76o 
NOV. 8 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
TIMES BUILDING, NEW YORK. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
ELBERT S. CARMAN, 
HERBERT W. COLLINQWOOD, 
EDITORS. 
Rural Publishing Company: 
LAWSON VALENTINE, President. RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN, 
EDGAR H. LIBBY, Manager. OUT-DOOR BOOKS. 
Copyright, 1890, by the Rural Publishing Company. 
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1890. 
A watch dog should not need watching. 
I Cuba is eager for reciprocity. The tobacco grow 
ers and manufacturers of the island have forwarded 
to the Spanish government an earnest petition 
begging it to grant permission to make a com¬ 
mercial treaty with the United States. The 
McKinley Bill has put an almost prohibitive tariff 
on Cuban cigars and tobacco, and the Cubans see 
no other prospect but that of losing the whole of 
this profitable trade unless they can make recipro¬ 
cal concessions in the trade in flour, lard, pork 
products and manufactured goods. In other words, 
they understand that hereafter they must take pay 
in goods instead of in cash. 
Much more might be added to what is said in 
our “ Lookout Almanac” about popular prejudices 
against wholesome and nutritious foods. It is easy 
to remember how people sneered at oat meal and 
other farinaceous foods when efforts were first made 
to make them regular articles of commerce. Now, 
the use of these “spoon victuals” is well-nigh uni¬ 
versal, and the country is better off for it. It is 
hard for us to realize that the white potato was 
once regarded as fit only for “heathens” to eat; yet 
it is a fact! It is not likely that cassava will come 
into general use as a food for many years; but 
think of what the world will lose in the meantime. 
When a groceryman makes up a package of sugar, 
crackers, nails or anything else that is wrapped in 
paper or put in a bag, he puts the paper in his scales 
first. Then the material to be sold is put in the 
paper and the proper weight recorded. Who ever 
considers the weight of paper? Who is “small” 
enough to object to paying for it at the regular 
weight per pound ? We never yet saw one, and yet 
in the aggregate, this paper item is not so small 
after all. A groceryman who has been in the busi¬ 
ness over 40 years declares that he has used 
on the average over 300 pounds of wrapping paper 
each year. Here we have 12,000 pounds of paper, 
which at the price of sugar will make a tidy little 
sum. “ Small things ” are not to be despised—in 
fact, nothing is to be despised that is not positively 
evil. 
The last Kansas Legislature enacted a law impos¬ 
ing a tax of $2 upon each $100 received or charged 
by express companies for carrying freight over 
leased lines within the State. The law also provided 
for an annual report to the State Auditor of each 
year’s business. The Pacific Express Company 
resisted the law, claiming that it was not valid, 
and succeeded in obtaining a temporary injunction. 
The United States Circuit Court has dissolved the 
injunction and declared the law valid. It is grati¬ 
fying to know that these most extortionate of all 
monopolies may be taxed for the benefit of the peo¬ 
ple they have been robbing for so many years. But 
will they not add the tax to their charges ? 
An honest difference of opinion may exist as to 
the merits of any particular form of national taxa¬ 
tion, although deliberately adopted for the public 
advantage by the representatives of the people, 
according to the constitutional methods, after 
months or even years of free discussion; but surely 
there can be no difference of opinion as to the wis¬ 
dom of allowing a handful of private citizens, after 
a secret conference for an hour or two in a quiet 
parlor or office, to arbitrarily tax the commerce or 
manufactures of the nation or the necessaries of the 
people, for their own private profit; yet this is 
done among us, not once in a decade, but frequent¬ 
ly every year. A notable instance has just occurred. 
Half a dozen of the Pennsylvania coal barons, 
after a brief consultation, have put up the price of 
coal 10 cents per ton for November, and to prevent 
the possibility of a supply that might make the 
increase seem unreasonable, the quantity to be 
mined during the month was reduced 27,000 tons 
below the November output of last year, although 
the increase of our manufactures and population 
calls for an increased production. Should their 
half starved miners meet, in the same way, to 
reduce the supply and raise wages, they would 
be liable to arrest and imprisonment for conspiracy. 
While the corporate control of railroads enables 
private persons to arbitrarily tax the commerce of 
the nation for their private gain, the corporate 
control of the coal mines enables private persons to 
tax the manufactures of the country for their 
private profit, as coal is a chief factor in the cost 
of manufacture. Then again, in this climate, coal 
is a necessity of life, and surely it is intolerable that 
its price should be arbitrarily raised and its produc¬ 
tion restricted at this inclement season for the 
benefit of a few rich men. Unlike corn and wheat, 
the coal crop is not dependent on the character of 
the seasons or the time of the year, and under a 
judicious system of production and distribution, 
need not vary, the year ’round, in price, which 
should never be artificially raised. Moreover, the 
grimy slaves who toil underground for these hard 
task-masters are constantly kept on such starvation 
wages that the most frugal of them cannot be fore¬ 
handed, and the curtailment of their work on the 
approach of winter, is an act of inhumanity that 
cries aloud for public reprobation. Small wonder 
at the growing approval of the Nationalists’ de¬ 
mands for immediate legislation looking to the gov¬ 
ernment control of the coal mines. 
It would seem as though carrying canned goods 
to California would be much like carrying coals to 
Newcastle, yet we are told that a train of 20 cars 
has left Illinois for San Francisco loaded with 
canned corn. There are some parts of California 
where sweet corn cannot be successfully grown. In 
the sections where a first class quality can be pro¬ 
duced, Californians doubtless think that they can 
make more money by growing fruits and buying 
their corn. They are passing through what corre¬ 
sponds to the second period of Mr. Terry’s farming, 
when it is economy for them to be specialists and 
pay some other State to produce their canned corn. 
Later, they will be forced to develop this new ‘ ‘ home 
industry. ’ ’ 
On page 681 of this volume of The R. N.-Y. we 
printed a letter from a young man who thinks of 
investing his little savings in a farm. He is now in 
a city office, but realizes that the time must come 
when younger men will push him aside. He feels 
that on a farm his home at least will be secure. 
This letter has roused considerable interest among 
our readers. Here is a sample note from one of our 
friends in Western New York. “ I am a farmer and 
know that farming pays when well conducted. I 
own a large farm and money ahead made on the 
farm. I believe the man who wrote that letter has 
intelligence and push and ought to be on a farm. We 
want just such men, for in them is the foundation 
and backbone of good government. There are 
thousands of cheap farms in Western New York, 
and in my opinion there never has been a better time 
to buy a farm and home.” 
The R. N.-Y would like nothing better than to 
have the city help populate the country. We do 
not want men to make any mistake—we want them 
to know, before they leave the city, what they may 
expect in their new life. Playing at farming is one 
thing; farming for business is another. 
Over 50 years ago, De Tocqueville, the great 
French philosopher, said, in estimating the future 
of this country : “Whatever faith I may have in 
the perfectibility of man, until human nature is 
altered and men wholly transformed I shall refuse 
to believe in the duration of a government which is 
called upon to hold together 40 different peoples, 
disseminated over a territory equal to one-half of 
Europe in extent, to avoid all rivalry, ambition and 
struggles between them, and to direct their inde¬ 
pendent activity to the accomplishment of the 
same designs.” De Tocqueville estimated that by 
1940 there would be 100,000,000 of inhabitants in this 
country divided into 40 different “nations,” as he 
saw fit to call our different States. We have now 44 
States with nearly two thirds of DeTocqueville’s es¬ 
timate of population 50 years hence. Yet what 
thoughtful American sees disunion in the immediate 
future? Our States are not nations. There are too 
many Maine men in California and too many Massa¬ 
chusetts men in Texas. Birthplace memories and fam¬ 
ily traditions are too strong. No, we are all Ameri¬ 
cans yet, and it is to be hoped that we may all be 
wise enough and just enough to remain Americans 
without permitting local prejudices to grow into 
anything like national differences. 
An intelligent-looking gentleman remarked, the 
other day, that he had been to the polls to vote 
but once in 25 years, yet he was indulging in all 
sorts of innuendoes about the corruption in politics, 
the depravity of office holders and the moral rotten¬ 
ness of things in general. What right had he to 
say aught against the existing condition of affairs ? 
The only effective argument against political wrong 
is the ballot. It is an acknowledged principle that 
silence gives consent, and the voter who fails to 
enter an elective protest against wrong, virtually 
acquiesces in it and should forever after hold his 
peace. There is too much shirking of plain duty in 
this respect. We know that the primaries and 
elections are largely controlled by professional 
politicians and hangers on, but it is the fault of the 
better element that it is so. In most election dis¬ 
tricts the latter class are in the majority, and if 
they would pull together for right principles and 
good men. instead of striving over issues that are 
covered with the dust of ages, and sticking to old 
political parties that are, in many places, so corrupt 
and rotten as to be a stench in the nostrils of all 
morally healthy people, there would he a political 
overturning that would startle them. Every citi¬ 
zen has a duty in this respect. It is useless for any 
one to say, “Oh! my vote will make little differ¬ 
ence.” It will make just one difference. The 
writer recalls an instance in a township which 
usually gave a good majority for the dominant 
party. The opposition had control of the canal 
passing through the county, and it was to their 
interest to gam the supervisor from this township. 
They brought hundreds of dollars into the town to 
buy votes. A young man of the dominant party 
was importuned to go to the polls to vote. It would 
inconvenience him slightly and his answer was, 
like many others in similar circumstances, that his 
vote would not make much difference. But it did. 
Corruption triumphed by one majority. The in¬ 
different voter's ballot would have changed the 
result, at which he was afterwards so chagrined as 
to wish some one to kick him. Every citizen has a 
duty in this matter. He receives the protection 
and benefits of the common government, and is 
in honor bound to pay his debt at the polls. 
ATTENTION! 
About 13 years ago, The R. N.-Y. began the task 
of ascertaining how far a tomato can be improved 
by selection. We propose to place the result before 
our readers ere another planting season arrives, in 
the form of a dozen seeds to each applicant, of the 
strain thus secured. 
To improve the keeping quality, several of the 
largest and best tomatoes of all the varieties raised 
that season (13 years ago) and of apparently the 
sime stage of ripeness were placed under cover. 
Saed was saved from the last tomato to decay. In 
subsequent years, the firmest, best-shaped spec¬ 
imens were carefully selected from the most fruitful 
plants. Now, its marked qualities, as it grows at 
the Rural Grounds, are perfection of shape, uniform¬ 
ity of size and shape, earliness, solidity of flesh 
and long keeping qualities possessed by few if any 
other kinds. 
Next to this tomato, we prize the Matchless and 
Ignotum, the latter having been greatly improved 
in form by selection since seed of it was first sent 
to us by Prof. Bailey. The R. N.-Y. would be glad 
to have its friends try these three varieties side by 
side, adding other kinds they may desire to try, 
and report the relative merits or demerits for the 
good of the public. 
BREVITIES. 
Th» shoddy-flanneled man 
Stood ’kerchief In band. 
And with his • a'arrh blew a tune, dear. 
But he who taketh care 
Of hl< health hath to spare, 
Of comfort and lung-power and throat, dear. 
Cultivate the district school. 
A BROKEN pump creates a small drought. 
Grease in the joints of water pipes makes the water bad. 
There are thousands of acres of government land in 
Louisiana. 
Keep your culls at home and use them where they will 
do the most good. 
And the pansies are still blooming—large and perfect 
flowers—October 28. 
Don’t depend upon the snow to cover the evidences of 
an untidy back-yard. 
Who have used wooden pipes for drains or for bringing 
water from the wells ? 
IT is true, as Mr. Terry says, that most farmers who do 
not grow their own berries will go without rather than buy 
them. 
To the Station Directors.— Print your bulletins in 
large type (especially the tables), and print them on a fair 
quality of paper. 
“Mud-manufacturing” is what the English call poor 
road making. We elect too many mud manufacturers in 
our road districts. 
An Ohio potato grower says that “ potato culls are the 
potato grower’s ensilage.” The small tubers can be so fed 
as to take the place of grain. 
The last rose of summer among the hybrid remontants 
blooming at the Rural Grounds this fall is Salet, the best of 
fcne perpetual mosses, in so far as we are informed. 
Here is the way J. B. Olcott expresses it: “ The way I 
put the road question in a nut shell is this : How can a 
stone raft, if we build it leaky, float on a sea of clay ? ” 
A farmer in Colorado has just grown 45,084 pounds of 
potatoes on one acre. Think of it—he used a chemical fer¬ 
tilizer, too. A chemical fertilizer on “ The Great American 
Desert 1” 
Pig-breeders must raise a strain of good milking sows. 
There is as much difference between sows m this respect 
as there is between cows. This advice is for those who try 
to grow pigs without a dairy. 
The Rural Blush Potato often yields well in sandy land. 
A field near the Rural Grounds, of poor, sandy soil with 800 
pounds to the acre of potato fertilizer, yielded nearly 200 
bushels to the acre the past season. 
The trustees of Cornell University have decided to 
erect and equip a building for the college of agriculture to 
cost $80,000. It will have one of the best locations on the col¬ 
lege campus. The best of it is that there are men at Cor¬ 
nell who will make this investment pay a good rate of 
interest. 
FOR a long time it was thought that early lambs must 
have black faces in order to sell well in this market. Those 
who had the “ Downs ” for sale would have people believe 
that this black face is as important as are yellow skin and 
legs in poultry. The Dorset sheep are disproving this 
theory, for good grade Dorset lambs find ready sale and 
the dealers “ want more of them.” 
The R. N.-Y. cannot suppress a feeling of surprise that 
so excellent an authority as Geo. W. Campbell should 
praise the Woodruff Red Grape, if we judge it from its 
deportment at the Rural Grounds. Vigorous the vine is; 
showy the grapes are. That may be granted. But the berry 
is (or rather was) with us as pulpy aud as foxy as any 
variety of cultivated grapes we have ever seen. 
