862 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
DEC. i3 
All Sorts. 
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES AND EXPERIMENT 
STATIONS. 
Recent Experiment Station Bulletins. 
[Readers wanting any of these Bulletins should write to the 
secretary of the experiment station in each case.] 
Michigan Bulletin No. 68 : Soils, Milk, Ensilage. 
Michigan Bulletin No. 69 : Feeding Steers. 
Rhode Island, Kingston : Soils and Fertilizers. 
Ohio, Columbus, Vol. 3, No. 8: Entomological. 
Arkansas, Fayetteville, No. 15 : Some New Insecticides. 
The Colorado Station (Bulletin 13) gives an account 
of tbe devices used for measuring irrigating water. To the 
Colorado farmer this water is as precious as the sunlight— 
more so indeed—and a fair and honest division of the 
stream is of the greatest importance, particularly as 
Colorado has far more land than water. 
The Iowa Station finds asparagus three times as rich 
in fat and nearly twice as rich in albuminoids as clover, 
and will experimennt with it as a soiling food for live 
stock. 
Prof. Gillette (Iowa Bulletin 13) finds the kerosene 
emulsion a good sheep dip. It is cheap, costing a little less 
than two cents per head; there is no danger of poisoning 
the sheep aDd it is easily prepared and handled. An emul¬ 
sion containing five per cent of kerosene is strong enough. 
Prepare it out-of doors, where less damage is done if it 
takes fire. Be careful that too much kerosene is not used, 
so that it rises to the top of the mixture. The emulsion is 
also good for killing lice on hogs or cattle. 
Director Speer (Iowa Bulletin 13) estimates that 
$9,000,000 were lost in 1888 to Iowa farmers in consequence 
of poor hay-making—late cutting, exposure to rains and 
stacking and storing in bad condition. Late cutting is too 
often due to laziness or bad management. “ We can’t stop 
the rain,” say some farmers ! True, but you can make 
cocks and stacks that will keep the hay in good condition. 
Mr. Speer found that when a stack of wet grass was made 
around a pole—loosely—vapor passed away like smoke 
from a chimney. He conceived the idea of combining a 
simple ventilator with a hay cap. He found that the hay 
did not dry off quickly under the caps, so he bored a 1%- 
inch hole in the top of the cap and stuck in each cap a pole 
seven feet long, sharpened at oae end and grooved at each 
side. The cock was first made two feet high, then the pole 
was put down through it into the ground and the cock 
completed by building the hay around the pole. The cap 
protected the top of the stack, while the grooves in the 
pole afforded suitable ventilation. The vapor, steam and 
heat simply flew up the flue. The caps used were of wood 
pulp, bat the freight on them was so high that a cap made 
of ducking will be used hereafter. 
The Wisconsin system of agricultural education (Wis¬ 
consin University, Madison,) has for its main features the 
experiment station, class-room instruction and farmers’ 
institutes. The experiment station is the heart of the sys¬ 
tem with its tests, demonstrations and developments. 
The instruction is divided into five courses—short, dairy, 
middle, long and graduate. The farmers’ institutes, 60 or 
more of which are held each year, bring the college work 
directly into the homes of the people. This is the ideal 
State agricultural system and the circular describing it is 
one of the most comprehensive arguments in favor of agri¬ 
cultural education that we have ever read. The four 
courses at the college are so arranged that a boy can ob¬ 
tain special instruction in any single branch he may de¬ 
sire. Wisconsin is going to the front in this.matter. 
SOCIETIES AND ORGANIZATIONS. 
The Alliance’s Explanation.— Colonel Polk, the pres, 
ident of the Farmers’ Alliance, was recently asked for an 
opinion as to the result of the last election. He said :— 
“ We shall have to look beyond tbe McKinley Tariff Bill— 
it was not that. We must look beyond the Lodge Bill—it 
was not that. We must look further than any and all of 
the political questions which have been obscuring the real 
issue for nearly 30 years. It was the oppression of the finan¬ 
cial syBtem of this country upon the masses of the people. 
They have just found out what the matter is. They are 
thinkers to-day if they never were before. They have 
scratched away all the rubbish of the negro question, of 
the bloody shirt, of the tariff, and of the Federal control of 
elections, and they have at last got down to hard-pan. It 
is the dollar that is keeping the people down to day. It is 
the money power, the rule of plutocracy, and the people 
will have no more of it. The slogan henceforth is to be 
financial reform.” It becomes more and more evident that 
the leaders of the Alliance are seeking to thrust a new 
issue into American politics. They will succeed, too. It 
is well enough to be prepared for it and to begin to realize 
where you stand on these matters of taxation and distri¬ 
bution of wealth. 
The Citizens’ Alliance is the name of a new organiza¬ 
tion that is sweeping like wildfire over most of the West. 
Like the Farmers’ League, it is a non-partisan, non secret, 
purely political association. It is based upon the platform 
of the Farmers’ Alliance, and any man, whatever may be 
his occupation, can join it on pledging himself to support 
that platform. The organization started a short time ago 
in Kansas, and has already a large membership in that 
State as well as in Nebraska and Iowa. It is also reaching 
out rapidly into all the neighboring States and is recruit¬ 
ing with tremendous energy among the members of all the 
agricultural and labor organizations, and, indeed, all 
classes of society. While most of the leaders of the 
Farmers’ Alliance appear at present to be opposed to the 
plan of starting a third party through the action of their 
own association, they seem quite ready to lend the support 
of the organization to a third, party put in the field by the 
Citizens’ Alliance, should occasion for it arise. The new 
society is so wide in its scope that it can take in all who 
may feel disposed from any cause to support the Alliance 
programme. Herein lies its great peril, for in such a 
heterogeneous mass there can be little discipline, while 
there is no small danger that politicians may get control 
of It, and use it for purposes as objectionable as those 
which have brought down the farmers’ indignation on 
both the old parties. 
The National Farmers’ Mutual Benefit Associa¬ 
tion, with a membership of over 600,000, principally in Illi¬ 
nois, Indiara, Ohio, Missouri, Tennessee and Kansas, at its 
annual convention at Springfield, Ill., the other day, 
among other things, demanded a revision of the patent 
laws, the abolition of the National banking system, the 
issue and sale by the Government of United States bonds 
in denominations of $10, $20, $50 and $100, bearing two per 
cent interest and redeemable in gold, silver or United 
States Treasury notes at the option of the holder or the 
government; the reduction of taxation on the necessaries 
and conveniences of life and the regulation of immigra¬ 
tion and the manufacture of adulterated foods by the Gen¬ 
eral Government. It favored loans by the General Govern¬ 
ment on property security at not over four per cent inter¬ 
est; the election of President, Vice President and United 
States Senators, postmasters, and railroad and warehouse 
commissioners by popular vote. Tbe resolutions concluded 
by making provision for the establishment of a national 
organization to attend the coming sessions of the legisla¬ 
tures throughout the country in the interests of the farm¬ 
ers’ organizations, and calling upon the representatives of 
the association to keep aloof from both “ old parties.” 
The National Farmers’League will oppose the irrigation 
of immense tracts of public land at government expense 
and will demand a change of the Inter State Commerce 
Law so as to cover oleomargarine “original packages.” 
At the meeting of the National Grange at Atlanta Mr. 
Page, of Missouri, did some remarkable figuring. This is 
the result: “If Adam had labored from creation until 
to day at $1 per day and laid it all by, he would have 
saved only a little over $2,000,000, while if he had Invested 
$1 at five per cent interest and compounded it, the result 
would in this time have reached a sum equal to the pur¬ 
chase of the world, ‘ reciprocity and free trade included.’ ” 
After money-making for half a single life time, Jay Gould 
has cleared so much that his income for less than two 
months would be more than Adam’s wages from creation. 
The Connecticut State Farmer’s League “ resolves ” in 
favor of additional oleomargarine legislation, concentra¬ 
tion of experiment station work at the Storrs School, and 
some action as to the “ original package ” decision of the 
United States Supreme Court. It also favors State insur¬ 
ance against loss by fire or lightning, choice of United 
States Senators by an electoral body in each State similar 
to those which elect a President; provision by Congress 
(under a Constitutional amendment) “ to enact such laws 
as may be necessary to make it easily possible for any one 
desiring it to own and occupy sufficient land from which 
to gain a livelihood by obliging the largest landholders, 
when necessary to this end, to sell enough of their land for 
that purpose on easy terms and at a price not exceeding its 
assessed value for taxation.” 
Women in the Farmers’ Alliance have been taking 
quite an enthusiastic part in political work of late. From 
the outset both sexes have been admitted to the order, the 
minimum age being 16. During the recent campaign in 
Kansas several female members took to the stump and did 
yeoman’s service in advocating the Alliance cause, and 
supporting the Alliance candidates. In some of the other 
Western States also women were among the most active of 
Alliance workers. They made campaign speeches, took 
part in debates, and entered enthusiastically heart and 
soul into the fight. Mrs. Driggs, one of the most effective 
and successful workers in the Kansas campaign, is now a 
prominent figure at the Ocala convention, and an earnest 
and forcible advocate of the establishment of a third party 
in national politics. She thinks a new party name is 
needed, not only to represent new ideas and a new policy, 
but to do away with the old political animosities and the 
old sectional prejudices represented by the old parties. 
The Colored Farmers’ Alliance is also holding a con¬ 
vention at Ocala, Florida, having begun its sessions last 
Wednesday. Its sessions are all open, while those of the 
white Alliance are secret. The order is organized in 36 
States and claims a membership of about 1,200,000, com¬ 
posed chiefly of small proprietary and tenant colored 
farmers together with colored men working on shares and 
some of the most intelligent among the field hands, along 
with a sprinkling of colored men engaged in various occu¬ 
pations connected more or less intimately with agriculture. 
There are about 750,000 male adults, the remainder being 
youths and women. All of the Southern States are fully 
organized and there are partially organized Alliances in 
Delaware, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Nebraska. 
In round numbers there are iu Alabama, 100,000 members; 
South Carolina, 90.000; Mississippi, 90,000; Texas, 90,000; 
Georgia, 84,000; Arkansas, 20,000; Louisiana and Virginia, 
50,000; Tennessee, 60,000; North Carolina, 55,000, and Ken¬ 
tucky 25,000. The rest are scattered among the other 
States. Its platform is identical with that of the white 
Alliance with which it works in complete harmony. In¬ 
deed, the two organizations are and will continue to be 
identical except in name and the color of the members. 
Each State has a certain number of votes; but in most 
cases, to save traveling expenses, one or two delegates from 
each State cast the votes by proxy in the National Coun¬ 
cil. The Rev. R. M. Humphrey, of Houston, Texas, a 
white Baptist preacher, whose whole life has been spent in 
helping the colored people, is the National Superindeudeut 
and virtually President of the order. Twenty-two States 
are represented by about 50 delegates at Ocala; but so 
strictly is the color line drawn that not a single colored 
delegate is staying at any of the hotels patronized by the 
representatives of the other Alliance. Still President 
Humphrey is confident that the Colored Alliance will do 
as much to solve the race problem as the white Alliance 
has done and is doing to solve the sectional question. The 
organization is stronglv in favor of a third party. 
THE FARMERS’ ALLIANCE CONVENTION. 
We shall prepare acomprehensive report of this meeting 
for later issues. The discussions held there are of great 
interest and we propose to make our report a special fea¬ 
ture. Briefly stated, the Alliance reaffirms its platform of 
last year, which called for the abolition of national bauks 
and the issue of treasury notes directly to the people, the 
free coinage of silver, laws prohibiting dealings in “ fu¬ 
tures ” and alien ownership of land ; fractional currency 
and tariff laws that bring “special privileges to none.” 
The “ third party movement ” and the Sub-Treasury Bill 
have hitherto been avoided by the majority of the dele¬ 
gates. The sense of the meeting has seemed to be that the 
government should experiment in the control of all means 
of transportation, and that should the experiment prove 
successful, absolute government ownership should follow. 
The conservative element in the convention has ruled it 
and there has been a general desire to go slowly and grow. 
The members of the Colored Alliance seem to have been 
more hot headed and have advocated many radical meas¬ 
ures which their white friends could not indorse. They 
have declared themselves in favor of the single tax theory 
of Henry George, demanded a new party and, in fact, been 
prepared to go to extreme measures. The white Alliance 
has passed a resolution condemning the Federal Election 
Bill while the colored men are divided, the majority appar¬ 
ently opposing the bill. 
READER’S NOTES. 
Suppose a man sells his house and lot in the city, loans 
you the money, and takes a mortgage on your farm: he is 
virtually a “ time limited ” partner in your business, with 
a stated sum at stated intervals as his share of the profits. 
Now, to make yourself safe in regard to stress of circum¬ 
stances, why not have embodied in the instrument a 
clause to the effect that if, from any mentioned cause, you 
are unable to pay this money when it comes due, he shall 
share as in other partnership transactions his pro rata of 
the losses t—Colorado Farmer. 
Unfortunately for this plan, the lender names the terms. 
He is not obliged to lend, while the borrower is obliged to 
borrow. 
The Pacific Rural Press likes Secretary Wanamaker’s 
plan for a postal telegraph ; it says : “ Here is an oppor¬ 
tunity-one such as seldom occurs. The nerve of a Cab¬ 
inet officer to strike a death-blow at a great and ruinous 
monopoly is without precedent, and should be backed up 
by a wall of public opinion deep and high. To strike at 
the enormities of the present management of the telegraph 
system is to strike at Jay Gould, and to strike at Jay 
Gould is to strike at the combined railroad and telegraph 
interests of the United States.” 
The platform of the California State Farmers’ Alliance 
opens as follows: “Edmund BurKe, the great English 
orator and statesman, never uttered a wiser and and more 
truthful sentence than when, in the midst of one of his 
grand and noble speeches, he exclaimed : ‘ When bad men 
combine, the good must associate, else they will fall one 
by one an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.’ ” 
One plank, a little out of the ordinary, reads: “ We 
would recommend such changes in the State law that in 
the event of the death of the husband, the wife has the 
same right to conduct and carry on the business as the 
partner has, without the long and tedious course of law 
usual in such cases.” 
• 
The last Mississippi Legislature provided for the se¬ 
lection of uniform school books. The school boards met 
and made selections of books. There was much rivalry 
among publishers and many parents protested at being 
forced to buy new books. Tbe State Board of Education, 
in order to settle the matter, has issued this resolution, 
based on an opinion of the Attorney-General : “In the 
opinion of this board the act of 1890, providing for a uni¬ 
form series of text-books, etc., is mandatory, and if a 
teacher shall make use of other books than those adopted 
by the school-book committee on October 6th, and con¬ 
tracted for by the county superintendents, it will be a 
breach of his contract destroying all claim to com¬ 
pensation.” 
For every farmer who has left the farm and come to the 
city to make a fortune, 50 have made a fortune on the 
farm and come to town to spend it.— Indiana Farmer. 
Correct in our experience, 
SOCIETY MEETINGS TO COME. 
Vermont State Grange, West Randolph, December 10—11. 
New York Farmers’ League, Albany, December 30. 
Connecticut Board of Agriculture, Rockville, December 
16—18. 
Pekin Bantam Club, New York, February 9. 
Vermont Dairymen’s, St Albans, January 14—16. 
Connecticut State Poultry Show, Rockville, January 
8—10. 
Farmers’ Institutes. 
New York.—D ecember 23—23, Washiugtonville, O ange 
County. 
Ohio.— December 8—9, Medina, Wooster, Iberia and 
Pomeroy; 10—11, Polk, Kilbuck, Greenwich and Gallipolis; 
12—13, Shelby, Warsaw, Strongville and Proctorville. 
Indiana.— December 17—18, Liberty ; December 19—20, 
Manilla; December 23—24, Columbus. 
Wisconsin.— December 18—19, Necedah and West Salem; 
December 22—23, Sun Prairie and Belleville. 
