482 
She  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
TIfK  BVS1XESS  FARMER'S  TAPER 
A  'National  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  and  Suburban  Homes 
Established  WO 
PubllsIiMl  weekly  by  (In*  Korol  1‘nblUhTne  I  ompnny.  Httit  West  80<h Street. New  York 
1 1  rrbkkt  W.  Cot.UNGwoni),  l’l'cfddont  and  Editor. 
John  .1.  Ilii.t.o.v,  Treasurer  ami  General  .Manager. 
Wu.  F.  Dit.i.o.n,  Seci’etary.  Mas.  K.  T.  Uovi.k,  Associate  Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION:  ONE  DOLLAR  A  YEAR 
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advertisers  unknown  to  us  ,  and  cash  must  aetonijiany  transient  orders. 
••  A  SQUARE  DEAL" 
We  believe  that  nvery  advertisement  in  this  paper  is  back'  d  by  a  respon¬ 
sible  person.  We  use  every  possible  precaution  and  admit  the  advertising  of 
reliable  houses  only.  But  to  make  doubly  sure  »-c  will  make  good  any  loss 
to  paid  subscribers  :  uslaim>d  by  ( rusting  any  deliberate  swindler,  irrespon¬ 
sible  adverlf  i  t:<  or  misleading  ndverliseitiefits  in  our  column*,  and  any 
such  swindler  will  tat  publicly  exposed.  Wo  are  also  often  called  upon 
to  adjust  d itf crcuces  or  mistake's  between  our  subscriber*  arid  honest, 
responsible  houses,  whether  advertisers  or  not,  Wt*  willingly  use  our  good 
ofliees  to  this  end,  but  mich  eases  should  n<d  be  confused  with  dishonest 
traasiiciiom.  We  protect  subscribers  against  rogues,  hut  we  w  ill  not  he 
responsible  for  the  debts  of  honest  bankrupts  sanctioned  l>\  the  courts. 
Notice  of  the  complaint  must  be  sen!  to  ns  within  one  mouth  of  the  time  or 
the  transaction,  and  to  identify  It.  you  should  mention  Tine  Kt:i..ib  Nf.w- 
Younnii  when  writing  the  advertiser. 
THE  twenty-second  annual  meeting  of  the  Massa¬ 
chusetts  Fruit  Growers'  Association  was  held 
in  Boston,  Jan.  20  22ml.  It  was  a  good  meeting, 
very  full  and  complete.  On  February  23rd  we  re¬ 
ceived  a  full  printed  and  hound  report  of  this  meet¬ 
ing.  It  was  a  volume  of  nearly  250  pages  neatly  and 
accurately  put  together.  Jf  this  is  not  the  record 
in  printing  and  distributing  the  report  of  such  a 
meeting  we  would  lil<e  to  know  where  to  go  to  find 
a  better  one.  Some  of  these  reports  are  delayed  for 
a  long  time,  and  when  they  do  come  out  are  dis¬ 
tributed  during  a  busy  season  when  farmers  cannot 
study  them  to  advantage.  These  Massachusetts 
men  certainly  lost  no  time,  and  we  think  they  hold 
the  record  for  sliced. 
* 
THERE  are  hundreds  of  localities  in  this  coun¬ 
try  where  the  farmers  are  discontented  and 
unprosperous.  A  good  lime  crusher  and  a  high-class 
purebred  hull  would  start  such  communities  on  the 
up-grade.  "Why  such  a  combination?  It  represents 
Alfalfa  and  the  means  of  getting  the  most  value  out 
of  it.  In  such  places  there  are  deposits  of  lime¬ 
stone  but  not  enough  fuel  to  burn  it  economically. 
Freight  rates  from  the  distant  lime  quarries  are  too 
high  for  economical  use.  The  lime  crusher  going 
right  to  the  local  lime  ledges  would  put  cheap  lime 
on  every  farm  within  hauling  distance.  That  would 
mean  more  and  more  Alfalfa.  You  cannot  name  a 
community  wherein  Alfalfa  grows  freely  and  thick¬ 
ly  which  is  not  prosperous.  The  purebred  hull  of 
high  class  would  serve  as  partner  to  the  lime  crush¬ 
er,  since  his  daughters  and  granddaughters  would 
take  the  fat  and  muscle-makers  out  of  the  Alfalfa 
and  pack  them  away  into  milk  and  butter. 
* 
HEBE  is  a  true  incident  which  will  show  some 
of  the  things  which  happen  among  our  read¬ 
ers.  Last  Fall  we  received  a  question  regarding  a 
horse  that  had  some  trouble  which  the  owner  want¬ 
ed  to  treat.  Tt  turned  out  to  be  a  permanent  trou¬ 
ble  which  came  on  from  time  to  time,  hut  which 
could  he  treated  so  as  to  hide  the  evidence  of  it. 
Dr.  Alexander  prescribed,  hut  stated  plainly  that 
the  trouble  could  not  be  entirely  cured.  A  copy  of 
the  reply  was  sent  by  mail,  as  is  our  usual  custom, 
but  (he  paper  was  so  crowded  with  other  matter 
that  it  did  not  appear  in  print  until  latei\  Short¬ 
ly  after  it  was  printed  we  received  a  letter  from 
a  party  who  said  that  he  was  thinking  of  buying  a 
horse,  hut  of  course  he  wanted  to  make  sure  that 
the  horse  was  just  right,  before  he  purchased.  lie 
seemed  to  have  been  told  that  this  horse  was  sound 
and  that  there  was  practically  nothing  the  matter 
with  him.  lie  was  apparently  a  little  suspicions, 
however,  and  on  reading  the  brief  treatment  pre¬ 
scribed  in  Tub  B.  N.-Y.  he  immediately  concluded 
that  he  would  find  out  if  this  was  the  same  horse, 
so  he  wrote  to  learn  about  it.  It  turned  out  to  be 
the  same  animal,  lint  apparently  the  treatment  was 
very  effective  in  hiding  the  evidence  of  this  perman¬ 
ent  trouble.  It  was  only  by  chance  reading,-  how¬ 
ever,  that  the  purchaser  of  the  horse  had  his  sus¬ 
picion  aroused. 
* 
IN  its  issue  for  March  4  The  American  Agricul- 
iurist  gives  what  it  calls  “Making  The  Record 
Bight.”  Our  neighbor  admits  that  we  were  right 
in  (lie  three  propositions  put  up  on  page  291.  Tie 
does  this  with  a  wry  face  and  no  evidence  of  hap¬ 
piness — as  one  would  expect.  It  would  lie  easy  to 
riddle  this  statement,  but  our  neighbor  has  had 
more  than  enough,  and  it  seems  to  us  desirable  to 
close  the  incident.  Let  ns,  however,  make  one  point 
about  this  clear.  We  do  not  like  personal  controver¬ 
sies  and  will  never  enter  them  unless  in  some  way 
the  rights  and  reputation  of  farmers  or  country  peo¬ 
ple  are  involved.  We  care  very  little  about  personal 
abuse,  for  we  have  been  called  about  every  hard 
name  in  several  languages.  Every  newspaper  man, 
office  holder  or  anyone  in  public  life  must  expect 
more  or  less  abuse  of  this  sort.  Tt  is  a  part  of  the 
system  which  has  developed  in  American  public  life 
to  heap  abuse  upon  anyone  who  has  the  courage  to 
think  nut  loud,  or  to  get  away  from  the  old  "stand- 
pat”  hidebound  way  of  doing  things  which  the  dom¬ 
inating  influences  in  this  country  found  safest  for 
their  work.  As  we  do  not  pretend  to  follow  the 
timeworn  custom  of  doing  what  the  politicians  and 
their  hackers  demand,  we  get  our  full  share  of 
abuse.  We  will  take  our  share  of  this  medicine 
with  good  nerve  and  good  nature.  We  will  not 
whine,  or  whimper  over  it,  because  tomorrow  will 
always  bring  a  better  clay  if  we  keep  on  thinking 
so.  When,  however,  as  was  the  ease  in  the  contro¬ 
versy  just  ended,  personal  abuse  is,  as  we  believed, 
coupled  with  an  attack  upon  the  rights  and  desires 
of  farmers  we  get  busy.  When  such  a  thing  happens 
we  intend  to  get  right  into  the  ring  without  wait¬ 
ing  for  any  introduction  or  ceremony  or  science. 
Tt  will  not  lie  any  nice  game  of  tag  or  any  gentle 
basketball  game  with  words,  lint  it  will  be  a  fight 
with  all  the  punch  and  power  we  can  put  into  it. 
* 
AT  the  recent  meeting  of  the  New  Jersey  State 
Board  of  Agriculture  the  following  resolutions 
were  adopted : 
Whereas,  wp  believe  upon  reliable  evidence  fur¬ 
nished,  that  the  New  York  Commission  of  Foods  and 
Markets  is  doing  a  necessary  and  commendable  work 
i.n  bringing  the  producer  and  the  consumer  closer  to¬ 
gether,  by  which  means  the  producer  receives  more  for 
bis  products  while  the  consumer  pays  less  for  his  neces¬ 
saries,  therefore  he  it 
Bksolveii.  by  the  New  Jersey  State  Board  of  Agri¬ 
culture,  this  fourth  day  of  February.  1919.  that  we 
heartily  endorse  the  work  of  that  Commission,  and 
commend  its  methods  of  distribution  to  the  careful  con¬ 
sideration  of  the  farmers  of  New  Jersey. 
The  farmers  of  New  Jersey  have  followed  the 
work  of  the  Foods  and  Markets  Department  with 
great  interest.  Located  close  to  this  great  market 
they  understand  the  absolute  need  of  reform  in  the 
present  system  of  handling  produce.  The  Jersey- 
man  knows  all  the  tricks  of  the  commission  trade 
because  they  have  been  put  over  him  so  often  that 
they  have  rubbed  him  sore.  If  the  farmers  in  the 
New  York  rural  counties  could  know  what  these 
Jersey  farmers  do  about  market  conditions  there 
would  he  such  an  uprising  in  defense  of  the  new 
Department  that  Albany  would  forget  everything 
else  in  its  haste  to  satisfy  the  farmers.  Those  who 
are  nearest  the  battle  line  know  most  about  ihe 
lighting  and  also  what  war  needs.  Those  Jersey 
fanners  cannot  influence  Gov.  Whitman  and  the 
New  York  Legislature  directly  yet,  but  their  testi¬ 
mony  is  stronger  than  any  other  because  they  have 
only  to  cross  the  river  to  get  right  into  the  nest 
of  hawks  that  is  trying  to  tear  up  the  one  game 
rooster  which  is  fighting  for  the  farmers.  Our 
readers  will  hear  us  out  in  saying  that  we  have 
never  yet  asked  them  to  use  their  influence  to  help 
any  trifling  or  unworthy  cause.  We  know  well 
enough  that  if  farmers  go  chasing  after  everything 
they  will  get  nothing.  It  is  a  favorite  trick  of  the 
politicians  to  work  up  scarecrow  issues  and  hollow 
questions  and  then  induce  farmers  to  waste  their 
political  strength  over  them.  Our  advice  is  to 
concentrate  power  and  influence  upon  a  few  vital 
and  living  questions  and  hit  them  hard.  We  recog¬ 
nize  one  of  these  vital  questions  in  this  battle  for 
the  Foods  and  Markets  Department.  There  is 
nothing  larger  before  our  New  York  farmers  to¬ 
day.  We  shall  prove  that  fully  during  the  next 
few  weeks,  and  we  now  ask  you  earnestly  and 
sincerely  to  write  at  once  to  Gov.  Charles  S.  Whit¬ 
man  and  to  your  Senator  and  Bepresentative  at 
Albany  telling  them  that  this  Department  must 
have  a  fair  chance. 
* 
HEBE  is  a  letter  which  seems  very  appropriate 
for  this  special  Woman  and  Home  Number: 
Tn  an  unguarded  moment  T  yielded  to  a  solicitor 
and  gave  him  the  money  for  a  trial  trip  of  your  paper, 
mid  now  1  am  in  a  terrible  fix.  Your  paper  has  got 
my  wife  so  interested  in  fanning  that  I  may  have  to 
leave  the  building  business  and  go  to  the  country  and 
buy  a  farm.  However,  I  have  decided  that  I  will  send 
a  dollar  for  a  year’s  subscription  in  hopes  thereby  to 
make  my  home  in  the  city  so  “rural”  that  my  wife 
w  ill  not  leave  me  to  go  on  a  farm.  L.  s. 
Maine. 
Terrible  fix!  Why?  Many  a  man  is  going  though 
life  with  something  of  a  shadow  over  him  because 
the  wife  and  daughters  do  not  like  the  country. 
All  know  how  we  stand  on  Ihe  back-to-the-land 
proposition,  yet  we  know  there  are  men  who  would 
he  belter  citizens  and  better  men  if  they  could  take 
an  interest  in  farm  life  and  feel  that  the  wife 
would  share  it  with  them  in  ease  of  misfortune. 
Women  are  sensible  when  it  comes  to  providing 
March  18,  1916. 
for  or  defending  the  home — for  that  is,  after  all, 
their  life  and  their  workshop.  Every  woman  with 
the  picture  of  a  farm  in  her  heart  will  he  a  better 
wife  and  mother.  The  women  are  taking  these 
things  up  now  as  never  before.  There  are  some 
30,000  women  who  subscribe  for  The  B.  N.-Y.  in 
their  own  names  besides  thousands  more  who  in¬ 
fluence  the  family  subscription. 
* 
ANEW  fight  on  parcel  post  lias  been  started  in 
Congress.  The  plan  now  is  to  limit  the  weight 
of  packages  which  can  be  mailed  to  50  pounds.  As 
it  is.  the  Postmaster  General  lias  discretion  in  the 
matter  and  may  fix  the  weight  of  parcel  post  pack¬ 
ages  with  the  advice  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission.  It  is  easy  to  see  what  this  little  game 
means.  The  express  companies  are  back  of  it  in 
an  effort  to  kill  off  any  real  growth  in  the  system. 
What  they  want  to  do  is  to  limit  the  weight  of  pack¬ 
ages  and  then  obtain  a  Postmaster  General  who  will 
have  the  right  sort  of  “discretion.”  You  should  get 
right  after  your  Congressman  and  tell  him  you 
want  this  weight  limit  left  open. 
* 
PBOF.  FIPPIN'S  article  on  page  4G3  shows  how 
scientific  investigation,  follows  up  and  proves 
practice.  A  good  many  years  ago  we  advocated 
“chemicals  and  clover” — that  is  the  plan  of  plowing 
under  sod  and  green  crops  without  feeding  to  stock 
and  using  chemicals  in  connection.  The  live  stock 
men  were  up  in  arms  about  this,  because  it  was  an 
accepted  and  at  that  time  undenied  doctrine  that 
it  is  necessary  to  keep  live  stock  in  order  to  keep 
up  the  fertility  of  the  soil.  Science,  in  her  slow 
deliberate  way.  has.  now  demonstrated  what  Prof. 
Fippin  points  out,  that  it  is  often  profitable  to  plow 
under  a  green  crop  even  when  it  might  he  cut  and 
fed  to  stock. 
* 
IT  had  to  come !  The  scrap  over  Tom  Barron’s 
Leghorns.  All  solid  progress  has  its  foundations 
in  “scraps,”  for  in  no  other  way  can  the  truth  lie 
brought  out  We  have  selected  the  letter  from  Mr. 
Michaud,  out  of  many  others,  as  a  fair  statement  of 
the  ease  against  the  Barron  Leghorns,  and  evidently 
Mr.  Cosgrove  is  the  man  to  reply.  They  get  together 
on  page  500.  We  do  not  intend  to  prolong  the  dis¬ 
cussion.  The  essential  facts  are  given  in  this 
“scrap.’’  The  B.  N.-Y.  is  under  no  obligation  to 
Tom  Barron  or  any  cither  Leghorn  breeder.  We 
shall  see  that  they  all  get  a  square  deal  and  lot  it 
go  at  that.  We  have  had  our  differences  with  the 
fanciers,  and  very  likely  will  have  more  of  them  in 
the  future,  but  we  recognize  the  essential  principle 
they  are  working  for  and  respect  them  for  it.  No 
one  has  ever  accused  Tom  Barron  of  faking  or  de¬ 
ceiving  the  public.  While  his  Leghorns  would  un¬ 
doubtedly  be  disqualified  in  the  show  ring  it  must 
he  admitted  that  they  beat  the  world  for  laying 
eggs.  Now  and  then  some  fancier  starts  up  to  offer 
$1000  or  more  that  his  hens  can  heat  anything  on 
earth.  Such  men  can  always  he  accommodated  at 
one  of  the  egg-laying  contests,  hut  they  never  get 
in.  As  for  the  value  of  show-room  records  one  of 
our  readers  tells  the  following  story  of  one  very 
prominent  breeder : 
The  Leghorn  which  is  valuable  as  a  breeder  carries 
its  tail  too  high  for  the  show  room.  ITow  about  the 
show  bi.rds  themselves?  A  friend  paid  a  prominent 
breeder  $35  for  a  cockerel  to  win  at  a  big  show.  Bird 
was  shipped  two  weeks  before  show,  owing  to  error; 
was  a  fine  specimen,  and  would  have  been  placed  no 
doubt — if — starch  had  not  come  out  of  tail  feathers, 
which  went  up  to  a  squirrel  tail  within  a  week. 
We  are  not  Leghorn  cranks  or  experts  but  if  we 
were  to  keeii  the  breed  we  would  prefer  to  have 
“starch”  in  the  pedigrees  of  a  laying  strain  rather 
than  in  the  tail  feathers. 
Brevities 
WnAT  is  the  selling  price  of  corn  silage  in  your 
locality? 
What  is  the  finest  Dahlia  for  garden  decoration  and 
cutting?  In  a  voting  contest  held  last  year  by  the 
Florist*'  Exchange  Geisha,  peony-flowered,  scarlet  and 
gold,  stood  at  the  head  of  the  list. 
There  has  now  been  discovered  a  deposit  of  phos¬ 
phates  in  New  Jersey.  They  are  so  mixed  with  iron 
that  they  may  not  prove  available  for  plant  food,  but 
the  discovery  shows  how  these  pockets  are  tucked 
away  everywhere. 
We  find  many  a  fruit  grower  considering  a  small 
herd  of  dairy  cows  t.o  help  out  with  a  Winter  job. 
Cream  shipping  seems  the  favorite  disposition  of  tins 
product,  but  what  is  the  best  market  for  the  skimmed 
milk?  Tbe  general  answer  is  liens. 
A  RECENT  question  asked  us  how  to  get  rid  of  slugs 
on  a  Boston  fern.  The  answer  seemed  unsatisfactory, 
and  the  inquirer  sent  a  frond  of  the  fern  bearing  those 
“slugs,”  as  the  suggested  treatment  appeared  imprac¬ 
ticable.  The  “slugs”  were  the  common  brown  scale 
of  greenhouse  plants;  no  wonder  different  treatment 
was  desired. 
