198 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
THE  BCSIXESS  FARMER'S  PAPER 
A  Natlonnl  Weekly  Joiirnul  for  Country  nnd  Suburban  Home* 
Extablfuherl  isio 
Published  neetlj  by  'hr  Knriil  Publishing  Company,  83*  West  3<lih  6trerl,  New  York 
Herbert  W.  Colli n g svoop,  President  ami  Editor. 
•Iohv  J.  Dillon,  Treasurer  and  General  Manager. 
Wm.  F.  Dillon,  Secretary.  Mrs.  E.  T.  Kotlk,  Associate  Editor. 
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■‘A  SQUARE  DEAL” 
We  believe  that  every  advertisement  in  this  paper  Is  hacked  by  n  respon¬ 
sible  person.  We  use  every  possible  precaution  and  admit  the  advertising  of 
reliable  houses  only.  But.  to  make  doubly  sure,  we  will  mnkc  good  any  loss 
to  paid  subscribers  su-tained  by  i ru-tlng  any  dclibciarc  swindler,  Irrespon¬ 
sible  advertiser!  or  mi: l.a.ling  adv,  iti-.-na  nts  in  our  columns,  and  any 
such  swindler  will  bo  publicly  eltpoued.  We  are  also  often  colled  upon 
to  adjust  differences  or  mistake,-  iHvtdi  our  subscHbem  and  honest, 
responsible  liouser.  whether  advertisers  or  not.  We  willingly  use  our  good 
offices  to  this  end,  but  such  erf  sea  sbould  not  be  eoufused  with  dishonest 
transactions.  We  protect  mhserlbei-s  against  roguett.  hut  we  will  not  be 
responsible  for  the  debts  of  honest  bankrupt-  suictloned  bv  the  courts. 
Notice  ot  tlie  complaint  must  be  sent  to  us  within  one  month  ot  the  time  of 
the  Transaction,  and  to  identify  it.  you  should  mention  The  Rcbal  New 
Yorker  when  writing  the  advertiser. 
TIIE  Poughkeepsie  meeting  of  the  New  York 
State  Fruit  H  rowers  will  be  held  on  February 
IG-lT-ls.  it  must  he  held  in  the  Armory  this  year 
as  it  has  outgrown  the  other  meeting  places.  Some 
years  ago  a  handful  of  us  met  at  Cornwall  and  or¬ 
ganized  the  society.  It  struggled  on,  barely  alive, 
for  a  few  years;  now  it  has  grown  so  large  that  it 
becomes  a  puzzle  to  find  a  building  that  will  hold 
it.  There  will  lie  a  tine  programme  and  exhibition 
this  year,  and  the  Hudson  Valley  will  turn  out  a 
great  crowd.  Come,  all  ye  who  stand  by  the  ap¬ 
ple  ! 
* 
POTATO  prices  are  soaring — reaching  the  high¬ 
est  wholesale  price  in  years  last  week.  Who 
would  have  thought  last  Summer,  when  potatoes 
could  hardly  be  given  away,  that  the  tubers  would 
sell  at  interior  points  for  one  dollar  a  bushel? 
Blight  and  rot  came  down  like  the  wolf  on  the  fold, 
and  in  many  sections  which  formerly  sent  out  pota¬ 
toes  by  the  carload,  farmers  will  either  eat  rice  or 
cormneal  or  buy  their  supplies !  And  yet,  right  in 
these  sections,  here  and  there,  are  farmers  who 
have  made  small  fortunes  out  of  their  potato  crop. 
Daniel  Dean  tells  about  it  this  week.  T.  E.  Mar¬ 
tin  of  Monroe  Co..  X.  Y„  recently  sold  .>,000  bushels 
at  <oie  dollar  a  bushel  at  his  station.  There  are 
others.  It  pays  to  raise  two  potatoes  where  only 
one  rotten  one  grew  before,  and  there  could  tie  no 
better  time  for  telling  how  it  is  done.  We  have 
arranged  for  the  greatest  series  of  potato  articles 
that  we  have  ever  printed 
* 
Wity  d<>  you  not  do  ns  some  of  the  other  papers  do 
and  give  us  optimistic,  brilliant  stories  of  farm  suc¬ 
cesses?  Farmers  need  to  he  told  how  to  make  a  great 
success  of  their  work.  People  who  think  of  going  to 
the  farm  do  not  want  depressing  stories.  Why  do  you 
not  give  them  the  rosy,  pleasant  side?  j.  m.  c. 
HE  chief  reason  probably  is  that  we  own  and 
live  on  a  farm,  and  have  to  pay  the  hills.  Then 
again  we  were  brought  up  on  the  strict  economies 
of  a  poor  farm,  worked  out  as  hired  man  and  taught 
school  in  a  country  district.  That  experience  is 
likely  to  sober  a  man  when  it  comes  to  "rosy  views” 
and  brilliant  stories.  The  writer  believes  that 
fanning,  with  a  fair  chance,  is  the  best  life  a  man 
can  lead.  There  are  drawbacks  and  handicaps 
and  troubles  and  injustice  connected  with  the  busi¬ 
ness.  and  we  are  trying  as  best  we  can  to  help  re¬ 
move  them.  The  best  way  to  do  it,  as  we  see  the 
matter,  is  to  give  from  week  to  week  the  plain  cold 
truth  about  farming  and  farm  life — its  troubles  and 
its  joys,  its  disappointments  and  its  satisfactions. 
Take  it  from  us  that  when  you  read  the  “rosy  views” 
and  brilliant  stories  in  a  farm  paper,  without  qual¬ 
ification,  you  may  hank  on  t lie  fact  that  the  editor 
and  writer  would  not  know  what  a  real  farm  looks 
like  if  they  were  taken  out  and  buried  in  it.  What 
the  farmers  of  this  country  need  more  than  anything 
else  is  to  realize  the  exact  truth  about  tlieir  business 
and  build  their  demand  on  that.  That  truth  lies 
between  the  optimistic,  brilliant  stories,  and  the 
bitter  denunciation  of  other  interests,  and  that  is 
what  The  It.  N.-Y.  is  trying  to  make  clear. 
* 
No  set  of  men  on  earth  have  clearer  judgment 
than  the  farmers  of  New  York  State.  They 
may  take  their  time  to  decide  a  thing  and  they 
want  to  be  “shown."  but  in  the  end  if  a  thing  proves 
to  he  right  they  will  support  it  and  carry  it  through. 
That  is  why  we  have  been  confident  from  the  first 
that  the  farmers  will  endorse  and  support:  the  Food 
and  Markets  Department  just  as  soon  as  they  un¬ 
derstand  what  It  is  trying  to  do.  Every  intelligent 
farmer  knows  that  whenever  an  effort  is  made  to 
start  a  new  and  progressive  thing. there  are  always 
biters  and  kickers  who  try  to  kill  it  off.  These  men 
wait  until  some  little  mistake  or  business  hitch 
gives  them  a  chance  to  criticize  and  growl.  A  little 
Che  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
patience  and  cheerful  support  right  then  would  carry 
the  thing  through  to  success,  but  these  sour  ones 
and  kickers  magnify  the  trouble  and  do  their  best 
to  kill  off  the  entire  movement.  Every  man  who 
wants  to  improve  conditions  knows  how  such  people 
work  and  he  will  recognize  the  same  stupid  and 
hateful  spirit  in  the  newspaper  attacks  upon  the 
Department.  It  is  the  same  old  selfish,  kicking 
spirit,  and  it  will  be  discounted,  because  farmers 
know  it  is  destructive  and  never  constructive  in  its 
effects. 
¥ 
HERE  is  a  new  development  of  the  “two  blades 
of  grass”  theory  which  we  find  in  a  fertil¬ 
izer  circular; 
Werner's  Natural  Fertilizer  stands  at  the  head.  It 
certainly  has  caused  “two  blades  of  grass  to  grow 
where  but  one.  grew  before.” 
We  think  Mr.  Werner  would  he  nearer  right  if  he 
said  his  "natural  fertilizer”  stands  on  its  head. 
We  understand  that  this  is  a  crushed  rock  which 
contains  in  one  ton  the  following  available  plant 
food;  One  pound  of  nitrogen,  about  seven  ounces 
of  potash  and  a  little  over  half  an  ounce  of  avail- 
aide  phosphoric  acid!  Wo  refer  to  available  plant 
food  by  which  real  fertilizers  are  valued.  The  an¬ 
alysis  of  this  rock  shows  four  per  cent,  of  “potash.” 
but  as  compared  with  wood  ashes  or  potash  salts 
the  analysis  shows  less  than  half  a  pound  to  the 
ton.  You  might  just  as  well  go  to  a  housewife  and 
tell  her  that  sugar  beets  contain  15  per  cent  of  sugar 
— therefore  she  should  use  sliced  beets  for  coffee 
and  cooking!  The  last  time  we  referred  to  this 
“natural  plant  food”  Mr.  Werner  intimated  that  he 
might  sue  us  if  we  did  it  again.  It  is  his  privilege 
to  proceed,  since  we  have  quoted  from  his  own 
statement  of  analysis. 
* 
SOME  of  our  people  report  that  they  receive 
marked  copies  of  the  American  Agriculturist 
containing  a  savage  attack  upon  the  Foods  and  Mar¬ 
kets  Department.  There  is  a  big  hand  stamped  in 
red  ink  pointing  at  the  article.  One  of  our  readers 
has  written  this  about  it  ; 
Who. is  sending  out.  these  marked  copies,  and  wliat 
for?  I  have  never  taken  this  publication,  and  why 
should  they  go  to  the  trouble  of  sending  me  a  marked 
copy,  and  they  probably  sent  others.  There  must  be 
a  reason.  It's  not  Mi  advertising  scheme  for  what  is 
supposed  to  be  an  agricultural  weekly.  If  it  is,  it’s 
a  mighty  poor  one.  It's  costing  somebody  something 
to  do  this.  117"//  are  Iheg  doing  it  for f  People  don't 
spend  good  ink  nnd  paper  knocking  failures.  That 
doesn't  stand  to  reason. 
We  can  only  think  of  a  few  classes  of  people  who 
would  spend  money  and  time  “knocking  a  failure.” 
Idiots  might  do  it.  or  men  horn  with  a  "grouch”  in 
place  of  brains,  or  men  who  must  carry  about  with 
them  in  place  of  common  sense,  the  spoiled  child  of 
envy  and  ruffled  conceit.  What  are  they  doing  it. 
for?  They  probably  do  not  know  any  better,  and 
have  not  wit  enough  to  see  what  men  of  sound 
judgment  think  of  their  performance:  There  is 
usually  an  irresistible  desire  on  the  part  of  feeble¬ 
minded  characters  to  talk  themselves  into  the  place 
where  they  belong.  That  is  the  most  charitable 
reason  we  can  think  of  why  the  Agriculturist  should 
in  this  way  voluntarily  step  into  the  list  of  the  three 
graces  of  agricultural  journalism: 
The  American  Agriculturist. 
The  Packer . 
The  Fruitman’s  Guide. 
They  all  now  stand  lined  up  in  full  view  openly 
opposed  to  the  expressed  public  conviction  of  every 
strong  agricultural  organization  in  New  York  State. 
The  three  graces  of  agricultural  journalism! 
Faith,  Dope  and  Charity !  One  may  have  full 
faith  in  the  belief  that  this  journalistic  "grouch"  is 
as  unchangeable  as  tin*  leopard's  spots!  Let  us  all 
hope  that  this  sour  trio  will  keep  up  their  work 
of  showing  farmers  where  to  look  for  their  friends. 
As  for  rharUg,  it  surely  stands  for  a  multitude  of 
sins  and  will  not  he  puffed  up  when  it  gets  through 
this  campaign. 
ONE  of  the  most  important  and  interesting  law¬ 
suits.  from  the  standpoint  of  a  farmer,  is  the 
famous  nursery  tree  case  of  Hunt  vs.  Brown  Broth¬ 
ers  Co.  You  will  find  a  legal  statement  of  the  lat¬ 
est  development  on  page  1  SO.  We  have  no  feeling  or 
prejudice  in  this  matter,  and  if  Brown  Brothers 
think  this  statement  is  not  fair  we  offer  them  space 
in  which  to  make  correction.  Thus  far  not  a  single 
judge  has  sided  against  Mr.  Hunt.  Ilis  case  seems 
to  he  perfectly  clear,  and  while  Brown  Brothers 
have  decided  to  carry  it  to  the  Court  of  Appeals  it 
is  doubtful  if  they  expect  to  win  it.  The  object 
evidently  is  to  make  it  clear  that  lie  who  brings 
a  suit  of  this  sort  must  have  a  barrel  of  money  in 
order  to  carry  it  through.  In  the  end  it  will  cost 
Mr.  Hunt  for  legal  expenses  more  than  he  can  ever 
get  out  of  it,  but  we  hope  he  will  stay  by  it  until 
February  5,  191G. 
this  point  of  the  measure  of  damages  is  clearly  es¬ 
tablished.  Every  farmer  in  the  State  should  take 
warning  from  this  and  use  the  utmost  care  about 
signing  contracts.  If  Mr.  Lunt,  with  a  perfect  le¬ 
gal  case,  cannot  receive  damages  without  paying 
out  more  than  the  damages  amount  to,  what  show 
on  this  earth  has  a  poor  farmer  who  signs  a  con¬ 
tract  filled  up  with  little  “jokers”  and  tricks?  Why 
sign  any  tree  contract  at  all?  It  is  possible  to  lmy 
good  trees  from  reputable  men  just  as  you  would 
buy  any  other  goods,  without  signing  any  agree¬ 
ment  and  receiving  a  fair  guarantee.  There  are 
other  contracts  too,  besides  those  which  cover  nurs¬ 
ery  trees,  and  many  of  them  are  full  of  “jokers” 
put  there  by  shrewd  lawyers  in  order  to  hold  the 
buyer  and  give  the  seller  a  good  chance  to  get  out. 
There  are  some  eases  where  a  contract,  of  some  sort 
is  necessary,  but  many  times  the  buyer  is  induced 
to  sign  when  there  is  no  need  of  his  doing  so.  Keep 
your  name  off  paper  of  this  sort  until  some  good 
business  friend  has  looked  it  over  for  you.  Mr. 
Lunt  will  fight  this  ease  through  to  the  limit,  prob¬ 
ably  win  out  in  the  higher  court — and  lose  money 
by  doing  so.  By  doing  this  he  will  save  thousands 
of  dollars  for  other  farmers  if  they  will  only  heed 
his  experience. 
* 
SOME  weeks  ago  we  told  of  the  struggle  which 
Nebraska  farmers  were  having  with  the  rail¬ 
roads.  An  order  had  been  issued  to  prohibit  selling 
or  peddling  from  cars.  Many  farmers,  especially 
those  growing  fruit  and  vegetables,  had  found  a 
way  of  getting  more  than  a  35-eent  dollar.  They 
loaded  their  goods  into  freight  cars  and  travelled 
to  towns  and  cities  where  tiiei*e  was  a  demand  for 
what  they  had  to  sell.  Then  they  sold  right  from 
the  ear.  through  local  advertising,  to  dealers  or  to 
consumers  direct.  In  this  way  they  found  new 
markets,  got  more  for  tlieir  goods,  did  an  indepen¬ 
dent  business  and  gave  consumers  a  chance  to  buy 
cheaper  food.  This  business  grew  until  it  alarmed 
the  middlemen  and  dealers,  who  saw  that  if  it  con¬ 
tinued  until  the  people  formed  the  habit  of  buying 
hi  this  way.  they  could  not  control  the  markets  or 
the  prices.  So  the  dealers  and  middlemen  protested 
to  the  railroads,  and  finally  secured  an  order  pro¬ 
hibiting  such  car  sales!  Here  was  a  clear  issue  be¬ 
tween  the  farmers  and  the  middlemen,  with  the  rail¬ 
roads  siding  with  the  latter.  The  farmers  did  not 
stay  at  home  and  growl — they  gathered  in  confer¬ 
ence  at  the  State  Capitol  and  put  up  a  strong  pro¬ 
test.  They  did  more  than  talk,  for  they  told  the 
railroad  commissioners  just  what  would  happen  if 
they  played  both  ends  against  the  middle  and  put 
the  middleman  on  top!  The  result  was  that  the 
railroad  commission  “suggested”  to  the  railroad  at¬ 
torneys  that  they  withdraw  this  “anti-peddling  or¬ 
der."  After  some  study  of  the  situation  these  at¬ 
torneys  asked  permission  to  withdraw  the  order. 
They  did  not  ask  any  permission  to  issue  it!  Those 
farmers  made  themselves  understood.  Both  the 
commission  and  the  attorneys  found  that  they  might 
just  as  well  lot  a  freight  car  run  over  them  as  to 
try  to  stop  farmers  from  increasing  (lie  35-eent  dol¬ 
lar  when  they  saw  a  fair  chance  to  do  it!  There 
is  more  to  this  which  will  come  later.  Now  we 
have  space  for  just  three  things.  This  marketing 
problem  is  (lie  biggest  issue  before  farmers.  The 
so-called  vested  interests  now  control  the  situation. 
Investigation,  education,  “resolutions”  and  pleasant 
words  will  never  break  their  grip.  Every  cent  add¬ 
ed  to  the  35-cent  dollar  must  he  punched  out. 
Brevities 
We  have  many  questions  about  the  methylene  blue 
treatment  for  abortion  in  cattle.  The  drug  is  now  sq 
expensive  and  hard  to  obtain  that  it  is  out  of  the 
question  for  the  purpose  named. 
It  seems  like  a  strange  thing  to  find  the  Kansas  Ex¬ 
periment  Station  giving  reports  on  88  brands  of  mixed 
fertilizer  sold  in  that  State.  But  a  few  years  ago  we 
were  told  there  would  never  be  need  of  chemicals  in 
Kansas. 
Every  .stockman  knows  that  now  and  then  the  cow 
that  you  hank  on  as  of  tin*  finest  pedigree  and  practice 
will  drop  the  poorest,  meanest  little  calf  you  ever  saw. 
It  is  a  temptation  to  sell  him  on  his  parentage,  but 
better  business  to  veal  him. 
A  xu m her  of  back-to-the-landers  find  scattered  apple 
trees  in  their  pastures  and  intend  to  prune  and  spray  at 
some  expense.  Better  make  sure  these  trees  are  not 
mere  seedlings  first.  It  would  not  pay  to  spend  much 
on  them  unless  they  bear  standard  fruit. 
Now  comes  a  back-to-thc-lander  who  says  he  has 
heard  a  lot  about  this  "filler”  variety  for  apples.  Is  it 
a  good  variety?  A  "filler”  is  usually  a  tree  of  some 
early-bearing  sort  like  Wealthy  or  Transparent  set  in 
among  the  permanent  trees  to  give  a  few  crops  and 
thus  bring  early  returns. 
Hex  manure  and  bones!  There  are  two  things 
which  may  help  out  the  high  cost  of  plant  living.  That 
is  why  we  have  so  much  to  say  about  them.  There  are 
eight  to  10  tons  of  bones  wasted  in  your  township  each 
year.  Read  the  articles  on  phosphates  and  “save  the 
bones.” 
