smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1875

At this season Of the year thcre are
some unpleasant feelings among the
agreeable ones, and of thsm that which
tells US many of our floral friends must
remain out to die. But there is no he lp
for it. We needed them only for the
summer decoration Of the grounds. We
have no place to keep them over winter,
and besides this it is certain that in the
case Of the coleus and many others.
young plants made from the older
plants, will be better in every way than
those which We covered, save even if all
things suited to that end. Still there
are some which we will save anyhow" /"
and it may be as well to say few words
as to the proper way to go about it.


or course the leading difficulty is that
the plants are 30 likely TO wither up and
die away after taking up and potting.
and we have therefore to direct our en-
ergles to prevent tins very thing. The
kind Of plant will decide the treatment.
Some things, like a carnation or sweet
William, nave q mass Of small roots, in
q close bunch, and with this compare
lively small tops. These rarely wither,
even under rather poor hands. On the
other hand geranium has few roots. 1t
seldom comes up but the dirt falls away,
and in an unskillful hand all the leaves
would fall, and for the whole winter the
plants present q sorry sight. To prevent
such leaves from whitening and drying
away is the point. Much may be done
with these spravly rooted things by wa
teriug them well before beginning to lift
them. They should have thorough
soaking. Then some of the younger and
softer leaves should be picked off. for it
is these which are the most reckless in
drawing on the plants liquid supplies.
OF course the plants must be put into
their pots or tubs at once on lifting, to
keep the plants from drying. hnd the
whole thoroughly soaked with water on
completion. Then the pots should be
set into shade and shelter, where neith-
er sun nor wind can get at them, and
where air without the loss Of moisture
can be given to them. Some plants will
not much miss their move" as the gar.
deners say, and may be put in the full
light after day or 81, while some may
need this sort Of protection for week
The rule is put to them into tho full
light as soon as they show no disposition
to wither under o moderate sun.-Ger-
n,antoirn Telegraph.
Year: 1875

We have long thought our City Coun-
Gil was too small body; and have been
mor2 forcibly struck with the necessity


for increasing it by occurrences during
the past two or three years. The posi-


ton the Council was in during last year
and il now in calls attention to this mat
ter. If the number of members was in
creased to thirty, the opportunity for
forming Rings would be diminished


and the labor of the Committees diffus-
ed. As the pay is very small. the labor
should be light in proportion. 1t is not
SO easy to corrupt large body as o
small one, inasmuch as there is more
difficulty in finding ways and means to
effect this object. But there are still
more obvious if not stronger reasons for
enlarging the Council in the fact that in
selecting but two members from each
ward the opportunity of securing the
best and most competent men is too limited.
The best men will not force themselves
forward, and are nearly always sure to
wait until their presence is demanded
by exacting citizens. 1t is true that a
body like our Council should be mixed
one representing all classes; the mecha-
nical, mercantile and also the profess
sions. But there is not room for this in
SO small a number and we are confident
the public interests would be better
served if the number were increased to
thirty. The lack of competent man or
two in body. especially by the control
ling party, is sure to cause delay, whereas
the presence Of such men gives conf
dance. ease and promptness in the trans
action Of all business. Beside this, where
the number of competent men is 80 limit
ed too much labor devolves upon the few;
and not only so it puts opportunities
for controlling matters in an arbitrary
manner, and gives rise to temptation.
We are sure that the Council would be a
much more competent and to that ex-
tent more respectable body if it were
increased to thirty. We are confident
that our readers will recognize the i'm.
provement in the Board OF Education
since it was increased. When this wai
first done it was objected to. But sine,
the increase in the membership the cha
racter of the Board has been great,
improved by the introduction of men O
more capacity. 1t would he well il tn


Council contained as many competen


members AS the Board of Education
Yet the former body has five times a


much work to perform and often tel
times as much money to expend. Thi


money ought TO be intrusted to inteli


gent minds to disburse. If it ia to be dis
bursed to the best advantage; and W


believe that wisdom dictates an enlarge
ment Of the Council; and this is dictat e,
too by the increase of the populatio,
and the business which the municipa
government is required to discharge


We might ndd other reasons for thi
change, but deem it unnecessary nov


and are satisfied to suffer few hast


suggestions to appear for the present.
Year: 1875

The Registry Bureau has been woven
in with another expensive fixture. We
allude to the Engineers Department
This Department costs the city about
four thousand dollars year more than
it returns in fees. In former years Mr..
Daniel Farra and the late John T. Rob-
inson did all the surveying tue city re-
quired for about $1,000. The fee for
surveying building line is about Sl.25.
which is paid by the owner of the prop
erty. These fees now go to the city; but
formerly the City Surveyors got them
for their work and received no salary.
The highest number of lines run in one
year we believe was five hundred Last
year there was but about two hundred
and twenty-five and last month but one
We presume. There may have been none.
Now there is one Chief Engineer at 81, 900
year; one assistant at 81 500, and two
other assistants at about 81 900 each, and
perhaps u hlborer or two to carry the
chain. The salaries Of all these gentle
men 20 OH whether there is any work to
be done or not, and citizens can readily
see the difference in expense between
letting the people pay the Surveyors and
the city's doing it through the high
sounding name of Department. is very
material.


An impression prevails among very
large and respectable class Of citizens
that both the Bureau and the Engineers
Department should, in tho interest of
economy and the tax payers, be abolish
ed. Of course men who pay no proper
ty tax, or those who put their money in
Government bonds; or being non- parti-
tax, may not feel the weight Of these
partizan arrangements.


The Coancil is often worked up terri
bly, over one or two cents difference in a
contract for labor on the streets OF for
printing, OF for building, or for gutter
plates; but it does not look with such
earnestness at the big Leaks" in the
Departments Of the Water, the Engi-
neering and now the Registry Bureau"


We would like to know what all these
Engineers have earned last month OF
for the two months previous; orthe year
previous, for that matter. Give us the
facts from the record?


If we have named the salaries too
high or nisstated anything we will cor
rect it. We only seek economy for the
poor men who dnd it hard to pay the
taxes on their houses.
Year: 1875

A NEW ESTABLISHMENT At BoRDEN-
TOWN.


, An iron shipbuilding establishment
has been fixed at Bordentown, on the


Delaware river, which shows that the
. whole length OF the Delaware, rs far
as tidewater reaches. is available for
this business. This concern has an Of
flee in Philadelphia. No object in go
ing below the river can equal in i'm
portance the nearness of coal and iron
in going up the river. Hence the Read
ing Railroad Company established its
ship-yards mt Port Richmond rather
than at Chester. Bordentown is near
the iron regions of both New Jersey
and Pennsylvania, there being some
flourishing iron works near it inJersey
Supplies OF coal and lumber are also
available by water ut low rates. There
are now along the valley OF the Della


ware five iron slip yards, one at Phila.
delphia, one at Camden, one at Bor-
dentown, one ut Chester, and one at


Wilmington. The ice obstruction this
winter have so clearly demonstrated
the value of iron vessels of all kinds
worked by steam in keeping the navi-
CATION open that there ought to be u
large increase of them during the en-
suing season. From present appear


anccs the reputation of the Delaware
as the Clyde of America is now 50 well
established that II would not be at all


surprising if our Clyde were TO be


the original one in iron vessels. Such
Il winter us the present would have
effectually closed the navigation OF
the Delaware prior TO tleintroduction
of iron steamers. But now all our
stcamtugs are of iron, and are actually
better than the city ice-boats for open
ing the river All the ferry boats
ought to be rebuilt of iron and furnish
ed with powerful engines thus their
transit would be safer and quicker


The Telegraph seems not TO know
that there are ttcO large iron ship bull
ding establishment in Wilmington
which would make six on the Della !
ware. ED. GAZETTs.
Year: 1875

There never will be better oppor-
tunity for Kent and Sussex TO get rid of
the question of representation than is
now presented. Tho people of this
county do not expect them now to grant
representation according to population.
We see no use in asking it. 1t could
only be had through convention. The
Constitution formed in 1854 was voted
down by the people Oh the plea that it
did not grant representation according
to population. Another Constitution
might be voted down because it did grant
this. An increase now in both Houses
SO that the $4,000 people in Wilmington
HID. could be represented in both Houses.
would most likely put off the holding of
convention for twenty years, and recon
Gle the great mass Of both parties
Year: 1875

In a late issue of the FARMER, notice an
article from 30. Cumber," treating the sub
ject of card playing in very credita BILE
manner.


The question, "Shall we who are Patrons
spend the hours Of each society meeting at
the card table, or shall we follow the teach
ings of our order 2" was new idea to me
aud | shall not wonder if it was new to many
other readers. The idea that a band of
farmers, who are called the honest workers
Of our noble land, should lower themselves
enough to spend their time thus instead Of
trying to improve the mind aud gaining
many new ideas from their brother and sis.
ter, Patrons, to help them to improve their
farms aud make home more attractive, must
surely be step backward instead of for.
ward in the art of farming and the culture
of the brain. Better follow the good advice
Of Mr. Geo. Z. Bryant before the Blooming
Grove (Wis.) grange; Lift up, elevate
yourselves, your brothers and sisters instead
Of pulling them to lower level. Harbor no
malice or spite one toward another, but in
unity aud peace with kindness and love, live
as good men and women should. If you
live up to the obligation you have taken, you
will have accomplished much towards max
ing society better and purer."


Would it not be glorious uprising if
every lady, both old and young, in our beau
tiful state would rise and with one accord
declare that hencefOrth they would not play
euchre; and would do all in their power to
Danish the game from the list of social pleas
ures. How many young men would soon be
ashamed to be found with the cards in their
possession 1t is surely a waste Of time
which we Vermonters cannot afford.


There are many young men who have
formed the habit of card playing at home
and with select friends, who have not integ-
rity and principle enough to say mo" when
asked to play for treat, in some less sacred
place than around the freside of their own
homes


Once started in the downward road their
descent is often as rapid as the descent of
the coasters sled as it gides on and on, over
the "beautiiul snow"


If sister, mother or lady friend remon-
strates with them and pleads with them, to
give up cards, drinks, aud bad associates,
ten chances to one they will tell them, "Mary
D. and Hattie so-and.sO play euchre with
Year: 1875

A few weeks ago the terms utility and
value were efned. A further application
of these terms might be given. Air is one
OF the most useful things in the world, but it
is valuelesS Water is likewise, but in some
places it requires labor to be of utility and
then it becomes of value. Ia fact, such
things as exist in nature and are free to all
are valueless. But when, besides being use
ful, they are not attainabIe by each person
except by exertion, for which exertion they
are willing to pay, then such articles become
of value. But they must be transferable.
A landscape is an object of utility, because
satisfying a desire, but is seldom an object of
value because few men are able to obtain it
by purchase-probably no man has such
power.


The condition of tribe of savages is a
case in point. Whenever they adopt agri-
culture as means of subsistence, the land
which they occupy may acquire value. If
there are many other tribes in the vicinity
similarly situated, their land has value in
respect to the neighbOring tribes. If, in
stead Of cultivatiDg their tribal ground in
common, the individuals Of the tribe have it
allotted to them man by man, the land thus
held becomes in the fullest sense of the word
valuable, although it may not be 50 useful
as when the entire tribe cultivated it in COM
mon.


Such, 10 measure, has been the history
Of the metals, Gold was one of the first to
attract the attention Of man. Its purity,
ease Of extraction, apparent indestructibility
and beauty all gave il the character of util-
satisfying mans desires. Ornaments
Of this shining, unchauging metal we're great
ly desired by barbaric people, this desire, as
above stated, meeting such qualities gave
gold the character of utility. Adding to
Year: 1875

Noticing an article in No. 5, Jan. l,
"WomanIs Place." would like to offer n
few thoughts that present themselves rela-
tive to this great question upon which so much
is said and written. L am of that class who
are willing to accord to my noble sister ev-
cry right and opportunity that enjoy and
hold dear. Our noble order, the grange, is
surely opening up the way that is certain to
accord those rights despite the old fabulous
theory that man was created first, woman af-
terward, consequently giving him right to
rule over her, debating to her Just what po-
sition she should occupy. What proof posi-
tive have we that woman was not the first to
receive Gods attention and afterward man?
Man wrote the history, for such we term it,
Of creation, and pictured to himself such
course as seemed most likely his God would
take to usher into existence the living forms
Of beauty that adorn our planet, and the
myriad systems Of worlds that people space
doubtless inhabited with an order Of beings
like, or perhaps superior to our own. TAX
ing this view, he has arrogated to himself
many foolish ideas, such as that he first re-
ceived Gods attention, and that woman as
St. Paul says, should keep silence in churches,
and similar language elsewhere used in holy
writ, all tending to keep woman from rising
to position she was designed by her Great
or to occupy. Let us down with their myth
illogical ideas founded in ignorance and SUI
perstltion, and assist our sister, long, long
groveling in bondage, to rise to her true
position, which experience is fast demonstrat-
ing she is capable, when educated, of occupy
ing. All men cannot become pres idents,
statesmen, or governors. All women are not
doomed. life long, to wear out their existence
bearing children, and scrubbiugin the kite h.
en-. If qualified to fill the presidential chair,
let US elevate her to that position. 1 am
satisfied many women would fill it with more
dignity and justice than it is now filled with.
If woman's pure, holy influence is benefi cial
in our religious gatherings l see no reason

why it may not prove just as beneficial in
our political gatherings and legislative halls.
1t seems to me all the arguments brought to
bear against woman are founded in ignorance
and prejudice which are slowly, yet surely
being outgrown. Let US accord to our edu-
Gated and refined sisters, by nature superior


y endowed with moral and spiritual percep-
tions, what we have accorded to the as yet,
uueducated black man. We can but expect
out Of SO great a change some evils will
arise, but do not they now exist ? more
than suspect the beneficial effects resulting
therefrom will far outweigh the evil and will
find us long days journey in advance of
where we are now encamped.


DANIEL d. WAIT.


Londonderry, VI.
Year: 1875

II would seem as though enough had al.
ready been said about the importance Of saw
ing all fertlizing material about the farm,
aud especially that from the poultry, which
experience has abundantly shown TO be
worth as much as the artificial fertilizers
that cost us three cents pound and upward
Very few farmers would allow their wheat
corn, or oats, to be scattered aud wasted as
their hen-manure is, yet the latter is worth
as much as the former. pound for pound.
Poultry should always have a tight, we'll
lighted, and warm apartment for their wip-
ter quarters, and the roosts should be so ar
ranged that the droppings can be saved, free
from dirt aud rubbish. The best way is to
have large tray under the roosts, made of
boards. This should be cleaned out fire.
quently, and sprinkled with plaster or dry
earth. The manure should be kept In boxes
or barrels, perfectly dry, and will then lose
none Of its valuable properties. Neither
lime nor ashes should ever be mixed with it
while composing lt,.which is best done by
adding about double the quantity Of dry
earth to the manure, mixing it well with
the shovel, moistening it moderately, and
shoveling it over every three or four days
until ready to use it. 1t should be mOisten.
ed sufG ciently to allow Of its being broken
up and well mixed with the earth but
when so moistened it is apt to heat, aud the
shoveling-over is necessary to prevent this,
and the consequent loss Of valuable proper r-
ties. A handful of this campost in hill of
corn will give it powerful start. A barrel
of hen.manure SO composted, will often doub-
lie the yield of an acre of wheat. Watch.
man.
Year: 1875

Several communications are deferred for
want Of space. We intend, after this week,
to put this department on the fourth page,
where there will be more room. The ladies
are showing a commendable interest in their
column and We trust that interest and the use
fulness of the "Ladies' Department" of the
FARMER will continue to increase. Ladies,
write US practical as we'll as theoretical rti.
cles; write about cooking, housekeeping,
dress reform &C., and boil your thoughts down
so as to express the greatest amount of ideas
in the least words avoid anything that shal |
tend to mere personal controversy, and our
Ladies Department" will be an honor to
the state and to the talent of woman. The
world will be the better for your b aving
lived
Year: 1875

this quality of utility, that of difficulty Of
attainment aud trausferableness and il was
valuable-.had power in exchange.


With such a character how is the precise
value to be determined Watching the
markets and learning how it exchanges with
mems services or the materials in which men
have embodied their services Yes, but is
there any law underlying all this and gov
erning it all? Yes, the law Of supply and
demand. The supply is the amount offered
in market at q certain rate, and the demand
is the amount demanded at certain rate
If the amount supplied and the amount de-
manded are equal aud the rates are equal,
the question is at once solved, but this is sell
dom the case. Take an example in which
the supply is limited and see the history Of
its disposal. Here the seller exacts all that
he can get. Suppose he has for sale the or
igina Of the famous Dresden Madonna.
There is but one and he demands hundred
thousand dollars for it. That is the supply
and that the rate. Nobody comes forward
to buy. He thinks his price is too high and
lowers it to seventy.fve thousand. Two in.
dividuals step forward to buy. There is a
demand for two such pictures at that rate /;
or in other words the demand is greater than
the supply. The method in which the sup
ply and demand will be equaliz ed is perfect
ly obvious. The rate will be raised until
one of the two cease to demand, and then
the supply will be equal to the demand and
at the same rate. If there had been three
such pictures to be sold, the rate might per.
haps have been lowered to 6ity thousand be.
fore three persons would have been found to
constitute the demand. Extend this princi-
pie to other objects in which the working
may not be so obvious, and we see how sup
ply and demand govern market values.


To state the principles illustrated in gener-
al terms the amount Of service or commod-
ity offered in open market at certain rate
is the supply that demanded at a certain
rate is the demand. If the demand is great
er at the same rate, the rate of the supply
will be increased until the demand is dimin.
ished so as to equal the supply. The uIti-
mate effect will be to bring more Of the sup
ply into open market. On the other hand,
if the demand is less than the supply, the
rate will be lowered until the demand is in-
creased to an equality with the supply The
ultimate effect will be that the supply will
be less produced, and hence diminished until
the former rates were obtained.


This statement of the law of supply and
demand presupposes freedom in production
and competition in trade. In such case there
is certain value, called by Mill the "sost
value" which must be obtained by the SELL
er else he will not produce and sell. 1t will
be found that the average of market values
will nearly coincide with this "cost value"


ID.
Year: 1875

We solicit brief, pointed communications
from practical farmers. 1t is not the editor
that makes the paper what it is. He is only
one among the many whose pens contribute
to the usefulness of the paper. We hope
our friends will make it a point to write
out, from time to time, the results of their
experience In raising crops, breeding stock,
&C., and keep the first page of the FARMER
full of valuable original practical informa-
tion. If you have not some informati on to
impart, but are in want Of light on any sub
ject, ask for it through the "Notes and Que
ries" column, and quite likely you will draw
out some one who has just the information
you want. We fatter ourself that we
have already the best corps of agricultural
contributors in this part Of the country, but,
like the beggar, we "want MORE" Wewant
to keep improving and to this end We ask
the earnest cooperation of the farmers Of
Vermont, without which the success we have
already achieved as first class agricultural
paper would be impossible.