governments, there is really no 
cause for lovers of their country to “despair of th® 
republic,” as not a few of them are thoughtlessly 
prone to do. None of the evils that afflict it have 
gone too far for reformation, and there is much 
hope of this in the new virtues which farmers are 
bringing into politics. The prosperity of a nation 
is commonly considered a just’criterion of its pub 
lie virtues, and its financial condition is looked 
upon as a fair standard of its prosperity. Judged 
by this standard, what other country in the world 
can compare with this ? A quarter of a century 
ago it was among the most heavily indebted nations 
on the globe; but while all other countries have, as 
a rule, been meanwhile adding greatly to their bur¬ 
dens, the United States have been throwing theirs 
off with a gigantic might, year after year. 
At the end of the civil war our national debt 
amounted to $2,750,000,000 ; at the close of the 
fiscal year 1890—on June 30—it had been reduced 
to less than $1,000,000,000. Indeed, if we include in 
the reduction the Pacific Railroad debt of $64,620,- 
000, which the roads are expected to pay, the 
national debt to-day will be less than $900,000,000 ! 
What a glorious record, after all, is that of the 
present generation ! Not only has it preserved a 
united country at the cost of hundreds of thous¬ 
ands of its most honored lives ; but it has already 
paid off two thirds of the financial obligations in 
curred in the struggle and paid out nearly as 
much more in pensions to the heroes who brought 
it to a happy issue. What an irredeemable debt of 
gratitude will not be due to this generation from 
those that come after it, which will share in all the 
glory and blessings of its achievements without en¬ 
countering any of its losses or sacrifices ! 
BREVITIES. 
You may Jew and screw your neighbor out of every cent h 0 owns; 
You may fry t he fat of lire away and leave him but the bones: 
Vou may kick the underpinning out from those who try to climb 
Up to things that promise better; you may spend your leisure lime 
Drawing Interest from others till your purse Is fat and strong, 
Till your credit Is establish? - and your bank account Is long. 
That's all true ! 
But mark you ! 
Some time or other, as sure as the dav. 
Justice will come, and you'll have to pay. 
You may spend your life In giving all your property away • 
You may train your heart to sufTer when the poor and helpless pray : 
You may strengthen weary tollers with a word of hope and cheer. 
In the hours of doubt and darkness let them know that you are near ; 
You may say “ forgive our debtors,” and live out the Golden Rule. 
And when you’re old and poor the world may say you’re but a fool. 
That's all clear, 
But, see here: 
Some time or other as sure as the day 
Justice will come and you'll get your pay! 
Thk country is full of hay. 
CABBAGES Oil the strawberry bed ? 
Rum in the hay field, hole in the home. 
Potato diggers give the land two-thirds of a plowing. 
Mr. Stewart tells us how to let one crop catch another. 
Leave the barn doors open till the hay “cures in the 
mow.” 
You forget your hack-ache when you look at the hay in 
the barn. 
Last year’s experience made a great many men tired of 
digging potatoes by hand. 
“Jumping Powder” is a name given by some English 
farmers to nitrogenous chemical fertilizers. 
The R. N.-Y. is cutting its barley hay. The oats have 
made a good growth during the past few weeks and will 
make good hay. 
A GREAT many fertilizer farmers are now hauling out 
manure. It will be spread on sod, and will stay there 
until spring plowing. Will it pay you to do this ? 
“If the farmer is in debt on his farm he is taxed for the 
full amount; w-hile the man who holds the mortgage ofteu 
gets off scott-free. Real estate pays an outrageously large 
disproportion of all State taxation.” See page 462. 
Next week we shall hear from a class of men who are 
generally called upon to “suffer in silence.” The “tree 
agents” and those who send them out to work up the 
public will have their say and will tell us all about the 
good they have done. 
The catalpa and trumpet flower vine belong to different 
species and genera it is true, but to the same order. 
Hybridization might perhaps he effected. It is rather late 
to try it this season. Catalpa flowers are a thing of the 
past; trumpet flowers are at their best. 
What is said about the use of digging harrows in this 
issue is well worth reading. There are a great many dog¬ 
matic assertions made regarding plowing, that have done 
not a little injury. As several of our correspondents point 
out, the character of the soil, the season and the crop itself 
all have something to do with determining the depth to 
which the soil should he stirred. It Is quite evideut that 
under certain conditions, the digging harrows may be used 
to save a great deal of work. We hope our correspondents 
IWYe shown what these conditions are, 
