664 
T>’he  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
the  nrsixEss  far  Man's  paper 
A  Notional  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  nml  SiiRtirhnn  Uoiix* 
Established  (QSO 
I'nhlWIird  weeVIy  by  the  Knrol  I'llblUhlnp  Tompnoy.  ft-M  H’al  ItOfh  filrcct.  \>h  Vork 
Hewikut  W.  Coi.unqwood.  IVefoiient  find  Editor. 
John  .1.  Oiulon,  Treasurer  ami  Gonomi  Manager. 
Wm.  F.  Dru/j.v.  Seci'ctuiy.  M11S.  E.  T.  R<m,i:.  Associate  Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION  :  ONE  DOLLAR  A  YEAR 
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Advertising  rates.  7f>  eents  per  npntc  line — 7  words.  Iteferenees  requited  for 
advertisers  unknown  tous  ;  ami  cosh  must  aeeomimny  transient  orders. 
“A  SQUARE  PEAL” 
tYe  believe  flint  every  advertisement  in  tins  paper  is  barked  by  a  respon¬ 
sible  person.  We  ore  every  possible  precaution  and  oil  in  It  the  advertising  of 
reliable  houses  only.  Bui  to  make  doubly  sure.  w.  will  make  good  unv  loss 
»  to  paid  subscribers  su-taiiud  by  trusting  nn.v  dellUerute  irwincler.  Irrespon¬ 
sible  ndvertlsers  or  misleading  advertisements  In  our  columns,  and  any 
sueh  swindler  will  be  publicly  exposed.  We  are  also  often  colled  upon 
to  ad  lust  difference*!  or  niixtnlcc*.  between  our  subsenbei  s  nml  iionost. 
responsible  iiouses,  whether  advertiser* nr  not.  We  w  illingly  use  our  good 
offices  to  Hi  is  end,  but  sueh  cases  should  not  be  confused  with  dishonour, 
transactions,  Wo  protect  Subscribers  against  rogues,  but  we  will  not  la, 
responsible  for  the  dolus  of  holiest  bankrupts  sanctioned  by  the  court*. 
Notice  of  the  complaint  must  be  sent  to  us  within  one  month  or  the  time  of 
the  transaction,  and  to  identify  it.  you  .should  mention  Tins  Rnru,  Nkw- 
Yi tiiKEK  w  hen  writing  t  he  advertiser. 
SOMEHOW  many  people  have  gained  the  idea 
that  the  old  pastures  in  New  England  are  well 
suited  to  growing  potatoes.  We  do  not  know  just 
how  this  idea  started.  These  pastures  are  sour  and 
hidebound  with  hut  little  good  grass  left,  yet  there 
are  many  who  believe  the  soil  is  rich  in  potash,  and 
that  this  year  it  will  pay  to  plow  them  and  plant 
potatoes.  So  general  is  this  belief  that  it  becomes 
necessary  to  look  into  it.  and  next  week  Prof.  T7. 
P.  Brooks  of  Massachusetts  will  tell  us  just  what 
there  is  in  it. 
* 
MB.  PROCTOR'S  story  of  his  one-acre  job  for  a 
man  is  no  fairy  tale  or  liack-to-the-lander  bait. 
Near  one  of  our  factory  towns,  where  the  local  de¬ 
mand  is  good,  such  an  acre  well  handled  will  give 
as  large  an  income  as  many  a  50-acre  farm  far  off 
the  railroad.  There  will  finally  he  in  bearing  near- 
ly  200  trees  on  that  acre.  Some  of  those  Yankees 
know  how  to  head  and  trim  them  so  they  will  pro¬ 
duce  on  an  average  $5  to  the  tree,  with  asparagus 
and  small  fruit  besides.  In  addition  a  big  flock  of 
chickens  will  occupy  the  orchard,  getting  part  of 
their  living  and  fertilizing  the  trees.  Mr.  Proctor 
will  follow  this  through  for  us.  and  give  11s  the  fig- 
r.res.  This  is  no  easy  job  for  a  back-to-the-huider, 
but  a  problem  for  the  most  experienced  hand  in  the 
best,  market  location.  No  man  has  yet  determined 
how  much  a  single  acre  of  land  can  be  made  to  pro¬ 
duce.  It  is  a  good  thing  to  make  one  acre  work 
where  two  acres  loafed  before. 
* 
LAST  week  a  farm  woman  asked  about  the  plan 
of  employing  a  community  doctor.  This  is  an 
important  thing  in  many  country  neighborhoods.  A 
certain  number  of  farmers  unite  and  make  a  con¬ 
tract  with  some  good  physician  to  give  them  medi¬ 
cal  treatment  for  a  year  or  more.  A  definite  sum 
of  money  is  agreed  upon  for  the  year's  service  and 
medicines.  This  insures  a  fair  practice  for  ihe  doc¬ 
tor  and  reasonable  rates  for  the  farmers.  Not  only 
this,  hut  under  sueh  a  plan  the  children  and  the  fee¬ 
ble  or  ailing  are  under  regular  supervision,  and  thus 
have  a  far  better  chance  for  health.  In  theory  the 
plan  is  sound,  yet  there  may  he  details  about  it 
which  will  not  work  well  in  practice,  and  we  would 
like  to  know  all  about  it.  The  host  way  to  learn  is 
to  obtain  the  experience  of  those  who  have  tried  the 
plan.  We  do  not  care  for  theories  or  guesses,  but 
.  if  any  of  our  people  have  really  tried  the  plan  we 
shall  he  pleased  to  hear  from  them.  We  would  like 
every  farm  family  to  have  access  to  the  services  of  a 
good  doctor  and  a  trained  nurse. 
* 
THOSE  articles  on  “Beef  Making  in  New  Eng¬ 
land"  have  started  a  great  discussion.  Years 
ago  the  “palefaces"  spread  over  the  hills  and  civil¬ 
ized  the  wilderness.  Of  late  years  the  wilderness 
has  “come  back.”  Now  the  vhitefneed  cattle  are 
working  in  to  give  the  wilderness  another  dose  of 
civilization.  Dairying  on  the  rough  lulls,  with  a 
shortage  of  hired  help,  is  a  precarious  business.  The 
problem  is  to  see  if  beef  stock  can  pay  better  than 
the  dairy  co\v.  The  theory  of  it  seems  sound.  The 
cattle  will  obtain  most  of  their  Summer  food  on 
the  rough  pasture  wrhile  the  level  valleys  can  pro¬ 
duce  corn  and  clover  and  Alfalfa  for  Winter  food. 
The  general  criticism  we  receive  is  not  against  the 
cattle  or  the  plan,  but  of  the  fanner.  It  is  claimed 
that  farmers  will  not  breed  straight — but  first  to  a 
Jersey,  then  to  a  Durham,  then  to  a  Holstein  and 
so  on,  so  that  in  the  end  they  have  a  yard  full  of 
mongrels.  If  they  do  the  same  with  the  beef  cuttle 
there  will  be  no  uniformity  of  the  steers  and  thus 
no  full  price.  If  they  will  breed  straight  to  Here¬ 
ford  or  some  other  beef  breed  and  forget  about 
dairying  they  will  have  a  chance. 
A  NUMBER  of  our  renders  have  sent  us  the  en¬ 
closed  article  from  The  Black  and  While  Jtee- 
ord.  and  asked  us  to  print  i!  with  comments.  One 
man  says,  “It.  should  he  published  until  it  is  read 
by  every  farmer  who  is  knocking  tlie  Department  ol: 
Foods  and  Markets  when  it  is  to  their  best  interests 
to  support  it." 
A  CONTINUOUS  COMBAT 
Every  inch  of  ground  won  by  the  forces  of  right  rep¬ 
resents  .1  struggle  with  the  forces  of  wrong — which 
might  he  well  enough  if  it  were  not  for  the  fact  that  so 
many  people  who  mean  to  he  right  are  lighting  on  the 
side  of  wrong.  So  we  find  good  people  opposing  the 
advance  of  prohibition  on  the  ground  that  public  senti¬ 
ment  is  not.  ready  for  it.  or  because  a  ban  on  liquor- 
selling  constitutes  a  violation  of  personal  liberty.  Good 
people  are  criticising  Thomas  Mott  Osborne  (or  were 
before  In's  recent  vindication  )  because  one  so  energetic 
for  radical  reform  and  so  much  more  devoted  than  his 
fellows  to  the  cause  of  righteousness  is  only  working 
for  effect,  and  ought  to  he  squelched  *  *  *  Thus 
it  happens  that  these  good  men.  instead  of  putting 
shoulder  to  the  wheel  and  helping  along  a  measure  de¬ 
signed  to  accomplish  greater  results  for  the  interests 
they  represent  than  any  other  ever  yet  proposed,  are 
lighting  tooth  and  nail,  on  the  other  side,  to  serure  its 
defeat. 
The  grafters,  the  forces  that  profit  by  the  established 
order  of  things,  always  stand  firm  against  every  inno¬ 
vation  that  makes  for  righteousness  whereby  their  pro- 
tits  may  bo  reduced.  They  organize  the  opposition,  re¬ 
cruiting  their  forces  among  the  unsuspecting  good  folk, 
.innocent  of  evil  intent,  who  are  given  places  in  the 
front  of  tlie  fray  and  are  thus  made  to  bear  the  brunt 
of  the  fighting — believing  they  are  leading  in  a  worthy 
cause  when  in  reality  they  are  merely  pawns  for  the 
hidden  powers  that  be. 
We  omit  the  mimes  of  several  men  mentioned  in 
the  original  article,  who  are  said  to  he  opposed  to 
1  lie  proposed  law  for  pasteurizing  milk,  as  we  de¬ 
sire  to  confine  this  discussion  to  principles — not  to 
details. 
We  cannot  improve  on  that  statement  of  a  great 
truth.  Whenever  a  battle  for  the  rights  of  the  com¬ 
mon  people  is  fought  there  are  several  influential 
classes  who  stand  off  and  criticize  or  help  the  en¬ 
emy.  As  a  rule  they  are  prosperous  people  with 
considerable  power  to  enforce  their  own  rights  in 
the  market.  Possibly  the  proposed  legislation  would 
not  benefit  them  greatly,  so  they  oppose  it — forget¬ 
ting  that  their  very  prosperity  has  laid  an  obliga¬ 
tion  upon  them  to  help  those  who  are  not  so  for- 
tiinate  or  are  less  able  to  protect  themselves.  Per¬ 
haps  men  do  not  approve  of  certain  methods  em¬ 
ployed  in  such  a  battle,  or  then1  may  he  more  selfish 
motives  involved.  It.  is  strange  that  they  cannot  see 
that  in  such  a  contest  there  can  he  no  middle  ground. 
Either  they  favor  direct  marketing  reform  or  they 
are  leagued  with  the  commercial  and  transportation 
interests  which  are  and  have  been  sucking  the  life 
blood  away  from  farming  while  pretending  to  foster 
and  develop  it.  “ Merely  paints  for  the  hidden  pow¬ 
ers  that  he That  puts  it  well,  and  a  little  thought 
will  show  anyone  that  the  statement  is  correct.  The 
vast  majority  of  our  farmers  of  all  classes  are  back 
of  tlie  present  demand  for  marketing  reform,  and 
are  determined  that  the  Department  shall  have  a 
fair  chance.  There  are  some  of  the  men  indicated 
in  this  article,  hut  there  are  not  so  many,  and  we 
are  confident  that  before  long  all  who  are  worth 
while  will  see  just  what  they  are  doing  and  get  on 
the  right  side.  It  will  he  either  that  or  they  will 
he  pushed  to  one  side,  for  a  force  is  developing  in 
this  Slate  which  will  he  irresistible. 
* 
GOVERNOR  JAMES  F.  FIELDER  of  New  Jersey 
has  a  name  which  reminds  one  of  a  farm,  but 
if  there  is  anything  else  about  him  which  shows  any 
use  or  any  respect  for  agriculture  it  has  not  come 
into  evidence.  During  the  recent  session  of  the  New 
Jersey  Legislature  Gov.  Fielder  went  out  of  his 
way  to  veto  the  very  hills  which  New  Jersey  farm¬ 
ers  demanded.  The  most  flagrant  act  of  this  sort 
was  his  veto  of  the  bill  exempting  farmers  from  the 
workingmen’s  compensation  act.  The  present  law 
was  designed  to  give  protection  to  workmen  in  the 
big  factories  or  under  large  contracts.  Under  its 
provisions  an  accident  to  a  couple  of  farm  laborers 
might  min  a  small  farmer  and  take  his  farm  away 
from  him.  In  New  York  exemptions  are  made  for 
farm  and  domestic  labor,  and  rightly  too.  The  New 
Jersey  Legislature  saw  the  injustice  of  this  law  and 
by  a  large  majority  passed  a  bill  which  exempted 
farm  labor.  Gov.  Fielder  sent  this  bill  to  the  State 
Library,  which  is  a  device  in  that  State  for  killing 
a  bill.  A  new  hill  was  at  once  drawn  and  passed 
the  State  Senate  17  to  4  and  the  Assembly  22  to  *4 — 
a  clear  expression  of  the  demand  of  the  people,  and 
particularly  of  the  farmers.  The  Governor  again 
sent  it  to  the  library — too  late  for  the  Legislature  to 
pass  it  over  his  veto.  This  is  hut  one  instance  of 
many — though  the  most  exasperating — of  the  con¬ 
tempt,  if  not  malice,  which  Governor  Fielder  has 
shown  toward  Jersey  agriculture.  Unfortunately 
the  farmers  cannot  get  at  this  despoiler  of  their 
April  22,  1010. 
rights  with  their  votes.  He  is  going  back  into  an 
obscurity  which  will  he  stamped  in  after  him.  If 
ho  could  only  he  Induced  to  come  before  the  people 
asking  for  popular  judgment  he  would  he  cut  worse 
than  any  Jersey  man  who  ever  ran  for  office  in  the 
State.  That  is  one  thing  about  the  Jersey  farmers. 
No  man  fools  them  more  than  once,  and  no  man 
can  he  elected  Governor  of  New  Jersey  who  will 
veto  or  dodge  that  compensation  amendment! 
* 
We  hold,  that,  although  perfectly  legitimate  to  expose 
fraud  wherever  found,  it  is  not  an  editor’s  mission  to 
undertake  determining  the  merits  and  value  of  each 
plant,  machine,  fowl  and  animal  advertised  in  his  paper, 
for  the  reason  that  it,  is  not  only  impractical  but  be¬ 
cause  he  is  not  qualified  to  do  so. 
E  have  that  from  a  man  who  is  selling  a 
rather  high-priced  novelty.  If  an  editor's 
“mission’’  could  he  settled  by  some  of  these  ob¬ 
servers,  it  would  have  just  about  as  much  shape  and 
character  as  a  feather  bed.  The  editor  would  be 
strapped  down  to  it  and  left  to  sleep  or  roar  at  some 
stuffed  lion.  According  to  this  philosophy  an  edi¬ 
tor  should  never  try  to  find  out  whether  a  thing 
offered  for  sale  is  a  fraud  or  a  faithful  friend.  lie 
'I'glit  to  “jolly"  his  readers,  feed  them  pleasant  es¬ 
says  on  “two  blades  of  grass”  and  hold  them  while 
every  man  who  has  something  to  sell  reaches  for 
their  pockets.  That  is  what  would  happen  if  the 
man  who  writes  above  could  determine  the  editor's 
“mission,”  and  carry  it  through  to  a  logical  end. 
We  do  not  pretend  that  we  are  qualified  to  deter¬ 
mine  the  merit  and  value  of  everything  advertised  in 
The  It.  N.-Y.,  hut  we  have  among  our  readers  peo¬ 
ple  who  arc  qualified  for  the  job  and  they  help  us. 
There  seem  to  he  two  theories  of  farm  journalism. 
One  is  to  give  everyone  a  free  hand  to  get  what  fie 
can  away  from  the  farmer.  The  other  is  to  save  the 
farmer  from  fraudulent,  extravagant  or  ill-advised 
payment  of  money.  If  we  are  to  have  any  free-will 
agency  in  determining  our  “mission"  wo  take  the 
latter  course. 
We  have  always  advocated  and  urged  the  pur¬ 
chase  of  improved  and  tested  stock  and  fixtures. 
That  means  a  wise  investment:  it  is  the  only  way 
to  keep  up  with  progress.  On  the  other  hand  we 
have  always  warned  against,  the  indiscriminate  pur¬ 
chase  of  untested  and  high-priced  “novelties."  It. 
is  well  to  try  them  if  you  can  afford  to  do  so,  hut 
to  “plunge”  on  them  and  take  a  chance  on  what  the 
introducer  says  is  a  gamble,  and  we  want  you  to 
understand  that  before  you  invest  heavily.  We  can 
easily  understand  that,  a  dealer  well  stocked  with 
high-priced  articles  and  anxious  to  dispose  of  them 
at  once  will  not  think  well  of  this  conservative  pol¬ 
icy.  In  sueh  cases  our  first  duty  is  to  our  readers, 
and  we  shall  continue  our  plan  of  urging  them  to 
buy  conservatively,  and  not  to  gamble  with  untested 
things  for  the  sake  of  being  first  to  use  them. 
* 
THE  R.  N.-Y.  has  explained  the  cruel  and  crim¬ 
inal  methods  used  by  poultry  dealers  in  feed¬ 
ing  sand  and  gravel  to  chickens  in  order  to  increase 
their  weight.  The  Humane  Society  for  the  Pro¬ 
tection  of  Animals  has  arrested  Edward  Godfrey, 
chicken  feeder  for  ,T.  Ba  IT.  for  practicing 
this  inhuman  treatment.  The  first  of  Buff’s  cars  on 
examination  were  found  all  right,  hut  in  one  of  the 
cars  there  was  a  lot  of  poultry  confined,  several  of 
which  were  found  to  have  overcrowded  crops,  and 
a  few  were  in  a  dying  condition.  Godfrey  was  held 
in  .$200  hail  until  May  first.  Baff  asked  for  adjourn¬ 
ment  until  that  date  oti  account  of  the  Jewish  holi¬ 
days.  Mr.  Buff  is  the  son  of  Bernard  Baff,  who  was 
assassinated  by  hired  murderers  on  November  2.“», 
1914.  He  was  opposed  to  the  live  poultry  trust. 
Two  of  the  assassins  were  convicted  last,  week,  and 
others  are  yet  to  be  tried.  The  men  higher  up  who 
were  supposed  to  have  procured  the  murder  are 
under  suspicion,  but  have  not  yet  been  arrested. 
Consumers  in  New  York  have  been  paying  millions 
of  dollars  for  sand  and  gravel  fed  to  live  poultry 
through  this  cruel  process.  It  is  an  inhuman  extor¬ 
tion  which  should  lie  stamped  out. 
Brevities 
There  are  times  when  a  soft  answer  only  invites 
wrath. 
Some  of  our  readers  put  up  a  strong  protest  against 
the  “F.”  in  R.  F.  I).  F.  stands  for  “free”  or  is  sup¬ 
posed  to,  but  the  name  has  no  more  place  in  this  mail 
service  than  in  any  other.  Call  it  R,  D.  and  leave  the 
“free”  out. 
A  case  is  reported  where  a  serious  case  of  poisoning 
occurred  from  eating  mushrooms.  It  seems  that  a  few 
abnormal  mushrooms  came  up  in  a  cultivated  bed  and 
caused  the  trouble.  No  one  should  be  permitted  to  grow 
and  sell  this  crop  until  they  can  instantly  detect  the 
wise  nous  specimens. 
