816 
NOV. 29 
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, Pr««id»nt. 
EDGAR H. LIBBY, M»n«e»r. 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN, 
OUT-DOOR BOOKS. 
Copyright, 1890, by the Rural Publishing Company. 
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1890 
Do men raise Bantams for broilers? 
Question: “What are the politics of The R. 
N.-Y. ?”’ Ans.—“To have the best farmers rule 
the country.” 
A nice Christmas present for your near or distant 
friend would be a year’s subscription to Tiie Rural 
New-Yorker or The American Garden. Don’t 
you think so ? The subscription would count in a 
club. 
“GAME” OR “DEUCE?” 
“Play!” —So says our umpire, as shown on the 
first page of this issue. The score stands “ ad¬ 
vantage in ” for Dame Agriculture. So say the late 
elections. Agriculture has the advantage. Will 
she keep it ? Ah, “there is many a slip ’twixt the 
cup and the lip.” Our game of Tennis is typical of 
our national game—Agriculture against the vileness 
of our political parties. Has Agriculture the purity 
to filter and sweeten the putrid waters ? Let us see. 
Agriculture has the chance to show herself. She 
stands, as the country votes, “ advantage in.” One 
more successful stroke and Uncle Sam will cry 
“ Game.” And then ? ? ? 
Dairymen seem to agree that different cows in a 
given herd have different tastes and preferences for 
different foods. The inference at least is that the 
cows will do their best work when given the food 
they like best. All seem to agree to this; but there 
is a division of opinion as to the economy of serving 
different cows with different messes. This will re¬ 
quire a good deal of extra work. Will it pay? Prob¬ 
ably not, except in very small herds of choice ani¬ 
mals. In large herds it is hardly likely that this in¬ 
dividual feeding would pay, as it would be easier 
and cheaper to teach the cows to eat the foods that 
make up the cheapest ration. We would like to have 
the opinion of our readers on this point. 
Few Eastern people realize the extent to which 
dishorning is practiced by Western cattlemen. The 
fact is, that now, in the States west of Indiana, 
barely half the cattle have horns, and the time is 
unquestionably approaching when the last horn 
“must go,” and the “scaleof points” of the various 
breeders’ associations will have to bo revised to 
omit reference to horns. A curious feature in this 
connection is the fact that many of the calves from 
dishorned bulls are either hornless or with merely 
abortive stubs in the place of horns. The facts re¬ 
garding these cases come to us from sources so 
thoroughly reliable that they cannot be doubted. 
It will require but a few generations of horn cutting 
to produce a polled breed. 
The popular hardy shrub of the day—just as the 
Great panicled Hydrangea was popular a few years 
ago—is Viburnum plicatum. Thousands ^are being 
planted in public parks as well as in all private 
grounds. The demand is far greater than the sup¬ 
ply. It is a fine shrub, whether its foliage or flow¬ 
ers be regarded. But the flowers are stiff, odorless 
affairs and last but for a few weeks. Meritorious 
as the plant is, were we confined to a choice between 
it and Rosa rugosa, we should select, without hesi¬ 
tation, the latter. It is not half appreciated, owing 
probably to the fact that it is not easy to propagate, 
its leaves in their dark, lustrous, firm texture are 
incomparable. The shrub, unlike most roses, 
clothes itself in leafy beauty from top to bottom, 
while its brilliant delicately perfumed flowers bloom 
from spring to fall. One bush at least of Rosa rugosa 
should be enjoyed in every garden. 
In every part of the globe, if plagues which pre¬ 
vail as epidemic or endemic are excluded, consump 
tion causes a larger proportion of deaths in the 
human family than any other disease. Statistics 
show that of the population of Great Britain, 
France, Germany and Russia, numbering less than 
250,000,000, the annual deaths from this disease are 
nearly 1,090,000, and that of the people inhabiting 
the globe at least 3,000,000 die from it each year. 
During centuries of anxious research the greatest 
medical geniuses have failed to discover any 
remedy for it, and from ages far beyond historic 
record, death, with certain though sometimes fal¬ 
tering steps, has always slowly but inevitably 
reached its victims. What a benefactor, there¬ 
fore, to the human race must be the discoverer of a 
specific remedy for this, the most deadly of all 
human diseases! What renown through unborn 
generations must be his who, in a single year, can 
save more human lives than are sacrificed in a life¬ 
time of warfare by the most glorious conqueror, and 
alleviate more human suffering and sorrow than are 
caused by the most brilliant warrior’s devastating 
career! Is Professor Koch, the modest, indefatig¬ 
able, young German physician, the enviable man? 
All current indications point to him decidedly. 
His past scientific achievements show that he is a 
student not a charlatan. Though reticent with re¬ 
gard to his latest discovery, he is not a mystery- 
monger, and has given to the world all that he has 
hitherto positively ascertained with regard to its 
effects. It must be remembered that although it 
has cost him years of life and labor to make the 
discovery, it has been applied to human beings only 
for 80 days. He has been cautious— very cautious 
in his claims in its behalf. Evidently he shrinks 
from the possibility of being classed as another 
Browne-Sequard. Some of the most able physicians 
of Europe, who have visited him and had ample op¬ 
portunities of investigation, enthusiastically co¬ 
incide with his views, or even go beyond his modest 
claims. They see in his discovery not only a posi¬ 
tive specific for phthisis, but the promise of 
others for cancer and all other hitherto incurable 
diseases that in all the ages have ballled science as 
well ixs tortured and slain mankind. 
Some of the papers last week contained an article 
headed “ A Big Seed'Trust,” in which it was stated 
that a New York capitalist proposed to bring all the 
leading seedsmen of the country into one vast com¬ 
bination with a capital stock of $7,000,000. The 
concern was to be known as the “United Seed 
Company of America,” and we were given to 
understand that most of the leading seedsmen of 
the country were prepared to go into it. Upon in¬ 
vestigation, we find that there is absolutely nothing 
in the thing but the lively imagination of a Wall 
Street broker. The scheme is entirely impracti¬ 
cable. It might be possible for a combination to ob¬ 
tain control of all the clover seed in the country or 
possibly all the onion seed, but the folly of suppos¬ 
ing that any combination could control all the seeds 
is simply childish. The “big seed trust” will 
never be formed while our leading seedsmen are in 
possession of their mental faculties. 
General J. *B. Gordon has just been elected a 
Senator from Georgia. There were some curious 
features about this election. The legislature is con¬ 
trolled by the Farmers’ Alliance, 162 out of its 219 
members belonging to that order. A majority of the 
Alliance favor the Sub-Treasury warehouse scheme. 
General Gordon opposed it as impracticable and 
“ un-Democratic, ” yet he was elected. Another 
strange feature of the canvass was the fact that the 
radical advocates of the Sub-Treasury scheme put 
forward as their candidate a railroad lawyer. The 
Alliance men went all to pieces in the election. 
While probably a majority of them continued to 
the last strenuously opposed to the election of Gor¬ 
don, they could not agree to combine on any other 
candidate. Meanwhile a strong minority, headed 
by Governor Northern, whom the Alliance recently 
elected, indorsed Gordon, and at the end there was 
a regular stampede to vote for the successful candi¬ 
date, although Colonel Polk, President of the Alli¬ 
ance, and Dr. Macune, its Secretary, bitterly op¬ 
posed him. _ 
The editors of political papers seem to be lying 
awake nights just now trying to think out good ad¬ 
vice for the farmers who have “ gone into politics.” 
The trouble with most of this advice is that these 
editors do not at all comprehend the situation, as¬ 
suming that the farmers can easily be coaxed or 
driven back to one or the other of the great politi¬ 
cal parties. The fact is that these farmers seek to 
bring into politics issues upon which those who now 
lead the great parties can hardly divide. In the 
matter of just and fair taxation the farmers feel that 
they must either force one of the old parties to 
choose new leaders and a new policy or make a new 
party. The farmers are not yet ready for the latter 
alternative, however enthusiastic they may be over 
their success. But, our friends of the political press 
must realize that this movement is different from 
anything this country has ever before seen, and that 
those who attempt to “ head it off ” will be swamped. 
Among the many comments made by influential city 
papers, there have been few more malicious than 
this from the New York Sun : 
But there may be an element of danger to invested cap¬ 
ital in the control of certain State legislatures by the 
Farmers’ Alliance. Many wild notions, such as laws for 
the preveutiou of foreclosures, stay laws, and the like, have 
had strong support in some of the county Alliances. Hos 
tility to railroads and a disposition to interfere with them 
arbitrarily, aud to fix rates at a point which means no div¬ 
idends, have been common to all granger movements: aud 
the Farmers’ Alliance, with its belief in the government 
control of the railroads, is no exception. Extreme views 
are likely to come to the top wherever the Alliance is in 
power. Investors, therefore, will do well to be cautious 
about iucreaslng their investments in the Granger States 
before the animus of the legislatures has been fully dis¬ 
closed. 
Are the farmers then fools and thieves? We have 
in this quotation a direct hint to investors to keep 
away from these “ Granger States ” until the farm¬ 
ers can be frightened back to a less independent 
stand. The farmers of these States have an oppor¬ 
tunity to show the world that they are entirely cap¬ 
able of doing the public business justly and econom¬ 
ically. Let them do it. 
The other day in Jersey City a laboring man with 
a large family dependent upon h is earnings l or food 
and clothing, sacrificed his life to save a street Arab 
from death by a railroad train and the daily press 
was filled with plaudits of his heroic deed. Mean¬ 
while his wife and young children are left to the cold 
charity of an unfeeling world which is more prone 
to praise dead heroes than to appreciate and encour¬ 
age live ones. This sort of bosh is very wearying to 
the flesh. No man is called upon to sacrifice his life, 
his health, his strength or his means for strangers 
and leave his own kin to suffer. We would not 
teach selfishness; far from it. But a man’s duty is 
to care for his own loved ones first of all. Our dead 
hero would have been far more of a hero had he 
cared for his own life and labored faithfully to pro¬ 
vide for the now destitute ones. The man who strug¬ 
gles faithfully and earnestly against discourage- . 
ments and difficulties to fulfill the duties devolving 
upon him is a greater hero than he who needlessly 
sacrifices himself. There are many living heroes all 
about us whom the world does not i*ecognize. Do 
you know of any? Still the number of those who, 
impulsively or deliberately, risk their lives for the 
safety of others, whether friends or strangers, is so 
small that there is little need of discouraging the 
practice. _ 
One curious result of the enforcement of the anti- 
lottery law has recently transpired. It has been a 
favorite means of advertising certain baking pow¬ 
ders and other similar goods to offer presents of 
glassware to purchasers. This has been declared 
illegal, and in consequence a glass factory, employ 
ing sevei’al hundred men aud manufacturing this 
class of goods exclusively, has been forced to sus¬ 
pend operations. Glass making of itself is a per¬ 
fectly legitimate industry, but when the product is 
used for illegal purposes, the manufacturers must 
suffer. There are bottle factories whose total out- 
out is used for bottling beers and other liquors. A 
aw that did away with the trade in intoxicating 
iquors might close these for a time. This might be 
a hardship to a few, but it would hardly be re¬ 
gretted. The gambling fostered, and the tons of 
cheap, if not absolutely harmful, baking powders 
foisted upon the public can certainly be profitably 
dispensed with, even though a few innocent indi¬ 
viduals suffer therefrom. The widespread misery 
inflicted by the liquor ti*affic is far rnoro to be 
l'egretted than any individual loss or hardship that 
might be occasioned by its abolishment. The 
greatest good to the greatest number is the under¬ 
lying principle of just legislation. The farmers re¬ 
cently elevated to legislative offices should remem¬ 
ber tliis. 
BREVITIES. 
Hurry. 
Worry. 
Make baste, 
Make waste. 
Steady, 
Ready. 
He sure, 
Knoure. 
“ ‘Mum’ is the word of the season. 
Your character is stenciled on your face. 
Have a hobby of some sort and get some fun out of it. 
If you want a drunkard manufactory, move into a 
culer-drinkiug neighborhood. 
The results of Prof. Bailey’s grafting the tomato on the 
potato and the potato on the tomato are curiously 
interesting. 
Garlic is being shipped from Italy to California ! Is 
not California’s soil strong enough to produce this power¬ 
ful “green ?” 
“ Raisins” are made by drying grapes of two particular 
varieties. “ Dried grapes ” are ordinary table grapes dried 
aud stemmed. 
Again we say that the patent system is a tax. Sit down 
aud figure up how much of a patent tax you pay on what 
you eat, wear and use. 
The McKinley Bill will certainly start a boom in maple 
sugarmakiug. The best sugar manufacturer will obtaiu 
more for his product, but how much more will the farmer 
obtain for his beets ? 
Riiodotypos kerrioides is a hardy shrub, valuable, not 
alone for its white flowers, but also for the black, glossv 
berries which follow aud remain until spring. Its foliage 
resembles the Japan kerria. 
Certain dealers in New York are putting up pure, un¬ 
fermented grape juice in quart and pint bottles. These 
are artificially charged with carbonic gas, thus giving a 
“ sparkling” wine which is guaranteed to be, and really 
is, free of alcohol. 
Not satisfied with potato diggers, planters and sorters, 
the inventors are now devising machines for cutting the 
seed. These machines are, really, sheers. At preseut they 
are crude enough, but the inventors hope to perfect them 
and thus save the tedious work of cutting by hand. 
The papers are full of chrysanthemum talk. That is 
good. What The R. N.-Y. wants is improved varieties 
that will bloom out-of-doors without protection. Thus far, 
though we have a well assorted list of the new kiuds, we 
do not find one among them superior to the “ Artemesias” 
of our grand-parents. 
A CONSPICUOUS passenger on our train every morning is 
a man with 12 or 15 little baskets filled with water cress. 
He says he sells the cress to the fashionable hotels at a 
good price. But pray don’t all go to raising water cress 
unless you can afford to wait till its use spreads from the 
ranks of the “ 400 ” to those of the 4,000,000. 
The R. N.-Y. has several times alluded to a beautifu 
Althma, which bears blue single blossoms. It was sent to 
the Rural Grounds some live years ago by Mr. Saul, of 
Washington. Two years ago seeds of the plant were sown 
and 10 seedlings bloomed the past season. It is worthy of 
note that all the fiowers are alike in color—all light purple 
with a deep purple throat. 
Your subscription for 1891 will be free (you now being 
a subscriber) if you send us a chib of FOUR new sub¬ 
scriptions besides your own, at the club price, $1.50 each 
