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RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
THE  ltrslXESS  FARMER'S  PAPER 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  tor  Country  ami  Suburban  Hoiiiok 
Established  /W> 
Poblbhrd  nrrkly  by  tbr  Rural  tbibliuhlur  Company,  333  Meat  30lb  Street,  Nrw  Vork 
H KRBKttT  \V.  COT.use.wooD,  Pre«i<lnni and  Editor. 
.Tuns  J.  DtuiKt,  I'lejentrer  ami  tJoneral  Matnttfer. 
Wm.  F.  Pitt-os,  Secivtary.  Mrs,  K  T.  Riiylk,  Asttoclate  Editor. 
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“A  SQUARE  DEAL" 
We  believe  tliat  every  advertisement,  in  this  pais-r  is  backed  tiy  a  respon¬ 
sible  person-  Wi)  use  every  |>ossililo  preeaution  and  admit  the  advertising  of 
reliable  houses  only.  Iiut  to  make  doubly  sure,  wo  will  make  good  any  loss 
to  Tint'!  subscribers  "nst rimed  by  trusting  any  deliberate  swindler,  irrespon- 
sibjo  advertisers  or  misleading  advertisement s  in  our  columns,  and  any 
sueb  swindler  will  be  publicly  npesil,  Wo  are  also  often  called  upon 
to  adjust  differettew  or  tnJKtakes  between  nttr  subsetlliqiw  and  honest, 
responsible  boiiKi-s.  w  liether  advertiser- or  not.  We  wlltlltgly  ttse  our  good 
oflloes  to  this  end, but  such  cases  should  not  be  confused  with  dishonest 
transaction*,  We  protect  subscribers  against  rogm-s.  tint  we  will  not  tie 
responsible  for  the  debts  of  honest  bankrupts  sanetfoned  by  the  courts. 
Notice  of  the  complaint  must  be  sent  to  us  within  one  month  of  the  time  of 
the  transaction,  and  to  identify  it,  you  should  mention  The  ltriiAi,  NEW- 
Yorkkii  when  writing  the  advertiser. 
"America  do  bcsla  place!” 
IN  liis  article  on  looking  ahead  for  a  quarter  cen¬ 
tury  Trucker,  Jr.,  lias  struck  a  very  line  illustra¬ 
tion  in  the  sentiment  of  that  small  Italian  boy.  We 
can  easily  see  how  a  family  coming  from  tlio 
cramped  condition  of  European  life  into  the  broad¬ 
er  life  of  America  can  see  quickly  that  this  is  "dr 
hr. 'tin  place!”  Some  of  us  who  have  lived  half  a 
century  in  this  land,  and  who  know  nothing  of  con¬ 
ditions  elsewhere,  sometimes  growl  and  liml  fault 
because  society  has  not  grown  up  to  our  ideal.  Is 
there  any  other  place  on  earth  where  such  people 
could  find  conditions  more  to  their  liking?  If  so  it 
seems  to  us  that  it  is  their  duty  to  go  there  if  pos¬ 
sible.  If,  with  our  democratic  form  of  government, 
America  is  no  longer  the  land  of  opportunity,  it  is 
largely  the  fault  of  the  plain  people  through  their 
failure  to  retain  control  of  affairs.  The  birthday 
anniversaries  of  Washington  and  Lincoln  come 
close  together.  One  carried  great  burdens  and  en¬ 
dured  hardships  that  we  might  have  a  constitu¬ 
tional  government.  The  other  gave  his  life  that  this 
government  might  endure.  Lincoln  knew  it  never 
could  endure  unless  it  was  held  within  reach  of  Hie 
plain  people.  America  is  still  "dc  Tic  a  I  a  place”  If 
you  depended  on  the  daily  papers  for  information 
you  might  think  it  is  a  land  of  trusts  and  robbers 
and  crooks!  Not  so — it  is  a  land  of  homes  and 
plain  honest  working  people  who  will  soon  prove 
tlieir  ownership. 
•k 
FARMERS  have  good  judgment,  and  are  cap¬ 
able  of  weighing  evidence.  Therefore  wo  turn 
the  proposition  on  the  next  page  over  to  them.  Does 
it.  not  demonstrate  that  the  American  Agriculturist 
is  entitled  to  the  red-hot  medal  its  the  most  gifted 
son  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira?  You  will  notice  that 
we  offer  no  testimony  of  our  own.  Our  neighbor  says 
it  is  doubtful  if  we  could  print  the  nmltiplieation 
table  and  get  it  right.  In  such  an  important  matter 
unbiased  testimony  is  best,  and  we  think  it  is  of¬ 
fered.  We  have  been  frequently  asked  why  the 
American  Agriculturist  should  act  in  this  way.  Two 
men,  Herbert  My  rick  the  proprietor  and  Charles 
William  Burkett,  the  editor,  seem  to  he  responsible. 
Mr.  Myrick  lias  been  shown  up  as  guilty  of  fraud 
against  the  Federal  government  and  playing  sharp 
games  with  other  people's  money.  Mr.  Burkett  was 
fired  from  his  official  position  in  the  New  York  Agri¬ 
cultural  Society  and  for  some  years  seems  to  have 
played  the  part  of  a  vain,  pompous  character  who 
merely  does  what  lie  is  told.  It  looks  like  a  bluffer 
and  a  bhnvhard  raising  a  great  cloud  of  words  in 
an  effort  to  obscure  the  fact  that  one  has  a  smirched 
reputation  and  the  other  badly  ruffled  feathers. 
Tiie  R.  N.-Y.  never  had  any  use  for  crooks  and 
fakers,  except  to  pin  them  up  for  public  view. 
❖ 
A  CORRESPONDENT  in  the  .V no  York  World, 
who  signs  himself  “Anxious  Consumer,”  re¬ 
counts  the  hardships  of  the  fanner  and  the  difficulty 
of  the  city  consumer  in  getting  food  at  a  reason¬ 
able  price;  and  concludes  with  tills: 
There  are  over  210,000  farmers  in  New  York  State, 
and  it  is  unthinkable  that  Gubernatorial  material  does 
not:  exist  in  that  vast  aggregation  of  farmers.  Is  it 
not  high  time  that  a  man  that  had  his  bauds  calloused 
by  the  plow  and  his  shoes  browned  by  Mother  Earth 
should  be  elected  Governor  of  the  Empire  State  and 
let  those  political  cuckoos  have  a  vacation? 
This  suggestion  comes  from  the  city,  hut  the 
same  thought,  lias  been  growing  in  the  minds  of 
farmers  for  the  past  few  years.  The  question  of 
bringing  producer  and  consumer  closer  together  for 
the  transfer  of  New  York  farm  products  is  larger 
than  any  other  State  issue  now  in  sight.  Natur¬ 
ally  farmers  ask  why  they  should  play  some  politi¬ 
cal  party  game  of  tag  while  this  great,  question  is 
ignored.  Fifty  men,  closely  enough  identified  with 
the  soil  to  he  called  farmers,  might  quickly  be  found 
to  qualify  as  Governor  of  New  York.  Wo  can  think 
of  nothing  better  for  New  York  agriculture  than  a 
clear-cut  fight  for  a  fanner  Governor  on  a  straight 
issue  of  improved  marketing. 
* 
ON  page  100  Mr.  Cosgrove  suggested  what  ho 
called  the  "wood  pile  test”  for  deciding  wheth¬ 
er  a  farmer  should  he  given  Credit  at  a  hank.  If 
the  farmer  could  show  a  good  supply  of  dry  wood 
well  cut  and  split.  Cosgrove  would  consider  him 
a  good  prospect  for  a  loan.  We  have  had  many 
letters  of  appeal  about  this.  Due  fanner  in  Lan¬ 
caster  Go.,  l*a.,  goes  further: 
That  wood  pile  test  for  credit  won't  work  lure  in 
Lancaster  County,  Pa.,  because  1  have  looked  around 
my  neighborhood  and  found  that  every  man  who  has 
u  pile  of  dry  chopped  wood  for  his  wife  has  no  use  for 
money,  hut,  has  plenty  of  his  owp  to  loan.  The  only 
fellow  that  wants  to  borrow  money  is  the  one  where, 
the  wife  and  little  children  do  the  wood-chopping, 
therefore  if  we  want  to  invest  our  money  we  have  to 
take  the  wife  chopper  ("alio  lives  in  some  other  sec¬ 
tion”)  for  our  investment.  A.  o.  wanner. 
They  have  many  fine  farmers  in  Lancaster  Coun¬ 
ty.  For  years  this  county  ranked  ns  the  first  in 
the  United  States  for  agricultural  prosperity  and 
good  farming.  Some  folks  keep  a  darkey  in  the 
wood  pile,  hut.  in  Lancaster  County  they  keep  pros¬ 
perity  there.  What  a  happy  world  this  will  be 
when  we  make  nil  farmers  see  that  sure  evidence  of 
prosperity  is  not  in  a  fur  overcoat,  or  an  auto,  but 
in  a  shed  full  of  dry  wood. 
❖ 
C C T"*»ARMERS’  "WEEK”  at  Cornell  University  is  a 
.T  wonderful  institution.  There  is  always  a 
great  crowd  of  country  people  out  for  information 
and  also  eager  to  renew  old  friendships  and  make 
new  ones.  The  programme  offered  by  the  college 
and  experiment  station  is  bewildering  in  its  extent, 
and  quality.  From  a  scientific  discussion  of  some 
new  bacteria  to  the  plain  making  of  pie  and  dough¬ 
nuts  (and  we  put  the  latter  at  the  top  of  the  list) 
you  can  have  it  all.  At  the  noon  hour  hundreds, 
if  not  thousands,  gather  for  the  daily  singing  school. 
It  is  a  wonderful  gathering,  so  large  and  varied  and 
complete  that  no  one  can  give  a  comprehensive  re¬ 
port  on  paper.  11  is  like  a  year's  review  of  college 
and  station  work  boiled  down  into  a  short  week.  No 
one  could  attend  sueb  a  gathering  even  for  an  hour 
without  being  convinced  of  ‘lie  great  work  our  farm 
institutions  are  doing.  Could  the  Legislature  ad¬ 
journ  and  spend  oner  day  there  no  word  of  cutting 
down  appropriations  would  ever  be  uttered. 
:’r 
SINCE  we  started  up  this  dog  question  we  have 
become  convinced  of  one  thing  at  least.  The 
dog  has  more  devoted  friends  and  bitter  enemies 
than  any  other  dumb  animal  on  earth.  Out  of  hun¬ 
dreds  of  letters  we  may  quote  two  sentiments  which 
seem  to  express  the  limit  on  each  side.  A  eon- 
finned  dog-lmter  puts  it  this  way  : 
The  dog  carries  more  filth  and  malignant  disease 
germs  than  any  other  living  creature!  Any  man  who 
will  keep  a  flog,  knowing  his  true  eharaeter.  would 
throw  typhoid  fever  germs  into  a  well  from  which 
children  drank! 
Thai  is  "going  some.”  but  a  dog  lover  gets  back 
in  this  way: 
An  honest  dog  knows  what  he  is  doing  when  he 
bites  a  dog-hater,  for  the  spirit  which  antagonizes  the 
dog  is  the  same  which  prompts  a  man  to  minder  his 
grandmother.  A  child  will  never  willingly  go  near  a 
dog-hater.  Tin*  dog-hater  has  such  a  strong  taste  that 
tlie  dog  goes  and  cleans  liis  teeth  after  the  bite! 
We  might  call  that  about  even,  but  it  shows  what 
the  dog  can  do  lo  shake  up  public  senl intent.  At 
least  To  of  our  readers  have  sent  us  copies  of  Sena¬ 
tor  Vest's  tribute  to  the  dog.  The  story  of  this  was 
recently  printed  in  The  Breeder's  Gazette,  'there 
have  been  so  many  calls  for  it  that  the  article  is 
printed  on  page  MOO. 
❖ 
The  only  criticism  1  have  ever  heard  of  The  Rural 
New-Yorker  was  because  of  its  advocacy  of  the  fi5- 
cent  dollar.  This  came  from  a  source  that,  was  en¬ 
tirely  unexpected.  The  man  who  criticized  this  is  a 
member  of  the  faculty  of  the  State  University.  I  think 
this  is  one  of  the  big  things  that  you  have  done,  and 
sufficient  to  warrant  your  existence  for  a  long  time  to 
come,  which  I  hope  the  fates  and  good  hard  work  will 
permit  to  you.  i.  w.  RVERS. 
Michigan. 
HERE  is  it  remarkable  thing  about  this  Mo-cent 
dollar.  We  have  yet  to  timl  a  practical  farmer 
who  makes  his  entire  living  out  of  the  soil  and  is 
compelled  to  ship  part  of  his  goods  to  agents  or 
middlemen  who  objected  to  this  .’Jo-rent  dollar  cam¬ 
paign.  Thus  far  everyone  who  has  denied  that  there 
is  such  a  dollar  makes  all.  or  part,  of  his  living  at 
some  other  job  than  actual  farming.  If  we  are 
wrong  in  this  set  us  right.  We  grant  every  man 
the  right  to  his  opinion,  hut  we  tb'nk  the  practical 
farmers  know  more  about  this  subject  than  most 
of  their  teachers.  We  are  aware  that  many  able 
thinkers  and  educators  come  up  with  figures  to 
February  19,  1916. 
show  that  the  farmers  get  all  they  deserve.  It  is 
one  thing  to  dig  figures  out  of  books  or  to  manu¬ 
facture  them,  but  quite  another  to  dig  the  facts 
out  of  the  earth.  If  the  educators  do  not  grasp  this 
.‘15-cent  dollar  proposition  they  will  simply  be  pushed 
out  of  the  way  or  walked  over.  They  have  the 
chance  to  lead.  If  they  do  not  accept,  it  they  cannot 
complain  when  they  stand  a t.  one  side  and  see  the 
army  march  past  them. 
HERE  is  something  for  those  who  knew  and 
loved  Joseph  E.  Wing  of  Ohio.  Since  his 
death  a  fund  has  been  raised  by  popular  subscrip¬ 
tion  for  a  memorial  to  this  great  agricultural  teach¬ 
er.  The  money  is  to  he  used  to  provide  lectures  on 
agriculture  a t  one  or  more  of  the  agricultural  col¬ 
leges  each  year.  It  is  to  be  known  as  the  Joseph 
E.  Wing  Memorial  Fund  Lecture.  Men  of  national 
reputation  will  attend  each  year  and  discuss  the 
things  which  Joe  Wing  stood  for.  It  is  better  to 
have  many  persons  each  contribute  small  sums  to 
such  a  fund,  and  we  have  no  doubt  some  of  our 
leaders  will  want  to  help.  If  so  they  can  write 
direct  to  H.  C.  l'rice,  Newark,  Ohio — the  chairman. 
WE  have  had  some  call  for  a  disk  or  cutaway 
harrow  mounted  on  wheels  and  with  the 
disks  under  control.  The  object  is  to  permit  the 
operator  to  work  the  soil  deep  or  shallow  as  de¬ 
sired,  or  to  take  the  disks  out  of  the  soil  entirely 
if  desired.  As  we  all  know  the  wheels  on  the  spring- 
tooth  harrow  are  a  great  convenience  in  regulating 
the  cut  or  in  transportation,  and  a  disk  harrow 
properly  mounted  would  evidently  he  an  improve¬ 
ment.  Tlie  increased  cost  would  probably  he  about: 
$10  for  fitting  the  harrow.  At  least  one  manu¬ 
facturer  is  willing  to  go  ahead  if  he  could  he  as¬ 
sured  of  a  fair  demand  for  such  an  implement.  It 
would  be  most  useful  in  orchards,  we  should  say. 
Wo  would  like  to  know  what  readers  think  of  the 
scheme. 
* 
MANY’  readers  have  sent  us  newspaper  clippings 
containing  a  letter  written  by  one  W.  N.  Mc- 
C  rill  is,  on  the  potash  situation.  It  is  a  very  plausi¬ 
ble  letter  on  the  value  of  potash  in  some  of  our 
ordinary  rocks,  and  it  makes  a  very  shrewd  play 
on  a  bulletin  issued  by  tin*  Department  of  Agricul¬ 
ture.*  Our  information  is  that  McCrillis  is  inter¬ 
ested  in  the  sale  of  “Mineral  Riant  Food”  or  ground 
rock,  and  this  letter  seems  to  be  a  very  cunning 
scheme  for  obtaining  advertising.  Hundreds  of 
daily  papers  have  printed  his  letter,  address  and 
all.  and  thus  given  him  advertising  which  he  could 
not  buy  in  a  reputable  farm  paper.  It  just  goes 
to  show  how  the  daily  press  may  unwittingly  help 
along  a  humbug  or  a  scheme  which  they  would  de¬ 
nounce  if  they  understood  it.  We  have  told  our 
readers  over  .and  over  that  there  is  no  sense  in  buy¬ 
ing  crushed  feldspar  as  a  source  of  potash.  Let 
McCrillis  alone ! 
* 
EVERY  year  brings  some  man  with  a  scheme  for 
piping  milk  to  New  York  City,  from  the  dairy 
districts.  Oil  is  pumped  across  the  country  through 
pipes,  and  other  liquids  are  carried  in  like  manner, 
in  California  for  a  time  milk  was  piped,  or  even 
conveyed  in  open  troughs  for  considerable  distances 
on  the  large  ranches.  This  did  not  pay,  owing  to 
the  difficulty  in  keeping  the  pipes  clean.  This  pro¬ 
position  of  letting  tlie  milk  run  into  New  York  on 
its  own  feet  is  plausible,  but  it  will  not  work.  Then* 
is,  however,  a  chance  that  a  scries  of  largo  pneuma¬ 
tic  tubes  can  be  used  for  tlie  purpose — somewhat 
after  the  plan  used  on  a  small  scale  in  department 
stores.  The  plan  is  to  ship  the  milk  in  long  cans 
or  tubes  forced  along  like  a  big  popgun  by  com¬ 
pressed  air.  We  think  the  future  is  to  see  very 
much  more  of  lighter  freight  transported  on  this 
principle  til  rough  tubes  under  ground  or  strung  on 
supports.  There  is  a  chance  for  some  capitalist  to 
develop  tiiis. 
Brevities 
When  you  get  dinner  through  the  ’phone  from  the 
grocery  store  instead  of  through  the  kitchen  stove  you 
pay  the  price. 
It  is  ail  old  one  Hut.  worth  repeating  that  many  a 
farm  woman  would  shed  tears  of  joy  at  a  woodshed 
full  of  dry  wood. 
People  who  send  eggs  by  parcel  post  will  not  obtain 
full  satisfaction  while  the  government  ships  mail  in 
hags.  They  should  use  hampers. 
The  old  storj  of  poor  distribution  comes  from  Ger¬ 
many — saurkraut  very  high  in  price  in  town,  yet  cab¬ 
bage  mtting  in  distant  fields.  The  railroads  are  busy 
with  war  business. 
A  start  with  improved  poultry  may  be  made  by 
selecting  a  dozen  or  so  of  the  finest  hens,  putting  by 
themselves  and  buying  the  best  cockerel  you  can  afford 
of  the  desired  breed.  Use  eggs  from  this  pen  for 
hatching. 
