560 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
THE  BUSINESS  FARMER'S  PAPER 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  and  Suburban  Home* 
B$t6.blWied  fH50 
Publishe  d  uookly  by  U»e  Rural  Puliliftiln?  Cum  jinny,  833  W*st  30lh  Strict,  New  York 
Hi:u!u:kt  AV.  Colungwooii,  President  an<1  Editor. 
John  J.  Dili/)!?,  Trtjausdrttr  ami  Gmutm.l  Manager. 
Wm,  F.  Dillon,  Secretary.  NIrs,  E.  T.  Rotle,  Associate  Editor. 
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Advertising  rates,  7o  cents  per  ajrate  line— 7  words.  References  required  for 
advertisers  unknown  to  us  ;  and  cash  must  accompany  transient  orders. 
"A  SQUARE  DEAL” 
We  believe  that  every  advertisement  in  this  paper  is  hacked  hy  a  respon¬ 
sible  person.  We  use  every  possible  pn  e.mtion  ami  admit  the  Advertising  of 
ri  liable  houses  only.  Hut  to  make  doubly  sure,  we  will  make  pood  any  loss 
to  i said  subscribers  sustained  by  trusting  any  deliberate  swindler,  irrespon¬ 
sible  advertisers  or  misleading  advertisements  in  our  columns,  and  any 
Mich  swindler  will  be  publicly  exposed.  We  are  also  often  called  upon 
to  adjust  riitferenees  or  mistakes  between  our  subscriber  and  honest, 
responsible  tiousea.  whether  advertisers  or  not.  We  wlllfnply  use  our  pood 
office*  to  this  end,  but  such  cases  should  not  he  confin  ed  with  dishonest 
transact  tons.  We  protect  subscribers  against  rogues,  but  we  will  not  be 
lisp.iiKlble  for  t be  debts  of  honest  bankrupts  sanctioned  l.r  the  courts. 
Notice  of  the  complaint  must  l,e  sent  to  us  within  one  month  ot  the  time  of 
the  l  ransiietinn,  and  to  identify  it.  you  should  mention  Till:  UuiiAt.  Nisw- 
YoJiEF.lt  when  writing  the  advertiser. 
GOV.  PI  HUPP  of  Wisconsin  has  issued  a  corn 
proclamation.  Never  before  in  Wisconsin's  his¬ 
tory  lias  there  been  such  a  shortage  of  seed  corn  as 
this  year.  The  vitality  of  seed  corn  is  so  poor  that 
testing  is  absolutely  necessary  if  there  is  to  be  even 
a  fair  stand.  And  so  Gov.  Pliilipp  proclaims  the 
week  from  March  27  to  April  1  as  seed  corn  week. 
1  luring  this  period  he  urges  every  farmer  thoroughly 
to  test  each  ear  of  his  seed  corn  and  discard  all 
ears  not  showing  high  germination.  Tt  is  a  serious 
situation — as  had  as  the  opening  of  a  war  campaign 
with  a  knowledge  that  most  of  the  powder  will  not 
explode.  We  would  all  better  observe  “seed  corn 
week  I” 
* 
THERE  are  two  hills  before  the  New  York  Legis¬ 
lature  which  make  changes  in  the  game  laws. 
One  changes  the  open  season  for  pheasants  to  the 
first  three  Thursdays  in  November.  At  this  season 
stock  and  workmen  are  to  a  large  extent  out  of  the 
fields — thus  giving,  less  danger  from  injury.  The 
other  prohibits  hunting  within  200  feet  of  a  farm 
building  or  shooting  within  500  feet  of  buildings  or 
highway.  This  will  be  called  a  very  mild  form  of 
prohibition  to  one  who  has  been  obliged  to  pick  shot 
out  of  his  body  or  see  his  stock  maimed  or  killed, 
but  we  should  all  get  behind  these  bills  and  help  put 
them  through.  There  is  now  an  organized  move¬ 
ment  to  protect  farmers’  rights  in  these  game  laws. 
It,  is  backed  by  the  State  Grange,  Horticultural  So¬ 
ciety  and  many  other  organizations.  James  G. 
Greene  of  Rochester  is  in  charge  of  this  legislation, 
and  he  will  need  all  the  help  he  can  get.  Most 
of  all  he  wants  truthful  reports  of  cases  where 
farmers  have  suffered  injury  or  annoyance  from 
hunters.  If  any  reader  can  furnish  such  reports  we 
hope  they  will  write  Mr.  Greene  at  once. 
u- 
T 
ALFALFA  MEAL!  There  is  a  demand  for  in¬ 
formation  about  crushed  or  ground  Alfalfa  for 
feeding.  It  seems  that  a  good  share  of  some  of  the 
mixed  feeds  on  the  market  is  made  up  of  Alfalfa 
hay  chopped  and  crushed  about  as  fine  as  wheat 
bran.  It  gives  a  green  tinge  to  the  feed  and  is  rel¬ 
ished  by  stock.  The  strange  thing  about  it  is  that 
some  farmers  who  grow  Alfalfa  are  actually  buying 
this  meal  to  feed  with  the  hay!  Experiments  show 
that  the  crushed  Alfalfa  is  a  better  feed  than  the 
coarse  hay.  It  appears  to  he  somewhat  more  di¬ 
gestible  and  makes  a  good  feed  for  scattering  over 
the  mess  of  silage.  Many  of  our  readers  ask  about 
Alfalfa  mills.  Some  of  these  are  in  use  in  the  West 
and  do  good  service.  They  require  more  power  than 
grain  mills,  and  only  the  best  of  hay  should  he  used 
in  making  commercial  meal.  For  home  feeding  or 
local  sale  there  is  an  attachment  to  a  fodder  cut¬ 
ter  which  will  crush  or  grind  the  chopped  hay  about 
as  fine  as  bran — with  moderate  power.  Wo  think 
the  time  is  coming  when  most  Alfalfa  hay  will  be 
crushed  before  feeding. 
* 
TIIE  catalogue  of  a  certain  nursery  firm  prints 
this:  “ Our  guarantee .”  “Every  order  is  ac¬ 
cepted  by  us  with  the  understanding  that  if  the 
stock  we  send  is  not  found  satisfactory  in  every  re¬ 
spect  and  up  to  size  and  quality  represented  in  this 
catalogue,  we  will  refund  your  money,  providing  you 
notify  us  five  days  after  receipt  of  order.  You  can 
readily  see  that  we  could  not  afford  to  make  this 
guarantee  unless  we  were  sure  of  pleasing  you.” 
This  firm  offers  trees  at  very  low  prices,  aud  every 
one  dealing  with  them  should  remember  that  there 
will  be  uo  redress  if  the  plants  purchased  do  not 
prove  true  to  name.  It  is  obviously  impossible  to 
know  within  five  days  whether  the  proper  varieties 
have  been  sent,  or  not.  The  guarantee  simply  gives 
you  a  chance  to  refuse  the  trees  if  they  are  under¬ 
sized.  full  of  crown-gall,  affected  with  scale  or  evi¬ 
Uhe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
dently  unsatisfactory.  If,  when  they  come  into 
fruit,  they  proved  to  be  “misfits,”  you  would  have 
no  redress — under  this  guarantee. 
* 
I  am  sending  you  a  clipping  from  a  poultry  paper 
that  I  received  today.  Would  like  to  have  you  toll  me 
what  vou  think  of  it.  Is  C.  J.  Bour  crazy,  or  is  it  the 
R.  I.  Red  hen?  H.  I.  BURBANK. 
IT  is  The  Poultry  Keeper,  a  paper  that  ought  to 
know  better  than  to  print  such  stuff.  The  ar¬ 
ticle  is  signed  by  one  0.  J.  Bour  with  full  street  and 
town  address  given.  It  tells  of  a  R.  I.  Red  hen 
that  laid  40  eggs  in  21  consecutive  days!  This  won¬ 
derful  bird  laid  four  eggs  in  one  day !  We  have 
seen  the  same  thing  appearing  in  other  papers  and 
conclude  that  it  is  some  new  form  of  concealed  ad¬ 
vertising  paid  for  and  yet  masquerading  as  a  true 
poultry  article.  The  address  is  given  in  full.  Why? 
Because  this  man  evidently  wants  to  gel  a  long  list 
of  names  of  suckers  for  some  purpose  of  his  own. 
He  knows  enough  of  human  nature  to  realize  that 
Ibis  fool  story  of  a  hen  laying  four  eggs  in  one  day 
will  lead  hundreds  of  weak-minded  people  to  write 
and  ask* about  it.  Then  he  can  work  the  scheme  he 
has  back  of  this.  It  is  a  new  game,  and  The  Poultry 
Keeper  ought  to  lie  ashamed  of  itself  to  help  pro¬ 
mote  such  a  thing.  If  there  is  anj  man  on  its  staff 
who  ever  kept  a  hen  he  must  know  the  character  of 
such  an  article  and  the  infernal  folly  of  printing 
such  stuff.  If,  as  we  believe,  these  papers  are  ac¬ 
cepting  payment  for  this  article  they  are  clearly 
guilty  of  violating  the  postal  laws.  See.  443  reads: 
2.  All  editorials  or  other  reading  matter  published  in 
any  such  newspaper,  magazine,  or  periodical  for  the 
publication  of  which  money  Or  other  valuable  consid¬ 
eration  is  paid,  accepted,  or  promised  shall  be  plainly 
marked  “advertisement.”  Any  editor  or  publisher 
printing  editorial  or  other  reading  matter  for  which 
compensation  is  paid,  accepted,  or  promised  without  so 
marking  the  same,  shall  upon  conviction  in  any  court 
having  jurisdiction,  be  fined  not  less  than  fifty  dollars 
($50)  nor  more  than  five  hundred  dollars  ($500). 
( Act  of  August  24,  1012. ) 
* 
We  Tell  You  So  Now! 
T  told  you  so. r’  is  usually  the-birgest  asset  of  a 
political  party  trying  to  obtain  office  and  pow¬ 
er.  It  is  easy  to  wait  until  mistakes  of  public  policy 
have  been  made,  and  then  blame  the  party  which 
made  them.  We  all  understand  that  most  political 
changes  are  made  by  reason  of  this  argument.  The 
trouble  usual ly  is  that  public  men  lack  the  courage 
to  look  ahead  at  the  beginning  and  tell  the  people 
not  “I  told  you  so,”  but  “7  tell  you  so  note  /”  No 
farmer  in  New  York  State  will  ever  be  able  to  say 
in  the  future  that  he  was  not  told  just  what  the 
principle  which  is  represented  by  the  Foods  and 
Markets  Department  stands  for  right  now.  For  many 
years  we  have  all  talked  and  gone  on  record  in  favor 
of  improved  marketing.  Year  by  year  this  feeling 
developed  until  it  formed  into  a  definite  demand  for 
:i  State  Department  of  Foods  and  Markets.  If  any¬ 
one  be  disposed  to  deny  this,  let.  him  name  any  other 
department  or  bureau  or  institution  which  stands  as 
a  plain,  concrete  expression  of  farmers’  desire  for 
marketing  reform.  No  institution  in  New  York 
State  lias  such  a  genuine  and  enthusiastic  backing 
from  the  plain,  working,  intelligent  farmers  of  New 
York.  Unlike  other  institutions  this  Department 
has  no  organized  machine  of  officials  or  interested 
friends  to  promote  its  interests.  It  has.  however,  as 
one  well-known  man  puts  it,  “the  greatest  unorgan¬ 
ized  crowd  of  farmers  back  of  it  that  ever  was  gath¬ 
ered  in  New  York  State.”  We  also  add,  and  with 
some  pride,  that  no  other  agricultural  institution  in 
the  State  has  ever  been  so  bated  and  so  bitterly 
assailed  by  the  interests  which  have  for  years  fat¬ 
tened  upon  the  farmers. 
Now  we  call  the  attention  of  Gov.  Charles  S. 
Whitman  and  the  leaders  in  the  New  York  Legisla¬ 
ture  to  these  facts.  They  have  read  history,  and 
they  know  that  a  mob  or  “an  unorganized  crowd”  is 
the  only  thing  to  be  feared  in  political  parties.  The 
Agricultural  Department,  Cornell  University,  and 
similar  institutions,  may  be  unjustly  deprived  of 
funds,  but  this  will  not  mean  revolution.  These  in¬ 
stitutions  must  play  politics,  and  their  managers 
will  always  “be  good,”  for  they  know  they  must 
wait.  The  very  lack  of  cohesive  power  in  "an  un¬ 
organized  crowd”  constitutes  the  danger  to  political 
parties  when  that  crowd  is  denied  what  it  considers 
justice.  The  Department,  of  Foods  and  Markets  has 
this  vital  element  of  public  sentiment  back  of  it. 
Let  us  now  give  Gov.  Whitman  and  the  leaders  of 
his  party,  plain,  cold,  solemn,  warning  that  unless 
they  give  this  Department  a  fair  chance  they  will 
have  this  public  sentiment  against  them  this  Fall. 
They  know  better  than  anyone  else  what  this  will 
mean  in  addition  to  the  burdens  they  already  must 
carry.  A  good  many  of  these  political  leaders  can 
tell  the  Governor  what  soil:  of  a  campaign  the  farm¬ 
ers  are  capable  of  making  with  The  R.  N.-Y. 
April  1,  1916. 
Our  readers  know  just  where  we  stand  on  this 
matter,  and  our  motive  in  lighting  for  the  Depart¬ 
ment.  We  tell  them  as  solemnly  as  we  do  the 
Governor  and  political  leaders  that  if  this  Depart¬ 
ment  is  killed  off  or  chloroformed  we  shall  lose  much 
of  the  results  of  20  years  of  hard  work.  Such  a 
policy  would  play  right  into  the  hands  of  the  trans¬ 
portation  and  handling  interests  and,  in  the  end,  cut 
five  cents  more  out  of  the  35-cent  dollar.  We  tell 
you  this  openly  and  in  such  a  way  that  you  cannot 
now  escape  the  truth.  We  must  all  at  times  stand 
up  and  take  public  responsibilities.  This  question 
brings  one  of  them.  You  have  the  chance  to  save 
this  Department  and  make  it  fully  useful,  or  you 
may  stand  by  and  let  it  be  crippled.  In  order  to 
save  it  you  must  make  the  following  named  men 
understand  that  you  want  the  Foods  and  Markets 
Department  provided  with  a  fair  appropriation: 
Hon.  Charles  s.  Whitman,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Hon.  Henry  M.  Sage,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Hon.  Wm.  J.  Maier,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Tell  them  in  your  own  words  just  what  you  want. 
Do  tills  at.  once,  for  the  Legislature  is  drawing  to  an 
end.  Do  not  let  prejudice,  or  personalities  or  any 
other  narrow  spirit  influence  you  in  this  matter. 
You  must  act  one  way  or  the  other  for  a  great  prin¬ 
ciple  which  involves  the  market  rights  of  farmers. 
You  can  save  this  Department  and  make  it  serve 
you  or  you  can  let  it  be  killed.  It  is  all  up  to  you — 
with  a  stroke  of  the  pen.  Mr.  Ellenbogen,  an  As¬ 
semblyman  from  New  York  City,  has  introduced  a 
bill  to  abolish  (be  Department.  It  was  done  at  the 
request  of  dealers  and  commission  men  here.  This 
brings  the  issue  squarely  between  the  handlers  and 
Ihe  farmers,  aud  is  the  crowning  argument  to  prove 
that  you  should  fight  for  the  Department.  The 
dealers  will  spend  thousands  of  dollars  in  an  effort 
to  carry  out  their  scheme.  They  never  would  spend 
five  cents  unless  they  knew  that  the  continuation 
of  this  Department  means  marketing  reform.  "Up 
and  at  them!"’ 
* 
LET  farmers  read  that  experience  of  Mr.  Wallis. 
on  page  548  and  beware  of  checks  from  strang¬ 
ers  or  suspicious  characters.  No  doubt  farmers  take 
many  risks  with  such  checks.  We  have  known 
some  who  accepted  payment  for  goods  in  such  paper 
and  then  held  the  checks  for  months  before  trying 
to  cash  them.  The  check  issued  by  an  honorable 
man  is  as  good  as  cash,  while  a  dishonest  rascal 
may  simply  disfigure  pretty  paper  by  writing  bis 
name  on  it.  A  “certified”  check  is  endorsed  by  the 
bank,  but  unless  you  know  your  man  thoroughly 
call  for  the  cash. 
* 
NO  doubt  you  and  others  have  wondered  what 
will  happen  when  the  present  oil  supplies  are 
exhausted.  There  need  be  little  worry,  for  Nature 
has  safely  tucked  away  in  odd  and  safe  places,  un¬ 
ending  supplies  of  power  and  fuel.  The  U.  S.  Geo¬ 
logical  Survey  finds  in  Colorado,  Utah  and  Wyom¬ 
ing  immense  beds  of  shale  rock  from  which  oil  and 
gasoline  may  be  distilled.  This  oil  is  similar  to  that 
which  is  produced  from  wells.  Perhaps  man  has 
learned  to  do  in  a  day  what  Nature  did  through 
countless  ages  in  concentrating  the  oil  from  this 
rock.  In  addition  to  the  oil,  fuel  gas  and  ammonia 
may  he  produced  from  this  shale.  In  Colorado  alone 
there  is  enough  of  this  rock  to  produce  20.000,000.- 
000  barrels  of  oil,  or  80  times  our  present  annual 
product.  This  is  hut  a  fraction  of  the  oil  held  in 
reserve  in  these  western  mountains.  The  streams 
which  tumble  down  the  hills  carry  unthinkable 
power.  Phosphates  to  last  thousands  of  years  are 
tucked  away  in  the  soil.  Potash  in  seaweed  and  in 
soil  deposits  will  some  day  be  utilized,  while  nitrogen 
will  he  taken  from  the  air  hy  the  legume  crops  or  by 
electricity.  The  marvels  which  the  future  holds  in 
material  things  have  hardly  begun  to  be  recognized. 
It  is  to  be  a  great  world  for  the  coming  man  if  he 
lie  man  enough  to  remember  the  real  end  and  aim 
of  life. 
Brevities 
Missouri  gives  certificates  to  qualified  corn  judges. 
The  object  is  to  devise  a  definite  standard  for  corn  and 
have  ail  judging  conform  to  it. 
Now  we  have  “adulterated”  eggs.  Shipments  con¬ 
taining  more  than  five  per  cent,  of  had  eggs  arc  legally 
“adulterated.” 
At  the  North  Dakota  Station  chopped  liver  from  tu¬ 
berculous  chicken  was  fed  to  sparrows.  They  all  finally 
died  of  tuberculosis. 
The  first  report  of  a  cash  price  for  corn  silage  comes 
from  Niagara  <"o.,  N.  Y.  At  an  auction  $3  per  ton 
was  bid  for  such  silage. 
The  chemists  have  found  two  kinds  of  valuable  oil 
in  cherry  pits,  while  the  meats  after  the  oil  is  taken 
out  will  make  stock  food.  This  will  make  a  future  bus¬ 
iness  for  canneries. 
