7o4 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
Oct.  29 
When  a  rogue  wants  to  gull  the  farmer 
and  fill  his  own  pocket,  he  undertakes  to 
sell  some  plant  with  supposed  new  vir¬ 
tues.  He  usually  has  some  remarkable 
thing  that  will  produce  at  home  what 
the  farmer  is  now  forced  to  send  abroad 
for,  thus  saving  a  direct  cash  outlay. 
Coffee,  tea,  sugar,  groceries  and  clothing 
are  the  chief  things  the  farmer  has  to 
buy.  The  genius  whose  doings  we  have 
now  to  chronicle  has  selected  the  coffee 
pot  as  the  place  for  him  to  bank  on.  Read 
this: 
A  Wide-Awake  Experiment  Station. 
R.  J.  Redding,  Director  Georgia 
Station. — Remembering  the  effective¬ 
ness  of  The  R.  N.-Y.’s  frequent  expos¬ 
ures  of  humbugs,  etc.,  I  inclose  a  copy  of 
a  circular  just  mailed  to  each  experiment 
station  in  the  United  States.  I  have  a  copy 
of  the  printed  dodger  referred  to  in  the 
letter.  The  name  of  the  man  referred 
to  is  C.  E.  Cole,  of  Buckner,  Mo.,  and  he 
represents  himself  as  “  Grower  of  new 
and  valuable  varieties  of  seeds.”  He 
must  be  either  inexcusably  ignorant  for 
a  “grower  of  new  and  valuable  varieties 
of  seeds,”  or  else  a  deliberate  fraud  and 
swindler,  in  attempting  to  palm  off  the 
Soja  Bean  as  something  very  new,  and  so 
exceedingly  scarce  as  to  justify  the  prices 
he  asks.  As  The  Rural  has  frequently 
mentioned,  the  plant  has  been  cultivated, 
more  or  less,  for  20  years  or  more.  I 
planted  several  acres  of  Soja  Beans  on 
my  farm  in  1873-74.  As  a  substitute,  and 
among  substitutes  for  coffee,  it  may  find  a 
prominent  place,  perhaps  equal  to  that 
now  occupied  by  seeds  of  okra. 
Director . 
Dear  Sir:  This  station  has  just  received  from  one, 
“  C.  E.  Cole,  Buckner,  Mo.”  a  “  parched  and  ground” 
sample  of  what  he  calls  “Cole’s  Domestic  Coffee 
Berry,”  accompanied  by  a  printed  dodger  setting 
forth  the  merits  of  this  wonderful  “berry”  In  graphic 
style,  and  supported  by  numerous  “testimonials.” 
He  offers  seed  for  sale  at  fabulous  prices— $3.50  per 
pound  In  large  quantities,  25  cents  per  100  seeds  In 
small  quantities.  I  presume  each  station  will  receive, 
or  has  received,  a  similar  sample  and  dodger.  For¬ 
tunately  (perhaps)  I  received,  a  few  days  earlier 
through  the  Southern  Cultivator,  a  package  of  the 
“coffee”  together  with  a  specimen  of  the  plant  In  full 
fruit.  It  Is  simply  a  common  variety  of  Soja  hlsplda 
or  Japan  Pea  so  well  known  to  many  of  the  stations, 
and  the  seeds  of  which  are  abundant  and  compara¬ 
tively  cheap.  On  the  principle  of  the  Golden  Rule,  I 
write  to  put  you  on  your  guard  against  this  Imposi¬ 
tion,  and  suggest  that  you  “  hand  It  around”  among 
your  farmers,  as  I  expect  to  do  In  this  State. 
R  J.  REDDING. 
Is  It  a  Good  Substitute. 
The  Japanese  use  the  Soja  bean  ex¬ 
tensively  as  an  article  of  diet,  and  we 
have  heard  before  of  its  being  roasted 
and  used  as  coffee.  Nobody  can  object 
to  such  use.  It  is  entirely  a  matter  of 
taste.  The  objection  is  to  the  attempt  to 
sell  it  as  a  “new  and  wonderful  product” 
for  about  50  times  as  much  as  it  is  worth. 
Here  is  another  estimate  of  its  value 
from  Prof.  C.  S.  Plumb,  of  the  Indiana 
Station : 
“We  have  been  growing  Soja  Beans 
this  season  on  an  experimental  plat.  As 
a  green  crop,  the  season’s  experience 
would  not  warrant  recommending  it  to 
Indiana  farmers,  as  the  plant  only  at¬ 
tained  a  height  of  about  15  inches,  and 
was  not  very  stocky.  As  a  forage  plant 
I  wish  to  give  it  a  further  trial  here 
before  passing  judgment  on  it. 
“Soja  Beans,  however,  are  worthy  of 
notice  from  another  standpoint.  Last 
year  an  intelligent  farmer  in  this  county 
came  to  me  with  samples  of  the  bean 
roasted  as  for  coffee.  He  stated  that  he 
had  used  them  for  this  purpose  for  sev¬ 
eral  years,  and  that  his  family  enjoyed  a 
drink  from  this  source.  He  gave  me 
some  of  his  roasted  beans,  and  we 
ground  them  and  used  them  in  our  family 
coffee  pot,  and  found  them  very  agree¬ 
able.  My  wife  voted  them  better 
than  cocoa  shells,  and,  without 
doubt,  a  drink  from  Soja  Beans  is 
more  nutritious  than  one  from  either 
coffee  or  cocoa  shells.  We  shall  soon 
have  more  to  say  upon  this  special  point 
— i.  e. ,  their  nutritive  properties. 
“  Many  substitutes  for  coffee  are  used, 
and  this  I  deem  the  best  yet  brought  to  my 
attention.  If  our  farmers  would  plant  a 
small  piece  of  ground  to  Soja  Beans,  and 
allow  the  seeds  to  ripen  on  the  pods  be¬ 
fore  thrashing,  and  after  they  have 
become  well  dried  roast  them,  I  feel 
sure  that  many  of  them  would  have  a 
better  and  more  wholesome  drink  than 
from  the  poor  grades  of  coffee  beans  so 
often  sold  to  those  who  cannot  discrim¬ 
inate  quality  in  coffee.” 
About  Those  Crop  Reports. 
Alva  Agee,  Gallia  County,  O.— I 
quote  from  The  Rural  of  October  8  : 
“  There  seems  to  be  a  general  feeling 
among  the  elevator  men  and  farmers  also 
that  the  crop  statistics  published  regu¬ 
larly  by  the  Agricultural  Department  are 
a  nuisance  as  well  as  the  elevator  statis¬ 
tics.  We  refer  to  the  monthly  crop  re¬ 
ports,  which  are  largely  estimates  of 
coming  crops  and  which,  like  the  elevator 
reports,  conserve  no  really  practical  pur¬ 
pose.” 
While  I  believe  that  The  Rural  is 
nearly  always  on  the  right  side  of  ques¬ 
tions  affecting  the  farmers,  I  am  utterly 
unable  to  see  how  the  suppression  of  gov¬ 
ernment  crop  reporting  can  fail  to  injure 
them  financially.  The  claims  of  the  ene¬ 
mies  of  our  present  system  is  that  we 
publish  to  the  world  the  amount  we  have 
to  sell,  and,  if  this  is  large,  buyers  are 
practically  warned  not  to  pay  good 
prices.  It  is  very  true  that  fora  number 
of  years  we  have  been  producing  a  sur¬ 
plus  of  many  things,  and  it  would  have 
been  money  in  our  pockets,  as  a  nation,  if 
our  European  customers  could  have  been 
kept  in  ignorance  of  the  amount  we  must 
finally  put  upon  the  market.  All  this 
we  can  see  clearly. 
But  there  are  three  facts,  as  I  see  it,  to 
be  considered.  1.  Our  speculators  and 
other  large  dealers  in  agricultural  pro¬ 
ducts  would  know  the  probable  amount 
to  be  harvested  and  marketed,  even  if  the 
government  made  no  report.  It  pays 
them  to  know,  and  private  enterprise 
has  done,  is  doing  and  will  always  do  in 
some  degree  the  same  work  the  govern¬ 
ment  is  doing;  2.  Unless  the  government 
does  this  work,  the  farmers  will  not  know 
anything  about  probable  yields.  The 
false  reports  of  speculators  will  be  sent 
afloat,  and  any  truthful  ones  emanating 
from  a  private,  reliable  agency  or  farm 
journal,  will  be  incomplete  at  the  best, 
and  amid  all  such  estimates  the  average 
farmer  will  not  feel  any  assurance  that 
he  is  right  in  holding  or  selling.  The 
commercial  papers  can  be  depended  upon 
to  keep  the  speculators’  estimates  before 
the  people,  and  there  will  be  no  monthly, 
unbiased  report  to  counteract  their  in¬ 
fluence.  3.  Whatever  is  known  by  Amer¬ 
icans  about  the  home  crop,  Europe  can 
learn,  Either  Europe  must  be  permitted 
to  know,  or  else  we  must  remain  in  ignor¬ 
ance. 
As  our  dealers  will  be  able  to  get  pretty 
full  crop  information  anyway,  and  as 
foreign  buyers  are  sure  to  learn  what  is 
known  in  our  commercial  centers,  it 
would  seem  to  be  injudicious  for  the 
farmers  to  shut  off  the  only  authentic 
and  full  source  of  information  open  to 
them.  We  cannot  afford  to  be  ignorant 
of  crop  conditions  and  yields  when  others 
have  such  information,  and  we  cannot 
hope  to  maintain  any  private  and  secret 
system  of  our  own.  As  a  farmer  who 
raises  such  cash  crops  as  potatoes  and 
wheat,  I  would  regard  the  suppression  of 
our  crop  reports  as  a  calamity. 
Is  it  not  a  fact  that  much  of  the  criti¬ 
cism  of  our  system  that  comes  from 
farmers  is  directed  more  directly  against 
Statistician  Dodge,  who  has  offended  by 
assuming  the  right  to  lecture  us  now 
and  then,  and  to  put  some  partisan  am¬ 
munition  in  the  reports?  For  these 
breaches  of  good  taste  and  for  his  politi¬ 
cal  transgressions  we  should  blame  only 
the  offender,  who  is  not  a  vital  part  of 
the  system,  and  not  censure  the  latter. 
Possibly  he  already  sees  that  he  misap¬ 
prehended  his  proper  relationship  to  the 
people. 
Our  grain  speculators  want  the  system 
abolished,  and  much  of  the  opposition 
arises  from  them,  but,  while  they  would 
profit  by  the  abolition,  the  farmers  would 
be  the  ones  from  whom  their  profit  would 
come.  It  may  be  further  said  for  Statis 
tician  Dodge  that  his  estimates  have  usu-^. 
ally  been  conservative.  If  there  was 
error,  it  was  generally  in  the  producers’ 
favor.  The  trouble  is  that  ill  news— that 
of  overproduction — had  to  be  carried  in 
late  years,  and  the  bearers  of  such  are 
proverbially  disliked.  Coming  years  may 
bring  reports  of  the  opposite  tenor,  but 
in  either  case  let  the  farmer  have  the 
facts  that  speculators  will  get  anyway. 
Less  paternal  advice  and  less  campaign 
thunder  in  our  reports,  and  plenty  of  ac¬ 
curate  crop  estimates  would  probably  be 
relished  by  most  producers. 
GIVE  1  THE  *  BABY 
IF  YOU  WISH  your  infant  to  be 
w:'l  nourished,  healthy,  and  vigorous. 
THE  •  BEST  •  FOOD 
For  Hand-Fed  Infants,  Inva'ids,  Conva- 
I  ascents,  Dyspeptics,  and  the  Aged. 
Our  Book  for  MOTHERS, 
"THE  CARE  AND  FEEDING  OF  INFANTS,” 
Mailed  free  upon  request. 
^bu  ber-GoodaleCo.,  boston,  Mass. 
OUR  HAY  CARRIERS 
are  the  best  suited  for  all  kinds  of  buildings.  Use 
any  Fork  or  Slings,  Sell  direct. 
FOWLER  &  FARRINGTON. 
Taugbannock  Falls,  N.  Y 
Jr  you  name  The  R.  N.-Y.  to  our  advertisers  you 
may  be  pretty  sure  of  prompt  replies  and  right 
treatment. 
Willie  Tilibroek. 
Scrofula 
In  the  TVccU. 
The  following  is  from 
Mrs.  J.  W.  Tillbrook, 
wife  of  the  Mayor  of  Mc¬ 
Keesport,  Penn. : 
“  My  little  boy  Willie, 
now  six  years  old,  two 
years  ago  had  a  scrofula 
bunch  under  one  ear 
which  the  doctor  lanced  and  it  discharged  for 
some  time.  We  then  began  giving  lnm  Hood  s 
Sarsaparilla  and  the  sore  healed  up.  His  cure 
is  due  to  HOOD’S  SAB8APABILLA. 
lie  has  never  been  very  robust,  but  now  seems 
healthy  and  daily  growing  stronger. 
HOOD’S  PILLS  do  not  weaken,  but  aid 
digestion  and  tone  tho  stomach.  Try  them.  25c. 
LIKE 
Sheridan’s  Condition  Powder ! 
KEEPS  YOUR  CHICKENS 
Strong  and  Healthy  ;  Prevents  all  Disease. 
Good  for  Moulting  liens. 
It  is  absolutely  pure.  Highly  concentrated.  In  quan¬ 
tity  costs  tenth  of  a  cent  a  day.  No  other  one-fourth  as 
strong.  Strictly  a  medicine.  “  One  large  can  saved  me 
$40 ;  send  six  to  prevent  Roup,”  says  one  customer. 
If  you  can’t  {jet  it  send  to  us. 
We  mail  one  pack  25c.  Five  81.  A  2  1-4  lb.  can  81-20.  Six 
cans,  $5.00,  express  paid.  Poultry  Raising  Guide,  price 
25  cents,  tree  with  $1.00  orders  or  more.  Sample  copy 
of  The  Best  Poultry  Paper  sent  free. 
I.  S.  JOHNSON  &  CO., 22  Custom  House  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 
It  Has  Such  a  Winning  Way. 
The  women  are  in  love  with  our  fence  everywhere. 
Agents  talk  of  it  In  their  sleep.  Purchasers  write: 
rt 
Wind  Engine 
AND 
Gem 
toWER 
When  furnished  with  Graphite  Hearings,  J 
the  GEM  WIND  ENGINE  requires  no# 
oiling,  no  climbing  of  towers,  no  hinged  or# 
frail-jointed  towers,  and  practically  no  atten-f 
tinn,  yet  is  guaranteed  more  durable  than! 
other  Mills  that  are  oiled.  Truly  a  OEM,, 
and  worth  its  weight  In  gold.  The 
GEM  STEEL  TOWER  is  made  trian-1 
gular  in  shape,  the  corners  and  girts  being# 
of  angle  steel ;  the  braces  are  steel  rods,  each  # 
of  which  can  be  firmly  drawn  up,  inde-f 
pendent  of  the  other.  It  combines  beauty,  f 
•trength,  durability  and  simplicity  to  thel 
greatest  degree,  and  is  much  more  easily# 
erected  than  a  tower  made  of  wood,  r 
We  al«o  manufacture  the  Celebrated! 
K1ALLADAY  Standard  Pump-J 
ing  and  Geared  Wind  Mills,  the/ 
Standard  VANELESS  and  U.S7 
SOLID  WHEEL  Wind  Mills. 
Pumps,  Tanks,  HORSE  HAYj 
TOOLS,  and  fhe  most  com¬ 
plete  line  of  WIND  MILL] 
SPECIALTIES. 
Bend  for  catalogue.  Address 
U.  S.  WIND  ENGINE  & 
PUMP  CO., 
BATAVIA,  ILL..U.S.A.1 
BRANCH  offices: 
Omaha,  Neb.;  Kansas  City,  Mo. 
DEPOTS  : 
Boston,  Mass.;  Ft.  Worth,  Ttx. 
OX 
trade: 
STEEk 
Mark* 
*  I  am  more  than  pleased  and  shall  want  more.” 
Most  wonderful  of  all,  It  has  the  knack  of  keeping  on 
the  right  side  of  all  kinds  of  farm  stock. 
PAGE  WOVEN  WIRE  FENCE  CO., 
Adrian,  Mich. 
KEMP’STxrHAY  PRESS 
FULL  2  FEEDS  TO  EVERY  ROUND  Jf— IftSprlngKolder 
_  AUTOMATIC  PLUNGER  D’lAW.  —.ur 
CIVEN  CDCC  IF  IT  WILL  NOT  do  all  my  circula 
AWAY  I  lltt  claim.  Send  for  free  circulars  givii 
full  information.  JAS.  KEMP.  KemDton.  Ills 
AGENTS  WANTED  ON  SALARY 
or  commission,  to  handle  the  New  Patent  Chemical 
Ink  Erasing  Pencil.  Agents  making  $50  per  week 
Monroe  Eraser  Mf’g  Co.,  X  175,  La  Crosse,  Wls. 
Artistic  W all  Paper 
«  ypu  only  knewit,  costs  no  more  than— the  other 
kind.  Do  you  know  how  to  get  it?  We  oan  tel> 
you— 100  samples  for  8  cents.  Prices,  6  to  50  Cts.  a  roll* 
A.  L.  DIAMENT  &  CO.,  j*o5  Market  St.,  Phila^ 
MANUFACTURED  BY 
WELLS  RUSTLESS  IRON  CO., 
LITTLE  FERRY,  N.  J. 
