464 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July 6 
" LIFTING FORCE/’ 
In the old days before the war, there 
was a man who owned a small steamboat 
that ran up and down the Mississippi 
River. He was a smgularly profane 
man. Every time he opened his mouth, 
he let fall some pearl of profanity that 
would almost take your breath away, 
and color the air like a strong solution 
of the Bordeaux Mixture. He was, 
really, about the most wicked man along 
the river. He gloried in his wickedness. 
One day, by some accident, he ran his 
boat aground so that the bow stood up 
on the bank, while the stern was in deep 
water—and he couldn’t get off. He 
pushed, and pounded and swore, but 
still he stuck. His profanity did no ser¬ 
vice as a direct force in getting the boat 
clear, so he decided to make use of its 
reverse force. His name was Jones and 
he sent messengers all up and down the 
river stating that “ Brother Jones” 
would hold a prayer meeting on board 
his boat at 12 o’clock. All were invited 
to attend. 
* 
As you may imagine, all the people 
turned out at the news of this most re¬ 
markable event. As they climbed from 
the bank into the boat, there stood 
“ Brother Jones” with a very long face 
pointing with his thumb over his shoul¬ 
der and saying, “ Go astern for the 
prayer meeting.” Well, they all went 
to the back of the boat and when enough 
of them had gathered, a singular, but very 
simple thing occurred. One hundred or 
more full-sized people created a bearing 
force or weight of seven or eight tons. 
This force pushing down at the stern of 
the boat, lifted the bow off of the bank, 
and as a result the boat slid off into deep 
water and floated once more. That long 
face of “Brother Jones” at once changed 
to a very broad grin at this successful 
service. He viewed the company for a 
moment, and then said in his gruffest 
tone : 
‘ ‘ Prayer meetin's over ! Git off the boat 
or I'll take ye down the river /” 
The crowd had gathered out of wonder 
that such a man should talk of holding 
a prayer meeting. We call that the re¬ 
verse force of his terrible profanity. 
Having used their weight to float off his 
boat, he had no further use, either for 
the meeting or the people. 
* 
Now you will say, “ What in the world 
are these fellows driving at now ? What 
new point are they going to try to make 
about their business ? ” 
Here it is : As we examine the papers 
that come week after week, it often 
occurs to us that those who send some of 
them out are not unlike that old captain 
in some respects. Last fall, during the 
subscription season, they were promis¬ 
ing all sorts of things—using good paper 
and a few pictures, and punching up 
their writers to get out an occasional 
new idea. To hear them talk then, they 
were just about the best friends the 
American Farmer ever had. Having cap¬ 
tured the value of a year’s subscription 
from the said farmer, and hypnotized 
advertisers with a few big issues of sam¬ 
ple copies, they now fall back on poor 
paper, no pictures, poor ink, and dull 
matter. It’s just like “Brother Jones” 
and his prayer meeting. The patient 
and faithful subscribers have floated 
them through another busy season, and 
now they may take £ rest until it is time 
to float the boat off again. We wonder 
why it is they keep going through 
that performance year after year ! How¬ 
ever, that’s their affair—not ours. These 
papers are useful by way of contrast. 
They show how not to do it. 
* 
That’s one side of it, and now here’s 
another. The R. N.-Y. purposes to imi¬ 
tate at least one part of the programme 
so successfully carried out by Brother 
Jones. Our ideas of agricultural jour¬ 
nalism are pitched on a high plane. 
There must be room in this country dur¬ 
ing the coming year for some big, broad¬ 
minded, conservative paper that will 
give sounder and truer thoughts, more 
practical and helpful information, better 
pictures, more striking suggestions, and 
more of a desire for accurate, scientific 
research than any paper has ever yet 
attempted. Now, then, The R. N.-Y. 
presents itself as a candidate for that 
job. Do you know what we are going 
to do ? We are just deliberately going 
to run the bow of our boat right up to 
a higher plane than any agricultural 
paper has yet struck. This means a bet¬ 
ter and more helpful paper than has ever 
yet been published. We shall push right 
over the bar and swing ’round into a 
higher level of water. Then, like Brother 
Jones, we shall ask all our friends 
to rally and throw in their weight 
to float us off into the new channel. We 
want your ideas, your experience, your 
criticism, your news and business inform¬ 
ation, and last but not least, we want 
your neighbor’s name on our subscrip 
tion list, That’s the weight we want. 
That will give us power to float the boat 
and sail on to better things ahead. 
* 
Now, get right aboard, friends, and, 
as the sailor said, “If you can’t push, 
why pull." In two ways, our programme 
is not like that of Brother J ones. We 
don’t want to deceive you, because we 
tell you frankly that, if The R. N.-Y. is 
to be improved and made more helpful, 
you have got to help improve it. Your 
force is needed—we tell you that before 
you begin. Another thing is that we 
don’t purpose to order you out of the 
boat when your force has helped float 
her in a better channel. Oh, no ! We 
want you to stay with us, and have a 
good ride, and reap the benefits of the 
floating. You won’t catch us slacking 
up out of respect for the heat. TJp 
higher ! That’s our motto ! If you want 
to climb up with us, jump on the boat 
and give us a boost! We’re all ready 
for it now. We give you these little 
hints far ahead of the regular subscrip¬ 
tion season, for several reasons: We 
want you to observe that we keep up a 
full head of steam, even in summer, and 
we want you to “ meditate ” over this 
thing, so that when it comes time to ob¬ 
tain subscriptions, you will have it all 
planned out. In the meantime, let us 
call your attention to the fact that, if 
you want a book, or a good watch, or a 
fruit drier, a sewing machine, or any 
such articles, you will do yourself and 
The R. N.-Y. a service by writing us 
about it. 
And now, before we close, we want 
some of you Eastern people to see what 
sort of friends we have in the far West. 
Here’s a letter from a friend in Oregon : 
All farm products are extremely low; potatoes 
are hardly salable at any price; best creamery 
butter, 12*4 cents per pound; eggs have sold as 
low as 8 cents per dozen this spring, but are now 
12*4 cents. These are Portland prices. I sold 
potatoes to-day (June 7), for 20 cents per 100 
pounds in Portland, so you see that it takes 500 
pounds of potatoes to pay for The R. N.-Y. for 
one year; but I would not do without the paper 
if it took 1,000 pounds to pay for a year’s sub¬ 
scription. THOMAS PAULSEN. 
Now there’s a lift of just a quarter of a 
ton ! Maybe we won't try to help that 
man increase his yield of potatoes ! 
Fertilizers containing a high percentage of potash pro¬ 
duce the largest yields and best quality of 
Wheat, Rye, Barley, Oats, 
and all winter crops. 
Send for our pamphlets on the use of potash on the farm. They are sent free. 
It will cost you nothing to read them, and they will save you dollars. Address, 
GERMAN KALI WORKS, 93 Nassau Street, New York. 
y 
Something; to Sell. 
You can become agent for the Excellent Soluble Pacific 
Guano, without investing a cent—your odd time will make 
money for you—it is known everywhere, and used by every- 
body—you simply have to let folks know you are agent for it. 
Pacific Guano Co., cor. of Fulton and Gold Sts., New York, N. Y. 
THE CLEVELAND DRYER GOMPANY 
Manufactures first-class FERTILIZERS for all 
SOILS AND CROPS. 
OFFICE: 
130 SUMMIT ST., CLEVELAND, OHIO. 
E:: Bowker’s Fertilizers. :2 
SOLUBLE—ACTIVE —8URE. 
FERTILIZER CO., * 
BOSTON A NEW YORK.- 
EBOWKER 
»g_ L _I Of 50 to 100 acres, 
r Hrlfi vVanTGu near the Hu<ison 
H iib »» uiiiwh Biver. Address 
E. U. O.. No. 20 Fourth Street, lloosick Falls, N. Y. 
ODORLESS GUANO 
MINERAL 
delivered at your 
nearest station, for 
!#20.00 per ton. 
Agents wanted In every farming town. Send for 
circulars to THE FOREST CITY WOOD ASH CO., 
No. 9 Merchants Row, Boston, Mass 
We ship our best 
Screened Canada 
Unleached 
Hardwood 
ASHES 
at bottom»prices. Analysis and Weight Guaranteed 
Address THE FOREST CITY WOOD ASH CO., 
No. 9 Merchants Row, Boston. Mass 
Miller’s Bean Harvesters and Planters are the best, and are no experiment, as thousands will testify 
For particulars and prices address F. AV. MILLER, Caledonia, N. Y. 
JOHN H. JACKSON, Successor to JACKSON BROS. Established 1852. 
NEW YORK STATE DRAIN TILE and PIPE WORKS. Main Office: 76 Third. Avenue, Albany, N. Y. 
Manufacturer of and Dealer In Agricultural Drain Tile. Salt- 
Glazed Sewer Pipe, Red Pressed Brick. Mortar Colors, Fire 
Brick, Oven Tile. Flue Lining, ChimneyTops. Encaustic Side¬ 
walk Tile, Rosendale and Portland Cement, Lime,Plaster,&o 
IHtoUanmiiS guUTtlising. 
In writing to advertisers, please always mention 
The Rural New-Yohker. 
Five Tons 
of Grapes 
remove from the soil 12.60 lbs. of nitro¬ 
gen, 10.62 lbs. of phosphoric acid, and 
25.48 lbs. of potash. 100 lbs. of 
Albert’s Vineyard Manure 
contains 13 lbs. of nitrogen, 11 lbs. of 
phosphoric acid, and 28 lbs. of potash. 
Send for free sample, and our literature on “ The 
Manuring of Vineyards and Orchards,” and “ The 
Manuring of Garden Crops.” They are sent free. 
ROBT. L. MERWIN & CO., 
Importers of Chemical Fertilizers, 88 Wall St.,N. Y. 
Hard 
rimes 
To meet the present 
hard times on farm¬ 
ers we will sell them 
direct Good Fer¬ 
tilizers for 
grain crops 
at the lowest 
wholesale prices, 
• $12.00 per ton and upwards; 
"Qf 4 Dissolved South Carolina 
V, ' B ‘ Bone —the highest grade made, 
Dissolved 
Farmers “ 
one Meal, Potash Salts, Tankage and 
fitrate Soda. Send for circulars. 
Powell Fertilizer & Chemical Co. 
Baltimore, Md. 
EVAPORATE YOUR FRUIT. 
Every farmhouse has some fruit, some time during the season, that goes to 
waste, and that would be most valuable during the winter months, if it were dried 
and put away for use. But you have no convenient way of drying it, so it is 
thrown out and lost. Now what is 
needed to save all this waste is a small, 
cheap, convenient drier that can be 
readily brought into use. The U. S. 
Cook Stove Drier fills this need to per¬ 
fection. The illustration shows this 
Drier complete on an ordinary cook 
stove. It can also be used on an oil or 
gasoline stove. It has eight galvanized 
wire-cloth trays, containing 12 square 
feet of tray surface. The dimensions 
are: Base, 22x16 inches ; height, 26 
inches. Sent by freight at the receiver’s 
expense. Weight, crated, about 27 
pounds. It is always ready, and with 
ordinary care, will last a lifetime. The 
thrifty housewife can make it pay for 
itself several times over in drying fruit 
for home use, and may be able to dry 
fruit enough with it to exchange for all 
the groceries needed for a large family. 
jjjVWc have sold hundreds of these during 
past years for $7 ; but we have been able 
to get a reduction this year, and can now send it and The R. N.-Y., one year, for 
Or we will send it to any one who will send us a club of 12 new subscriptions 
at $1 each. It is one of the things that should be in every home where fruit is to 
be had, and, at the reduced price this year, we expect to ship at least one thousand 
Address THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, New York. 
