i89o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
595 
trees, and lately it has been ravaging the 
hickories, quinces, pear3 and apples. Un¬ 
less it is antagonized by some parasite we 
will surely suffer from it next year. B. 
Angola, Steuben County, August 18.— 
We have every kind of soil, from heavy 
clay to sandy loam. The summer has been 
very dry, especially the later part. Wheat, 
oats and hay were good crops. Corn on 
low land is an average crop, but on the 
openings and prairie it will not be more 
than one-fourth of a crop. I hear of a 
few cases of hog cholera, but the disease is 
not very bad, and as our farmers have 
taken to keeping over their old corn and 
feeding early, they evade the plague by 
selling early. Fruit is very scarce: we 
have not enough for home consumption. 
We had a grand prospect in the early 
spring, but three white frosts while the 
fruit was in blossom killed nearly all ex¬ 
cept plums and small fruits. Plums were 
saved by spraying and small fruits by 
heavy mulching. I had 3,000 quarts of 
strawberries off of one acre, principally 
Dutter Seedling, which is the best I have 
out of 50 varieties. The next best six are, 
in the order of their merits: Bubach, 
Haverland, Gandy, Late Crawford, Jessie 
and Parry. Jewell is fine but needs pet¬ 
ting. I have just started a small nursery 
for the purpose of furnishing our own 
people with the very best tested acclimated 
fruits. I have but 20 acres, all of which 
have a diversity of soil adapted to any kind 
of fruit or vegetable, and by a system of 
water-works I have I can water every foot 
of it. J. D. 
Westchester, Jay County, August 19.— 
Our wheat and hay were pretty fair crops. 
Oats were very light. We have no corn at 
all, and we will not be able to fatten a pig 
or winter old Biddy, and we shall have no 
eggs or spring chicks next spring. One 
man sold 10 shotes of 25 pounds apiece for 
one dime, or one cent apiece. He was 
afraid he would lose his luck if he gave 
them away. The talk is now of seed corn 
at $3 per bushel; but where will the $3 
come from ? Berries and other fruits are 
very scarce—none for sale at any price. 
Stock is very low ; hay $10 per ton. Feed¬ 
ing stock has commenced. P. w. 
Ohio. 
Logan Count?, August21.—The weather 
has been very dry. Corn on the clay hills 
will not make a fourth of a crop. Wheat 
is good. Hay very good. Early potatoes 
a quarter of a crop. There will be very 
few apples and pears. We have had some 
good rains this week, which may help the 
late potatoes. J. w. B. 
Gallia County, August 21.—The past 
season has been unfavorable to the growth 
of crops. The soil had no life in the spring, 
and rains delayed planting. We have 
probably had an average rainfall, but 
much of it came in beating and heavy 
showers, and periods of the dry,hot weather 
between them injured the wheat and po¬ 
tatoes. Corn is late, but is growing fast. 
Potatoes are hardly one-half of a crop. 
Wheat two-thirds of a crop, and the grains 
are very badly shrunken. Oats are a total 
failure. No apples or peaches. All farm 
products, except hay, are rising in price. 
Cattle are too low to be quoted. A. J. A. 
Arkansas. 
MAYSVlLLE, Benton County, August 
21.—We have had considerable drought 
this sumiuer. We had no rain except one 
light shower, from June 15 until August 
10, and owing to that and other causes 
crops of all kinds are light. Wheat is 
about half a crop; oats one-third; corn 
about half; potatoes one-fourth ; apples 
two-thirds ; peaches about one-fourth. 
Wheat is selliug at 70 cents per bushel; 
oats at 25 cents; potatoes 60 cents ; apples 
40 cents ; corn 40 cents. P. D. 
FARMERS IN POLITICS. 
( Continued .) 
Of the 330 members of the Lower 
House of Congress, there are only 13 genu¬ 
ine farmers to represent the largest and 
most important industry in the country, 
in which vastly more people are engaged 
aud vastly more capital invested than in 
any other. Out of the 84 members of the 
Upper House, there is not a single bona- 
fide farmer. In both Houses, however, sev¬ 
eral lawyers, merchants and manufactur¬ 
ers who dabble in a little “ fancy ” farming 
by way of relaxation from their regular 
business, in order to."curry favor” with 
the “granger” constituencies, call them¬ 
selves farmers in the autobiographical 
sketches they have prepared for the Con¬ 
gressional Record. From present indica¬ 
tions it is highly probable that the present 
movement of the "farmers in politics” 
will send at least 50 bona fide, practical, 
hard-handed and hard headed farmers to 
the United States House of Representatives, 
and from one to six to the Senate. Some 
of the State legislatures in the South, nota¬ 
bly those of North and South Carolina, 
Georgia, Tennessee, and, to a less extent, 
those of Alabama and Texas, will be com¬ 
posed almost entirely of farmers. In the 
West also, especially in Kansas, Nebraska, 
Iowa and Minnesota, there will probably 
be more farmers in the'State legislatures 
than there have been ever before. Indeed, 
wherever the "farmers in politics” have 
been taking any active part in public affairs, 
they have either wholly dominated or pow¬ 
erfully influenced the current of affairs, and 
prospectively monopolized or taken a fair 
share of the public offices. The great ques¬ 
tion that is now troubling the politicians 
is : Will the movement continue ? Will it 
fizzle out in a year or two, like the North¬ 
western ‘ * granger ” uprising of a few years 
ago, or the Know-Nothing movement of the 
last generation ? 
In South Carolina the contention all 
along between the farmers, represented by 
the Alliance, and the " kid-gloved” imme- 
morially office-holding oligarchy and their 
" aristocratic ” kindred and allies, has been 
for the control of the Democratic party. 
During the canvass both factions vehe¬ 
mently declared that the supremacy of the 
white race in the control and administra¬ 
tion of the government was of paramount 
importance, and that to this all other con¬ 
siderations must be subordinated, and to 
render it certain, each loudly declared that 
it would faithfully abide by the issue of the 
canvass. During the course of this, how¬ 
ever, so unprecedented in its intensity was 
the rancor developed between the two fac 
tions that shrewd politicians, all over the 
country, prophesied that it would be impos¬ 
sible for the two hostile camps to act in 
harmony during the next election, and that 
on the first opportunity the defeated fac¬ 
tion was certain to bolt. The regular 
nominating convention of the Democratic 
party is to be held in September, but at a 
preliminary convention held at Columbia, 
the capital of the Palmetto State, the other 
day, the Tillmanites were in such over¬ 
whelming force that their opponents, the 
“high-toned” straightouts, to the num¬ 
ber of 59 out of 320, in spite of 
all their loud-mouthed pledges, bolted, 
leaving the convention in a very 
angry body. What they could do was a 
hard problem. Their opponents were 
clearly the " regulars;” they had complete 
control of the party machinery in every 
county in the State; the vast majority of 
the Democratic party were on their side ; it 
was just conceivable that had they been 
defeated they might have sought negro 
aid, but the possibility of such a degrading 
condescension on the part of the aristo¬ 
cratic straightouts was utterly inconceiv¬ 
able ; still, without such aid, their numbers 
at the polls would be ludicrously insignifi¬ 
cant—what were they to do ? For genera¬ 
tions they had been accustomed to look 
down on the farmers and their "poor white- 
trash” adherents as little better than 
negroes; were they to be compelled to sub¬ 
mit to their domination, and that too in 
politics—nearly the only occupation left to 
gentlemen by the democratic progress of 
the age ? Big with indignation, they as¬ 
sembled to the number of 400 at Columbia, 
last Tuesday, to decide upon their course 
of action. The Colored Farmers’ Alliance 
of South Carolina numbers 35,000, aud 
though at their convention the other day, 
they decided to steer entirely clear of poli¬ 
tics, there was little doubt that at least 
a large proportion of them would be in¬ 
duced to vote for the candidates of the dis¬ 
gruntled faction. Only a small proportion 
of the colored people of the State, and 
those, as a rule, among the best educated, 
belong to the Alliance, and it would be 
much easier to control a larger number of 
voters among the less intelligent negro 
rabble. A division of the party, however, 
might give control of the State to the Re¬ 
publican party, and would be still more 
likely to secure increased representation 
for it in the State legislature and perhaps 
in Congress. For a small, high-toned oli¬ 
garchy, accustomed for generations to 
monopolize all the offices and lord it over 
the people of the State, the dilemma was 
at once embarrassing and humiliating. 
Finally, after remaining many hours in 
secret session, the Convention of secession¬ 
ists decided, last Wednesday, to eat 
“ humble pie ” and swallow Tillman rather 
than split the party. 
Senators Wade Hampton and M. C. 
Butler strongly advocated such a step, al¬ 
though it is not unlikely that the Alliance 
will send to the United States Senate 
farmers as successors to both of them. 
The Alliance is now demanding answers to 
the following questions from each candi¬ 
date for the State legislature : 
“Are you in favor of the action of the 
March convention which nominated Till¬ 
man for Governor ? 
Are you in favor of B. R. Tillman for 
Governor, and if so, how long have you 
been ? 
Are you in favor of the Sub-Treasury 
plan, and will vou vote for any man for the 
United States Senate who is not in favor of 
said plan ? 
Are you in favor of a reduction of ex¬ 
penses of the State and county govern¬ 
ment ? 
Will you use your influence to make the 
legal rate of interest six per cent. ? It is 
now seven per cent. 
Are you in favor of an amendment to the 
lien law so that no one can charge more 
than cash prices with legal interest added ? 
Will you present a bill looking to the 
improvement of the public school system 
so as to provide for a longer term for said 
schools to run ? 
Will you vote for or against donations by 
the State to the high schools of the State ? 
What do you propose to do with the jail 
and penitentiary convicts of this State ? 
Do you intend to work them in the interest 
of private persons or for the public good on 
the public roads ? 
What do you propose to do with county 
matters, as there is a constitutional amend¬ 
ment to abolish the office of county com¬ 
missioners ?” 
In Virginia the State Farmers’ Alliance 
held its convention at Lynchburg, from 
August 19 to 21,187 delegates being present. 
There are 85 Alliances in the State with a 
membership of over 30,000. No farmers’ 
State or National candidates were nom¬ 
inated. For the present the policy of the 
organization is to support those candidates 
of either party, who give the strongest and 
widest pledges of advocating legislation in 
the interest of agriculture. The Republi¬ 
cans, under Mahone, are said to be coquet¬ 
ting with the Alliance men to induce them 
to enter into joint political action. Indeed, 
it is Intimated that they are willing to 
make no nominations of their own, but 
to be ready to support the Alliance nom¬ 
inees, should the organization nominate 
State and Congressional tickets. That it 
will do so, is, however, considered hardly 
probable. The convention advocated the 
free coinage of silver, opposed monopolies 
and trusts, favored the reduction of rail¬ 
way and other transportation as well as 
commission charges, the Australian ballot 
system and a reduction of taxes. The 
following fraternal preamble and resolu¬ 
tion were enthusiastically passed: 
“Whereas, Alliances are shaking hands 
across the Potomac, across the Mississippi, 
across the rugged peaks of the Rockies, 
and, far grander still, across the ‘ bloody 
chasm,’ across Mason and Dixon’s line ; and 
Whereas, conscienceless politicians in 
our National Congress have advocated 
measures and expressed sentiments to 
arouse old sectional feeling engendered by 
the war; Therefore, be it 
Resolved, That we, the State Farmers’ 
Alliance of Virginia, do intend to grasp 
with tighter Alliance grip the hands of our 
Alliance brothers in the North, determined 
to hold together with locked shields in 
spite of all efforts to arouse prejudice be¬ 
tween us until the financial emancipation 
of laborer and producer is accomplished.” 
A peculiar incident in the convention 
was that the evening session of the first 
day was devoted almost entirely to a 
lengthy address by J. J. Rogers, the North 
Carolina organizer and business agent of 
the colored Alliance, which has a member¬ 
ship of about 40,000 in the Old North State 
and of over 1,000,000 in the South. At pre¬ 
sent it rather eschews politics everywhere, 
devoting its attention almost exclusively to 
the educational, social and economic inter¬ 
ests of the race ; but so vast an organiza¬ 
tion of the most intelligent of the colored 
people of the section, which is constantly 
receiving fresh accessions of members who 
are notoriously capable of being easily in¬ 
fluenced, may yet take an important part 
in the political affairs of the South, and 
perhaps of the nation. 
In Virginia the race question, though not 
of dominant importance, as it is in the 
more Southern States, is still of a good 
deal of consequence. Since “ Reconstruc¬ 
tion ” parties have been more evenly 
divided in the Old Dominion than in any 
of the other Southern States, and the negro 
has all along been an important factor in 
political affairs. In 1880, of the 1,512,565 in¬ 
habitants of the State, 880,S58 were whites 
and 631,616 colored. Of the 494,240 males 
engaged in 72 named occupations, 254,099 
were either agricultural laborers; farmers 
and planters; gardeners, nurserymen and 
vine-growers; or stock-raisers, drovers and 
herders. 
(To be continued.) 
PRINCIPAL 
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INTEREST 
IN THESErBOOKS 
FOR RURAL READERS. 
HORTICULTURIST’S RULE BOOK-By 
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THE ANNALS OK HORTICULTURE- For 
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