858 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
•DEC. i3 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
TIMES BUILDING, NEW YORK. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
ELBERT S. CARMAN, 
HERBERT W. COLLINGWOOD, 
EDITORS. 
Rural Publishing Company: 
LAWSON VALENTINE, Pro.ident. 
EDGAR H. LIBBY, M»n»g«r. 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN, 
OUT-DOOR BOOKS. 
dential canvass. Could the Alliance hold its voters 
together through the fierce bitterness of a National 
election ? It is a risk and we do not believe the 
Alliance leaders will take it; we do not believe it 
will be wisdom. It is now absolutely certain that 
the party which refuses to consider the claims of 
the farmers and the debtor classes generally will 
receive the worst defeat that American politics 
has ever known. The Alliance means union —that 
gives it strength. Farmers want measures, not men; 
the men they will send to Congress will simply 
carry out the measures of their constituents. Be 
just and conservative. Make the old parties bid 
for your support. In the meantime grow in 
thought, in unity and in true brotherhood. 
Copyright, 1890, by the Rur«l Publishing Company. 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1890. 
Mend your stocking before you hang it up. 
‘ ‘ Santa Claus ” admires neatness. 
As you journey through life, you will see many days, 
When the present Is black and the future all' hsze. 
All your prospecs seem going from bad unto worse, 
And your poor share of life out a kick or a curse, 
And j on want to crawl off out or s gnt of all men 
Here’s a bit of advice I would give to you then. 
Don’t quit! Don’t quit! 
God Is but test ag your metal with tire. 
Don’t quit! Don't quit! 
Only the heroes are beckoned up higher 
Among the subscribers of The R. N.-Y. are 
many wealthy men—men who may do in¬ 
calculable good by a judicious present-mak¬ 
ing during the near-at-liand holidays. It is 
suggested that they send in to this office lists 
of from 50 to 500 or 1,000 names of those of 
their acquaintances who would probably ap¬ 
preciate The R. N.-Y. during 1891. In the 
matter of price, we stand ready to meet all 
such propositions in the liberal spirit shown 
by those who may make them. Send in your 
lists and we will send you our estimates. 
The bounty on sugar will induce many farmers 
in the middle and Southern States to make prepara¬ 
tions for growing sorghum. Alrea’dy we have a num¬ 
ber of inquiries from those who have never grown 
the crop but who have seen it stated somewhere that 
“sorghum sugar can be made for one cent per 
pound.” As the bounty is two cents a small fortune 
looms up before these men. As we shall show in 
more detail next week, sorghum sugar cannot be 
manufactured with much profit without costly and 
elaborate machinery, entirely out of the reach of 
the average farmer. Sorghum svrup can be readily 
made, however, and is a profitable product. Sorghum 
growers need a new machine like the one described 
by Mr. Stribling on page 647. We are certain that 
this machine would prove a great boon to the sor¬ 
ghum grower. The manufacturers say that it could 
easily be made, or that an attachment could be 
made for almost any of the large fodder cutters. 
It will be noticed that the Farmers’ Alliance 
people generally consider the question of the hand¬ 
ling of the government finances of more importance 
than any other National issue. Have we enough 
currency in circulation? While “ business ”is ap¬ 
parently good, that is to say, trading is plenty 
enough, there is a shortage in what we call “ ready 
money.” We find many people with property 
enough who cannot pay bills because of shortage 
in the “medium of exchange.” They might secure 
cash by selling some of their property, but the cash 
price for this would be far below their estimate of 
its value. There is, therefore, a well settled belief 
in the minds of the people that the volume of cash 
is so small that the banks and money lenders have 
a great advantage over those who must pay their 
debts in cash or what has been decreed legal tender. 
How far are they right? To us, this is one of the 
most interesting questions of the day and we pro¬ 
pose to make its discussion a prominent feature of 
our “Farm Politics” department. As is usual in 
these discussions, we have no special plea to make, 
being only desirous of finding the truth. 
The meeting of the Farmers’ Alliance is disap¬ 
pointing to those who hoped and expected that it 
would commit itself to some act of folly or some 
demand so evidently unjust that the good sense of 
the people would turn against it. Not so. The 
leaders of the Alliance seem to be wise and con¬ 
servative men who are strong enough and wise 
enough to fully comprehend just what the recent 
election really meant. So long as their minds are 
clear on that point they are safe. The moment 
they get the mistaken idea that the people gave 
them unlimited authority to exercise their own will 
and j udgment they are lost. History ought to teach 
them that! The public man who acts as servant of 
the people benefits his country and helps himself. 
He who attempts to “boss” the people is doomed 
to certain failure. A good test of this conservatism 
will be found in the action of the Alliance concern¬ 
ing the formation of a new political party. Many 
of the delegates favor such a step, but it seems 
evident that the majority are not yet ready for it. 
The leaders well know the difference in political 
excitement between a State and a National election. 
An “off” year canvass is different from a Presi¬ 
There seems to be little hope of the preservation 
of our Adirondack and other forests by State or 
National action. The most promising outlook is 
through the action of public-spirited individuals 
purchasing large tracts and holding them until 
public opinion can be educated to the adoption of a 
true forestry system. Col. J. B. Armstrong has 
offered to California 600 acres of the noblest of 
Redwood forest to be laid out as a park for the 
public. But it seems at present hardly possible to 
rescue the Yosemite and Yellowstone from ruin. 
The national forests in the Southwest are invaded 
in defiance of government officers and even detach¬ 
ments of troops, and are cut down with the conni¬ 
vance of popular opinion—that is, of the public 
opinion of that section. We have, as yet, no public 
opinion appreciative of the forest and park question. 
Legislation, if secured at all. is not effective. But 
an awakening is at hand. Massachusetts has in¬ 
corporated a Board of Trustees with authority to 
receive and hold any parcel of land of historic or 
landscape interest, and to open it for the public use. 
At present unofficial organizations of public spirited 
people have to be relied on. Ultimately a forestry 
system as complete as that of France, Germany or 
Austria will be secured. 
A SONG FOR THE TIMES. 
Tune : “ Marching Through Georgia.” 
Read the lesson farmers that Is written on the sky, 
Use your keenest judgment for the flglit is coming nigh, 
R ight is sure to conquer and the wrong is sure to fly, 
Armed with the truth, who could falter? 
Let’s stand ! let’s stand for justice and for right 
N o more ! no more shall party blind our sight, 
Each one marching onward with his face towaul the light, 
Who then shall dare stand before us ? 
You who live on mountain top and you who live In vale. 
Onward, sweep oppression like the dust before the gale, 
R ighteous is your struggle, Heaven's breath Is on your sail, 
Kings have no mission more noble, 
Efface! Efface the laws (hat make the slave, 
Reverse ! Reverse the plans of scheming knave. 
Now’s the time for action, to be manly true and brave, 
You have your duty before you. 
The patent system is a tax! That is a Christmas 
thought that our readers may well ponder over. 
Patents ! patents ! patents ! without number 
and, many of them, without reason. We make 
the bold statement that there is hardly a garment; 
we wear, hardly a convenience we use, hardly a 
sample of food we eat that does not draw a portion 
of its cost from the patent system. Telephones, 
electric contrivances, refrigerator cars—things 
which are becoming almost absolutely necessary to 
the public are all backed up by patents until the 
proprietors are enabled to demand rates that are 
little short of extortion. No just man will deny the 
right of an inventor to an adequate reward for his 
time and toil, but there is a difference between 
“adequate reward” and extortion. The money 
spent on lawyers’ fees in fighting infringements of 
patents is simply astounding. The patent laws 
ought to be revised. A friend who has studied this 
matter as inventor, manufacturer and patent law¬ 
yer, suggests these lines of revision: 1. No patent 
should run over five years. 2. No patent should be 
issued except for great merit. 3. The surplus of 
the patent department should be used to buy up un- 
expired patents which inventors wish to abandon. 
The R. N.-Y. commends this matter to the consider¬ 
ation of the public. Is not our patent system unfair 
and unjust ? 
It may now be stated positively that our en¬ 
deavors to cross the vine honeysuckle (Hall’s) upon 
the bush honeysuckle (Tartarian); the vine and 
bush honeysuckles upon the diervilla (weigela); 
the philadelphus (mock-orange) upon thedeutzia; 
the catalpa upon the tecoma (trumpet flower) have 
failed. Many flowers of each kind were operated 
upon in the most careful way. Berries formed 
upon the Tartarian bush, the flowers of which re¬ 
ceived pollen from the Hall’s in nearly every case. 
But the seeds were imperfect and failed to ger¬ 
minate. Such results are not very satisfactory as 
the outcome of hours of tedious labor. Seeds of the 
Japan “ Wineberry” crossed with the rose and 
others with the blackberry seemed to be perfect. 
They have been planted in shallow boxes of rich, 
mellow soil—the boxes covered with straw which is 
held in place by wire netting. The object of the 
straw is to prevent any washing of the soil by 
heavy rains; and of the netting to guard against any 
damage from birds, mice, etc. These boxes will be 
exposed to the action of frost until February, when 
they will be taken under glass to germinate, as we 
have found that such seeds (rose, blackberry and 
raspberry) germinate far more readily when thus 
treated than when not subjected to the action of 
frost or to the freezing and thawing process. 
An experiment which the stations might well try 
is the effect of rolling land after seeding. In so far 
as rolling helps to bring the seed and soil in closer 
contact it is, no doubt, helpful for a time. All 
agree that rolling land when moist is a bad prac¬ 
tice. Our own imperfect experiments would go to 
show that the practice is objectionable anyway, 
that is to say, when the surface soil is dry. Even 
a heavy dew upon rolled land will cause a slight 
incrustation, while a shower or storm will cause 
the dust to run together, as it were, and to be left 
after the rain in the condition of a “dry puddle.” 
The air is partially excluded from the soil under¬ 
neath, and the roots of the sprouting seeds are ac¬ 
cordingly enfeebled. An effective test would be to 
roll alternate strips of a field, leaving the inter¬ 
mediate strips in the mellow condition left by the 
harrow. If we were to set about to raise the largest 
waeat crop possible on a given field, we should not 
neglect to mulch it with short manure, either im 
mediately after sowing or so soon as the soil should 
become hard enough by frost to bear a team. One 
of the best arguments, in The R. N.-Y.’s opinion, in 
favor of spreading manure on the land in winter or 
fall, to be plowed under in the spring, is that the 
soil is kept loose and friable; rain passing through 
the mulch slowly sinks into the earth where it falls; 
washing is prevented and the surface never be¬ 
comes crusted. 
In a local paper we find an item that presents a 
forcible picture of comparative profits. In the 
market at Thanksgiving an 18-pound turkey and a 
50 pound pig hung side by side. The price of the 
latter was $2.50; that of the former was $2.88. The 
cost of the feed necessary to produce the two is not 
given; but any one familiar with stock raising 
knows that there is no such disproportion in the 
cost of feed as existed in the price of the finished 
product. Many breeders who have carefully ex¬ 
perimented claim to be able to produce a pound of 
poultry at the same cost as a pound of pork or 
beef. Even allowing that the turkey in question 
cost twice as much to grow per pound as the pig, 
there still exists a big difference in favor of the 
former. Still further, even allowing that the tur¬ 
key cost just twice as much to raise as the pig, the 
latter is distanced completely in the per cent of 
profit upon the cost. He would be considered a 
poor financier who invested his money so that it 
produced but three per cent upon the investment 
when it might just as easily be invested so as to 
produce six per cent. Isn’t it equally true that a 
’armer shows a lack of good business sense when 
he invests his feed, his time, his labor, so that it 
doesn’t produce more than half the profit it might 
be made to do ? Is it wise to manufacture good 
corn, oats or other feed into one kind of meat 
when it might as easily be made into another kind 
that sells for twice or three times as much ? 
Doesn’t it look like poor management for a farmer 
to spend the time of himself and team plowing and 
cultivating his land for a return of 12 or 15 bushelR 
of wheat per acre when the yield might be doubled 
with proper treatment ? Is it good policy to turn 
out 15-cent butter from milk that contains the 
elements of 25 cent butter ? Isn’t there a screw 
loose somewhere when any man fails to make the 
most possible from his property, his time, his 
talents, his opportunities ? 
BREVITIES. 
It isn’t the size of the heati my dear, 
Bur the grit of the brain that tells. 
For if you iro in for Ihe first idea, 
The first thing you know your head swells. 
Twenty-four pages. 
Wind up your courage. 
What trees like wet feet ? 
A deep well needs a long rope. 
Sheep ticks like a tender skin. 
Will you make your will now? 
A COW can bawl the fat out of her milk. 
A LOUD squealing pig is a bad feeling pig. 
Read the butter symposium on page 855. 
Short grows the day; more time for play. 
Read about those Vermont ducks on page 869. 
The successful market gardener never gets out of work 
The railroad question—Jay Gould vs. the United States. 
The best part of accumulating wealth is giving it away 
Come off the perch unless you have earned your roosting 
place. 
What stock will eat asparagus? How much can be 
grown on an acre ? 
■»-' UUV4 J WU 
and good thoughts, 
Have yon a spring on yonr farm? How do you like 
Farmer Girl’s talk on page 852 ? 
It Is hard to conceive of a more inappropriate name for 
drooping or pendulous trees than that of weeplny. 
The question is: How much of the egg should we eat 
before we are satisfied in pronouncing it fresh or addled ? 
Pay county officers a reasonable salary—not more than 
they can earn in other business. Don’t feed them on fees. 
The Michigan Horticultural Society objects to the 
schedule in the Horticultural Department of the World’s 
Fair and urges all similar societies to write to the man¬ 
agers in favor of changing the schedule. L. R Taft 
Secretary Agricultural College P. O., Michigan 
