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\H. 1. RUSSELL, Publisher, . . A FARM \AND FIRESIDE JOURNAL. ® vOL, IK. \COOPERSTOWN N Y., SATURDAY OCTOBER 16‘ I new. A Contented Mind is a Jewel. ‘Wrmn expressly for the the 011mm mem. ax shuxe mor. .~ ' mm. s stream. and friends upon the golden shore. 'The man of millons well may envy me, Tho' ho wears hyacinth, I a thread bare cont. His stately yacht may skim the ripp'ling sea, Or near his sea-side mansion ldly float- -I'm-well content with my old leaky boat 'The milllonaire mysmoke his Henry clays, ~ By fabI'd 'pithor exioke:t this pipe of cob; And he tiny drivekisspin 6f dspplo bays- On Sundays I've a far- more pleasant job- ° Hitch Dobbin up and off for meetin' Jog. \The man of wealth guzzle dry champagne. MiLofdet fake tardinmrlwme-mnde ale, and he may swing his golden headed cane- T'll lamp along with hazel stick or fall, 0 C And git thar Just the sams, I'll go you bail .. The imillorqt'e() sometimes paoks up is grip, Andout for Canada takes suddon fight. Hie gains no easy conscience thro' his trip, For oft from horrid dreams he \wakes in fright- T'd rathet pay my debts and sleop at.night.~ ''The wealthy man is 'fraid of bomb and shell, pester him day after day-- 'The anarchists have always used mo well- The patent gate man never comes my way, Nor do book agents make a lengthy stay. \Hike man of wealth has taxes largo to pay, (Though ho \swears off\ tolightem up his load.) «How ho does squirmish 'round collector's day? I pay no tax on “dwelling place of 'bode.\ ' One day I soldiof 'round upon the road. \The millionaire may visit foreign shotes- I needn't go away from hote for \scenes\- His French cooks nolsoless walk on Inlaid floors Istub around, bare-footed, in my Jeans And manage to survive on pork and beans. \The man of wealth buys silk and boots of kid- His daughters dance the German in such rig. Afy lisses homespun wear, as mother did, * And ev'ty one, from little up to big, In her cow-hido shoes can dance a ratt'ling Jig. 'The milllonaire a \lady\ wods and he Calls her his \Iamb or \Joy of his life.\ What sentimental bosh. Now as for me I sometimes like to have an old time strife And jamboree with my old, crasseyed wife, Farm Hopics. Keminisconces of Farm Life of Olden 'Times, Stories, &c,.---No. 38. Written expressly for Tuz Ofszco Fama, By it BaKEN wimar. Wheat has been the staple food of all civilized nations of earth. Its history dates with the earliest knowledge of the human race. Itwas in olden times keown under the name of corn, even before malze formed any part of the earth's products, 'The corn spoken. of in the early Jewish history we understand to be wheat. The \seven ears of corn\ named ia Pha- raoh's dream, as interpreted by Joseph, meant what we call Heads of whent, Instead of' earsiof maize, in the description given of the seven years of plenty followed by those of, famine. Wheat is raised in olmost overy habita- bie portlon of earth.. Etrope/Asia, Afrt- ca, North and South Americo and Austra- |. lis contribute to the world's supply of wheat. Wheat appears In mere varieties than does any.other. kind of grain. 'The varia- tlomg of climate and soll where. it is pro- duced, contributing continually to such changes in. . The,more fine flour a kinder wheat will . prodnqe determines its. quality arid value. \aged of.the Megan aad ha‘s‘prodnosd , T8 Bome of the best.whests produceeighty- six per cent of flour, It will not be at- tempted by us to decide as to the merits or demerits of different kinds -of wheat, or Gf the comparative value of those produced stre in different countries, or ff different local- iflesin ourown country, as those things ara more ® matter of individual habit of [® use and taste than in ibegrninprodneed‘ The Unked Stites produced on an aver 152728 \bushels during each yer of 1890 of a aascrvéamgii ducer. manmmmmawm & average Of Tol speculafiwvflmz a « hsxmnnhmdoyiminfwtfixuitsprim: Deth ~ahya & suftcent; without such minder). th iC rauck have cisfiged -the [flaming pro-: mg, more: than its cm of\ production. The one only f redeeming (thing about the matter to the: farmer Is that'ft is on what he raises to sell, and not on what ho: consumes in his fam 1y, that. he suffers by such low prices. | god 1884 we. 'raised 51%; 778 000 buslicls, make the price at Calcutta 21.87 shillings \per quarter, or at Bombay 24.58 . shillings Calcutta wheat in London 'being 81.87 shil- Tings por Quarter, and that from Bombay 81.85 shillings. | American wheat reustsell very low in Chicago to equal\ these figures, , and its | average market value \was sixty: four . and onehalf 'conts:\\ bushel. \In -[ 1881:the crop wis $88,280,090 bushels, and ; the average market price one hundréd and [nineteen and three-tenth certs pof bushel, while the. yleld per acro was 'but ton and} crop of: 1881 was: $144,780,578. 70, while 'the much- larger crop of 1884 had a cash value of only $380,740,520, Here we have ducer in value on his market surplus'in times of high or low price. * ~ in giving these figures, which seem and refill-y ate often ruinous to the special farm- er, we should bear- in-mind that the mixed forming, 'where no particilar specialty is made, the loss:fs - much decreased; as be- fore stated, it\ comes only on what he has to sell, ot on what he consumes. 'The reason assigned as the chief cause ofthe present low price of wheat with- in our country; and in' the-world, is be- cause Northern India is turing attention to the-raiding and of wheat to supply the European markets, + Perhaps that opinion may be well founded, as the shipments of wheat from that quarterfin- ring the three spring months: of 1886 far exceeds that of any previous time. For. 1884 those months showed a shipment from: India of 8,000,000 of bushels, For the same months in 1885, 11,000,000 of bush- els. 'While in 1886 the amount had da- creased to 18,000,000 of, busliels or at the rate of 72,000,000 of bushels per aunum. Another feature of this Indian compe- titton with American wheat is found in the fact that Italy and France are becoming largely its consumers. In 1884, during the three months above named, Italy purchas- , ed only 450,000 bushels, while in 1886 the same months showed a purchase of 4,000,- 000 of bushels. It is preferred to Ameri- can wheats for the making of macaroni, because of its hardiness or flintiness, which renders it peculfarly adapted to the manu- facture of that particular kind of food. In view of these facts, for facts they are, 'we may well- be preparing for a continued competition for some time to come, with that new forcign competitor for the mark- ets of the world. In order that we may the better be prepared to fully comprehend the situation of this competitors, we will -| give some ides of aren of India suitable for the production of that great staple food product and of its present cost in that country. 'The English nation being as they are a manufacturing fostead of un agricultural people, are of course vastly benefitted by being able to obtain cheap food, hence the interest they take in developing -transpor- tution facilitles in their far off Indian pos- sessions. 'That portion of India under British rule comprises an area of 877,950 square miles, and contains a population of 198,508,705 persons. If we include the natfvo States indirectly under English ad- ministration we have an area of 1,472,428 square miles, and a population of 252,660,- «550 souls. . The United Statés, exclusive of Alaska, has an area of 2,970,000 square miles, and m- population of only seventeen to the square mile, while British India has a pop- ulation of 226 to the square mile. Includ- Averages 171 to the-equare mile, These figures give us a glanceat the denseness of their population compared with our own. The wheat producing portion of this area of land in India is dependent to a great extent upon irrigation for its produc- - This io by .the of. flow- tog streams, by cial tanks or reservoirs and wells. Of the lond frrigated to suc- 'éessful cultivation, 800,000,000 of acres Are watered byregulnx well éonstructed 'rortks\ for that . . 12,000,000 by means ofwells; aud: about 10, ,000;000 by tempomrxworks. 1 _ Someof the artifldalreservalm are of a Mammy two-tenths bushels;. \Thy cash value.of the- -an opportun! jw—swtbe—gnin—to -the pro- Ing all the native States, the population' [pete with Wheat produced in India. except at loss. 'The pressht' foreign prices hre far below its cost of production in Ameri [In fact, Amerfcan. wheat canftot: now com:] N o pains or expense has been spared by the British nation to bring about this résult. If they can purchase.their food 'products from India and pay for \them in demone- tized silver at its face value, and then sell | their manufactured. -goods--extensively to American consumers,. they, are in. their nationninflairs as to supply as far as in so dging we will . purchaie less of foreign manufacturers, and sell less of our own food products abroad, a thing much to our gain, - “Wfiffiffinmur p‘iblic do: main, At the rate ourpublic lands have beth 'taken up the' past, year,-the-last.acre-- [of arable land will soon' pass from public _| to private hands ''The report of the: gen- eral land: ofilbe shows that during the last year an area equal to 82,812 square milés of the public \domain passed to. the hands of individuals and corporations. Of the amount 9,700,008 acres. were in the Pacific States and Territories, 10,000,- 000 In' the Western and North Western our power our own. needs fnd wants. By 3 listas wel themselves have made? We | would callthifi a fool, and justly too. \Yet such 18 precisely what we as 6 mation do every year:. We have done it- this year to | ér fou hundred illfons: of. billions of dollars, and with. fixty. millions of. population, and pursuing» #. policy| which allows. a foreign power to fix the ricultural, products, which now annually amount to an aggregate of more than seven folly. We ought to be independent in every sense of the word. Instead of that -~ glory. -That -is precis now doing. But mind you when India. pays Eogland her interest account' then the silver (which is the only standard money in India) has to go at its English gold. value. - 'We 'see here demonstrated British-gain in demonetizing sliver. India is far from certain, | < There are even now many causes which are liable to de- range or stop the supply, and theintroduct- fon of railroads and improved. machinery is Hable to produce others equally as un- certain. Storms, hail, wind, rust, files, | grass-hoppers, locusts, are all much more [Hkely to affect or destroy a- crop than with | us. And besides we think the introduction of railways and mechanical advancement labor, which must greatly advance the cost of the production of wheat. 20 'The production ofa crop in India is done in the most crude manner possible. The plow is a triangular piece of wood with a point of fron. 'The team a pair of light bullocks weighing from four to six hun: dred pounds each. The yoke a straight stick lashed to the necks of the bullocks. .The average cost of such a team is about eight dollars a pair, A log or slab of wood answers for a harrow. 'The seed is dibbled into the furrows in drill by hand. The grain is cut with a rude crooked tool something Hke our old fashioned sickles. The average price of labor to raise and harvest this competing wheat, is from four to az cents per day, the laborers boarding themaelyes. The grain is threshed by being tread out with oxen upon an earth floor and win- nowed by hand in the rude way these things were done in the Mosaic age. The cost of the entire equippage for wheat raising is given as follows: One pair of bullocks,......... $8.00. One Plow,.......... .40. One Yoke,...... 15. One Leveler or Drag, .80. One Weeder,. ...... ... .06. One Winnowing Scoop . 06. One Sickle,. ...... .. 20.00.06. One Water Lifter,............ .50. Total outfit,. ........ $0.58. The cost of raising an acre of wheat is given by the same author (the Rev. I. L. Hauser) as follows: Rent for acre of land,. ...... $8.00. Cartage of manure,... & 1.20. A full average yield of irrigated land is 17 bushels per acre. - These people eannot afford to eat the wheat they raise. They must live on something not so saleable or valuable. | Five cents a day for labor can- not afford much for their food or clothes. Their food consists of coarser grains, rice, herbs, weeds, vegetables and fruits. Tho yield of wheat given for 1885 in mmfiSWbmbd-s. Thiswzslhe product of 27,820,228 actes, an average of less than ten“buaheis per mere. What -would the Americar wheat grower thidk a land rent equal to over one: third the value of his ctop, watering it three times, and then securing only from | +9 to I'lbnshehper acte? After raising! iy Ecrop matketing it for from 49 to 57 cents ~ Buch (6 'American- whest pe\. } mmwomneamau Tato\ than yet | brs ever by them knowin: > Wenreeonfidentthat {he sdnmemeni 'The reliability of the wheat supply from, must soon mwflnHyAEech—priwoh 'T50 pounds seed wheat, 1.85. Plowing twenty times,. 15. Sowing by hand,. .+... .16. Watering threo times 2.25. __ Reaping and carrying,. ...... . .60. Threshing, ... ...... er kee. .. 85. Winnowing,. .. ...eecce ccc een .07, Total cost...... $10.02. States, and-1,012,642 acres in the Bouthern States. There remains according to reports only about 5,000,000 of seres of arable lands in the west,. and 18,000,000 of acres in the south, still in the hands of govem- ment.. If these figures are correct, a pub- lic land office will soon be unable to bear its own weight. 'The wheat growing regions of our country arefost entering into private hands, If instead of producing grain upon so ex- tensive a scale, we turn our attention to manufacturing those things we now pur- chase from abroad, thus drawing from our agricultural population to mechanical pur- suits, the result could nop: fall of being bene- ficial to all parties concerned 'To us itlooks like the true remedy for the evils of both prices products; #5 well as for mechanical labor. It is the true remedy we should apply. Supply our own wants, and keep and use both our money and our food products at home is the true policy for us to pursue, 'When we fully adopt that policy, it will make little difference.to us as a people what is done in far off India, or the nations many thousands of miles nearer us, fur we will be alike soft-supporting and independent. The British nation has long labored to somewhere create a successful rival for us in her markets. During our late war, In- dia was looked too as their hope for cotton. The supply was for a short thine so great that it looked as though that staple would from that locality soon fully supply all their needs, But no sooner was peace de- clared and cotton raising resumed in the Southern States, than India was virtually driven from English market in its supply of colton. Now instead of raising cotton with their cheap Inbor, it is wheat. To us a cure for all the evils so often attempted to be inflicted upon us by Europeon markets, seems both practical and easy, We ought instead of selling unwrought cotton to European or any foreign market, to withhold the raw ma- terinl and soll only the manufactured goods. A single year or two, or three at most, would enable us to accomplish such a result. Of course such action would cause a boom in cotton goods, but our na- tlon would in every way be the gainer. India would then turn towardy raising cotton as well as wheat, and the result would be a raise in the value of wheat in European markets, as well as our own. Both these booms would benefit Araerican producers, manufacturers, and all classes of laborers. Whilo we were doing this we would also adopt the policy which would ensure the manufacture of all the sugar used by the United States, within her own borders. We have naw nuoccupied suf- ficient sugar cane producing lands to sup- ply sugar for the entire world. And still we are paying over $100,000,000 for foreign sugar, and letting them Ho fdle and unim- proved. 'The result would be in the near. future our people would be supplied with all the sweets consumed at much lower prices than tow, and besides the money sent abroad for thems saved at home. We now keep the German and French best sngnrmnnufnctoriesin operation, by buy» Ing their products} while they' are persis- tently and under false pretexts, rejecting! cut owit farm pmdnctm 8 Ample of the changes proddced by homsprotecfiannha home-efforts is to -be , We |e the price- of our wheat, our corn, our meat,. our'cotton, our sugar, in short all we produée and all we consume, is now fixed for us in Liverpool and London. Buch is the fact. It is a disgrace to us as a nation, as statesmen, and as good. polit- fcal economists. ' Bays a daily paper published in India: \If the American farmer lias this year prevented the export of -wheat-from India, he bas ruined hfmself in the process. Nothing is clearer than that wheat cannot be grown in the United States at a profit, if the selling price is less than thirty-three shillings per quarter in the London market. With the present rates of wheat in Europe the American farmer is simply ruined, and the American papers have shown conclu- ively, that the-west tting less for their whent at the place of pro- duction than it had cost them to grow it.\ Here we bave far off sample of the fact above stated, that the British nation fix the price upon our marketable preducts. How long will our people submit to such foreign dictation of home prices? ---#+@--- The Farmor's Life, When a Fourth of July orator or polit- fcal stump speaker visits the rural districts he seldom considers his address complete without a reference to the happiness and independence of n farmer's life; and the less information a man possesses upon the subject the more apt he is to picture in rosy tints in his imagination the pleasures of a career employed in tilling the fertile soil and caring for flocks and herds. The reality is far different. 'Theaverage farmer works very hard from one 'years end to the other, and reads with amaze. ment of migh wlio are earning from $40 to $70 per. month striking for higher pay and shorter hours. Formers have comparative- ly little leisure for self-improvement, and are always financially at the mercy of drought, excessive rain or untimely frost. Their sous, if they have a touch of amb tion and. possess fair natural abilities, will shrink from their fathers' life of scantily rewarded toil and seek employment more congenial in the already over-crowded city. It will be readily admitted something is radically wrong in this state of affairs, and it cannot be that the remedy is very difficult of discovery. 'With the agricul- turists of the West constantly increasing their facilities for the cheap production of such great giaples as wheat, corn and hogs, and the vety low transportation rates, it is ovident that Eastern farmers, with their limited and inability to employ profitably the labor-saving machinery which finds 'scope upon the broad prairie lands, must in the main give up these branches of farming and replace them with something better, The principal upon which this problem can be solved is that of making a specialty of certain products. If farmers within easy distance of cities would stop raising corn and wheat sand instead grow small frait and vegetables they would find them- perity at thoyear's end, and would besides could not, enter Info- fruil and vegetable growing. > Poultry Yalstog is exceeding» Ty: profitable when properly conducted: Butter of a superior quality arnd neatly packed. has nothing to fear from. oleomar: Wind the manure 'fror \fire - sumed in-producing one pound of wax market value of eur mechanical andag-/ and one-half billions of dollars; is. simply |. selves far beiter situated. as regards: when very dry, is the cost of have had more leisure., Of course ail {moistened to: The make] Farm Papers. Prepared expressly for the Orsroo FM All communications on farming. gnrdsnin poultty redaing, promptly answered in this column, 2.00 THS woxEy rrow. Abou’ twenty pounds. of horiey fire co Beeswax Hells for 20 to $60 perlb but; esfimntescnn be furnizhed to show. that production. costs the npinrlst ten: times | what 1t selle: for. The shipment of queens to (‘nnndn by mail has been stopped at some postoffices. The:law. prohibits it but the practice has . heretofore been allowed. . The' fecundation .of queens by the arti- ficial application of the. male sperm was successful in two instances at the. depart- - ment of agrlculture's npieultuml statlorin Agrrora; IIL, last fall.. _ Better methods for spproprislme: and depositing the seminal Auld are being tried this season, and. en- couragement is given that this system may be rendered so practical that the of the breeding stock in 'the-aplary may be as readily traced and as highly valued as of other live stock: - * MONEY IN RASPBERRIES, ; . A large part of the grower'ssuccess will depend upon his good Jidgment in. harvest ing and marketing his fruit, Asa rule, > he' should avoid long shipments, or con- signing the fruit to unknown: commission cl men in large cities. - Such shipments - should only be made when the state of the matket is known them, only to responsible 'parties. 'The*most profitable transactions are generally with the retail grocerymen or fruit dealers in the immediate vicinity. If the grower wishes to insure himself against loss in rainy weather, which sometimes toward the end of the season makes fruit soft and unsalable, he had better provide himself with ons of the valuable contrivances for evaporating fruit which ate on the market, sulting the price to his requirements 'and his purse. Evaporated raspberries make excellent pic timber during the spring months, when fruit is apt to be scarce, and they always command a ready sale. RURAL JOTHINGS Sow a patch of rye near the poultry quarters and run a-fence of wire netting argund it to let it get a.. .good start., -There [is nothing better than the rye plant to furn- ish green food for witter and carly,spting. It endures the winter well, makes an' early start in spring, and stands. more picking than any plant we have tried. Only the celery needed for immediate use or sale should be earthed up for bleach- ing; it is too early for-the main crop. . _ It will tike at least five pounds of com fed tom pig in'n pen to make. one pound of pork. . When allowed to. bave all the grass it will eat one pound ef-corn. - fed: to a pig will make it thrive, and two pounds a day will gause it to fatten. The grass system is the. cheapest and itmiakes the best meat. . Fall Plowing. , plowing. A fnistake- too often made by farmers is the supposition that- ilmlonger fall plowing is put: off, the boiler\ Tack\ freezing up is in the best possible to the spring. Such isnob thej‘not.’ Der-- ter complete the p into condition. Wwds' from seeding, a matter of. the greatest mo- ment to the su gcroph The only objection to fall plungingcidy 2 the hard soll. ~As noon asthegmun ; Effie
