840 
Efte  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
the  nrsixKss  fa r.'vprs  paper 
A  National  V.  ccUj’  Journul  fop  <  oiintry  and  Suburban  Home* 
Eflnhlifhi’tl  ,.v;o 
I'ublivlaal  weekly  by  the  Itnrnl  T’liblishine  Company,  3U3  M  r  e  30th  Street,  New  York 
1 1  Trainin'  W.  Cot.x.i-N'-'vooti.  Crr«Hl«nt  tmrt  Eiliror. 
Joks  .1.  llrr.uix,  Trctuxarur  ami  lion  oral  Manaaor. 
Wm.  F.  Dll. i, ox,  Koori'intv.  JlK».  E.  T.  RrjYi.r.,  A srorinlc  Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION  :  ONE  DOLLAR  A  YEAR 
To  foreign  countries  in  I  ho  Universal  T'ortni  Union.  $2.01.  equal  to  ft:.  Ctl.,  or 
t>f.v  marks,  or  le'o  Imue-.  Uniiit  in  lunacy-  order,  express 
order,  personal  check  or  bank  draft. 
Entered  at  New  York  I'ost  O.Tieo  as  Second  Class  Matter. 
Advert isinp  rates.  75  cent  '  per  rural o  line— 7  words.  References  required  for 
advertisers  unknown  to  ns  ;  and  rjel i  imirt  .Heeomimny  transient  orders. 
“  A  SQUARE  DEAL" 
Wo  believe  flint  every  advertisement  in  this  paper  is  backed  by  n  respon¬ 
sible  person.  We  use  every  possible  preenution  untl  admit  the  ad  vertisi UC  of 
reliable  Imnses  olil.v.  Bln  In  make  doitblv  nut»‘,  "o  w  ill  make  irpod  any  Inns 
to  paid  subscriber-  ‘Ustu.ined  by  I  l'UM.iiiif  any  deli  berm  I-  swim.  Her.  irrespon¬ 
sible  advertiser*  or  iiusteinllnir  ad vertisottii  iris  in  nnr  eolninip.  and  any 
sneli  swindler  will  be  publicly  exposed.  We  are  also  olien  called  ttpcm 
to  ad  i  list  dilTereuees  or  mistakes  between  mn  suhaeribeis  and  in  meat, 
respoitsibli  lioitKcs,  wtietlir-T  mlvertiser:  ..!  not.  We  willingly  n-r  mu  Rsiod 
ofticek  to  this  end.  but  such  eases  -houM  nm  be  confused  with  ilisbonest, 
t ranstictioni}.  We  protect  fnibsynbciv  turnin'!  rogues,  but.  we  will  not  bo 
responsible  for  the  debts  of  honest  bankrupt'  sanctioned  by  the  courts. 
Notice  of  the  dotuplniill  must  be  sent  to  us  within  one  month  of  the  time  of 
the  i  in nnact ion.  and  to  identify  it  you  should  mention  The  HcitM,  New- 
Yorkeu  when  writing  flic  mi  voriiser. 
NO,  we  have  no  chip  on  our  shoulder,  but  we  do 
want  to  bear  from  the  following  parties: 
1.  The  man  who  finds  everbearing  strawberries  a 
good  commercial  proposition  for  tbe  fruit  alone. 
2.  The  well-to-do  farmer  who  can  afford  to  buy 
bis  own  garden  seeds  and  yet  asks  for  and  accepts 
(be  free  seed  graft  and  will  justify  it. 
3.  The  man  who  sells  produce  through  commission 
houses  or  makes  long  shipments  and  will  claim 
openly  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  35-oent 
dollar! 
* 
THE  Australian  wheat  crop  for  101.1  was  the 
largest  ever  known.  While  the  world  needed 
(his  wheat  there  were  not  ships  enough  to  cany 
it  away.  In  order  to  save  the  crop  and  avoid  ruin¬ 
ous  ] traces  the  government  formed  a  "wheat  ixtol.” 
A  fixed  price  was  paid  for  the  wheat— the  govern¬ 
ment  raising  the  money  on  its  own  credit  and  on 
the  security  of  wheat  certificates.  In  (ills  way  100.- 
ooo.uoO  bushels  were  handled,  and  a  large  share  of 
if  still  remains  on  hand.  The  great  effort  of  the 
government  now  is  to  obtain  vessels  for  carrying 
the  wheat  to  Europe.  The  excuse  for  such  “pa¬ 
ternalism”  is  that  under  this  plan  wheat  grower* 
obtained  full  prices  for  their  grain.  Under  the 
usual  trade  conditions  the  speculators  would  have 
made  the  money  by  trading  on  the  necessities  of  the 
growers  and  holding  for  high  prices. 
THE  latest  seed  fake  is  "Titanic”  wheat.  The 
claim  is  that  this  wbeat  was  brought  from 
England  by  one  of  the  survivors  off  the  unfortunate 
Titanic  disaster!  That  is  what  (hey  call  "good 
dope”  to  suggest  that  a  pa  sseiurer  on  a  sinking  ship 
would  save  this  valuable  wheat  and  let  all  his 
other  properly  go  down.  This  wonderful  variety  is 
to  yield  7,00b  to  one !  It  seems  to  be  identical  in 
appearance  with  the  old  "Alaska”  wheat  which  was 
exploited  some  years  ago.  It  is  of  course  a  false. 
We  hope  the  big  illustrated  weeklies  will  not  fall 
for  it  as  they  did  for  Alaska,  “booming”  it  so 
that  exploiters  were  enabled  to  pick  the  pockets 
of  the  farmers.  No  reader  of  Turn  II.  N.-Y.  will 
fool  with  "Titanic”  wheat,  for  he  might  far  bet¬ 
tor  throw  his  money  into  the  ocean.  The  govern¬ 
ment  has  also  shown  up  "Miracle”  or  “Marvel¬ 
lous”  wheat  It  is  a  plain,  ordinary  strain.  Noth¬ 
ing  remarkable  about  it  except  the  way  it  has  en¬ 
abled  the  boomers  to  graft  suckers  on  wheat  plants! 
* 
YOU  are  likely  to  receive  a  letter  from  some 
business  man  or  government  official  with  the 
following  stamped  near  the  signature: 
“Dictdted  hirl  nut  rend  hii  Mr.  Smith.” 
Many  of  our  readers  have  such  letters,  and  they 
write  to  ask  what  it  all  moans.  ^  Very  few  public 
or  business  men  write  their  own  letters.  They  dic¬ 
tate  or  talk  an  answer  which  is  taken  down  in 
shorthand  by  a  stenographer,  who  then  copies  it  on 
a  typewriter*.  Then  the  man  reads  it  over  and 
signs  it  after  any  needed  correction.  He  is  thus 
able  to  care  for  10  times  as  much  correspondence  as 
he  could  if  he  used  a  pen  or  did  it  all  himself.  Now 
this  sentence  stamped  on  the  letter  is  meant  to 
show  that  while  the  responsible  party  formed  tli-e 
letter  he  did  not  sign  it  and,  not  having  read  it, 
does  not  know  whether  it  is  right  or  not!  It  is 
often  worse  than  that,  for  some  people,  in  order  to 
avoid  responsibility,  read  the  letter,  stamp  on  these 
words  and  let  some  clerk  sign.  Then,  should  there 
he  any  question  about  it,  they  can  always  evade 
responsibility.  We  know  of  cases  where  this  is  done 
deliberate!}  in  order  to  make  such  evasion  possible. 
It  is  a  humbug  which  ought  to  he  stopped  among 
public  men.  When  farmers  write  for  information, 
as  they  have  a  right,  to  do  they  want  solid  personal 
opinion  which  some  reliable  party  will  stand  for 
over  liis  own  signature.  This  stamped  evasion  takes 
all  the  reliability  out.  of  the  statement — for  the 
letter  may  have  been  written  by  some  uninformed 
clerk. 
* 
HERE  arc  two  notes  which  came  almost  in  the 
same  mail : 
No.  I. 
As  a  former  Now  York  business  man,  familiar  with 
business  conditions,  1  estimate  that  eggs  ought  to  re¬ 
tail  for  table  use  at  $1.10  to  $2  per  dozen  to  return  the 
farmer  for  his  investment  and  labor  as  milch  as  the 
average  business  man  with  n  similar  amount,  invested 
is  paid  for  the  use  of  his  money  and  his  services  in 
conducting  his  business.  I  endorse  very  heartily  your 
attitude  on  the  "baek-tu-the-land"  movement,  and  your 
".‘il-eent  dollar”  hammerings,  also  your  exposing  the 
false  allurements  of  the  “two  blades  of  grass”  preach¬ 
ments.  ,T.  0.  PRESCOTT. 
Connecticut. 
No.  IT. 
T  am  very  tired  of  all  this  talk  about,  the  31-eont. 
dollar.  There  is  no  such  thing  anyway.  Farmers  get 
all  that  is  coming  to  them.  Let  them  go  on  improving 
their  farms  and  growing  larger  crops,  and  let  these 
industrial  subjects  alone!  A,  V. 
These  two  men  both  renew  their  subscriptions — • 
cue  does  it:  because  lie  wants  to  support  the  31- cent 
dollar  campaign — the  other  because  he  admits  that 
we  give  the  most,  practical  help  in  fanning.  One 
man  is  a  farmer  who  farms  with  It  is  own  hands 
and  lias  to  live  on  what  there  is  left,  after  tlve 
middlemen  sell  his  goods.  Tbe  other  man  has  a 
little  place  worked  by  others,  hut  makes  most  of  his 
living  at  a  government  job.  So  far  as  liis  own 
"farming”  goes  it  does  not  make  any  difference  how 
large  his  dollar  is.  lie  farms  mostly  with  his  mouth 
and  a  fountain  ]  mi !  That  is  about  all  we  need 
to  say  about  these  two  notes.  We  have  never  yet 
been  able  to  find  a  farmer  who  sold  any  goods 
1hrough  commission  men  who  would  find  fault  with 
the  31-eem  dollar  campaign.  Find  us  one  and  we 
will  guarantiee  that  he  makes  nil  or  most  of  hit? 
living  at  some  outside  job,  that  be  has  some  special 
privilege  or  “rake  off,”  or  else  does  most  of  his 
farming  with  his  month  and  a  lead  pencil  ! 
•ii 
THE  following  Is  a  sample  of  the  headlines  now 
appearing  in  the  daily  papers: 
FEAR  FARMERS  IX  POLITICS. 
Insurance  Men  ’Warned  of  "Wave  of  Communistic 
Legislation.” 
Pioi.AOEU’inA.  May  23.  Fearing  extinction  of  their 
business  as  the  result  of  a  "wave  of  oomnjuamtie  legis¬ 
lation”  insurance  men  of  every  line  are  combining  in  an 
effort  to  stem  the  tide. 
Wo  do  not  believe  that  insurance  men  aw  going  to 
try  to  imitate  Mrs.  Partington,  who  undertook  to 
sweep  the  ocean  hack  with  her  broom.  Last  week 
we  sa  w  where  a  company  of  loan  and  money  brokers 
had  "resolved”  against  the  Land  Hank  and  all  rural 
credit  bills.  Go  hack  and  haunt  through  30  past  cen¬ 
turies  and  yon  cannot  find  one  in  which  certain 
classes  of  people  did  not  "resolve”  in  just  this  way 
whenever  the  farmer  made  an  effort  to  Improve 
condition.  It  is  always  “communistic  legislation” 
v  lienevor  farmers  start  out  to  make  fair  regulation 
of  the  size  of  the  dollars  they  take  in  and  pay  out. 
Up  to  the  present  time  efforts  to  improve  farm 
conditions  have  been  regarded  by  the  interests  as  a 
sort  of  joke — or  at  best  something  to  lie  bought,  off. 
Now  they  begin  to  know  better,  for  the  past  few 
years  have  shown  that  farmers  and  country  people 
are  at  last  in  dead  earnest.  As  far  as  communism 
or  selfishness  in  political  life  go,  no  class  in  the 
country  will  he  fairer  or  more  patriotic  in  settling 
great  questions  than  our  fanners. 
* 
THAT  big  “Spelling  Roe"  at  tin*  New  York  State 
Fair  is  already  a  popular  tiling  among  the 
country  people  of  the  State.  All  the  counties  are 
interested  and  several  seem  to  have  sclcc-ted  their 
champions  already.  We  believe  it  will  prove  one 
of  the  most  interesting  features  at  the  fair.  As  is 
iow  well  understood  (lie  local  schools  will  com¬ 
pete  to  select  the  county  champion,  and  these  champ¬ 
ions  will  meet  at  Syracuse  for  the  State  contest. 
We  arc  glad  to  learn  that  part  at  least  of  the  con¬ 
test  will  consist  of  written  words.  The  ability  to 
spell  orally  is  not  of  much  importance  in  the  actual 
business  of  life  except  as  it  trains  memory,  quick 
thinking  and  self-confidence.  It  is  when  we  write 
out  the  words  and  present  them  to  the  eye  that  we 
•betray  our  weakness  or  show  our  strength  of  lan¬ 
guage.  Many  a  letter  is  weakened  in  its  appeal  by 
a  few  misspelled  words.  That  Is  why  these  spell¬ 
ing  contests  should  consist  partly  or  largely  of 
written  exercises.  This  State  contest  is*a  fine  thing 
— one  of  the  best  yet  suggested. 
* 
The  Hoard  of  Trade  issued  the  “Blossom  Hay”  cards 
to  call  the  attention  of  the  out-side  world  to  our  prosper¬ 
ous  and  pleasant  community.  We  took  visitors  around 
the  town,  gave  them  all  tile  apples  they  could  eat  and 
pointed  out  to  them  the  many  advantages  of  the  place 
for  residence.  This  comprised  the  “celebration.”  The 
June  3,  191G. 
purpose  in  view  was  to  Induct  people  to  locate  among 
ns  and  help  develop  the  possibilities  of  our  location. 
(  HAS.  F.  WATTS. 
MIL  WATTS  is  secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trade 
of  Littleton.  .Mass.  You  will  find  a  note  about, 
this  on  page  *32.  We  just  print  this  to  show  what 
cue  New  England  town  did  in  the  way  of  adver¬ 
tising.  Tt  reads  like  a  display  of  the  spirit  shown 
by  some  of  those  Western  fruit  towns.  Yet  lmw 
simple  it  was.  It  was  effective  because  it  was  sim¬ 
ple,  and  every  visitor  went  off  with  the  Lisle  of  a 
Littleton  apple  on  his  tongue.  That  will  surely 
pull  him  hack  once  at  ere.  This  country  is  now  so 
large  that  the  average  man  -r  the  average  com¬ 
munity  cannot  hope  to  attract  attention  without  ad¬ 
vertising  in  some  way.  Fora  petition  is  constantly 
try  ran;  to  put  a  basket  over  your  light,  and  you  must 
kick  it  off  if  you  expect  the  light  to  shine  before 
men.  Littleton  looms  large  as  the  home  of  Bald¬ 
win  and  McIntosh  ! 
* 
NEXT  week  wo  Khalil  print  a  clear,  strong  story 
of  the  great  Ghicago  milk  war  by  TL  IS.  Swiff, 
president  of  the  Milk  IVodhrcetW  Association.  Mr. 
Swift  says  in  sending  the  article: 
“/  burr  hud  m<ir>ft  rrnumrstm  fur  of  the 
Milk  ProdnrcrtC  4 nmnaU'O’n  fifth t  hut  bw  hud  to 
rrfiixr  them.  fTWs  npportifmihH  of  hllrnft  ovr  Morn 
:.n  Tbr  /’.  -Y.-Y.  i/.v  ac-rp-hrl  <,,•»•••  r.,f  ij,r  s3-and  for 
<;  fair  dial  Tin  7?.  X.-Y.  has  oUto >/*  tnk-nnf' 
* 
Is  there  any  truth  in  the  ■Ktatenumt  that  the  majority 
of  women  in  our  iosene  assyluras  ••si*e  farmers*  wives?  If 
this  Ik*  true  why  should  we  encourage  our  hoys  to  stay 
oji  the  farm  and  run  a  big  chance  of  sending  their 
wives  to  the.  insane  asylums?  The  above  statement 
was  made  here  in  Hart  at  a  farmers’  meeting  several 
works  ago  by  au  ex-Congressman.  lie  also  told  ns  wo 
must  soon  double  onr  production,  but  did  not  say 
what  for.  1  suppose  for  the  benefit  of  middlemen  and 
raihviads.  w.  w. 
Michigan. 
HERE  is  no  truth  in  the  statement.  Tt  lias 
Leon  proven  a  lie  time  and  again.  We  collect¬ 
ed  the  figures  and  showed  that  the  larger  proportion 
of  insane  women  came  fivun  the  cities  and  small 
towns.  The  larger  proportion  came  from  the  little 
towns  and  villages — not  from  farms.  Your  ex-Cim- 
gressman  is  either  a  fraud  or  a  fizzle  if  he  goes 
about  talking  in  any  such  way.  At  least  it  is  a 
good  thing  the  .people  put  an  "Ex"  on  him.  though 
there  are  plenty  more  in  Congress  as  ignorant  as 
he  is.  Naturally  such  a  nmn  would  advocate  the 
“two  blades  of  grass”  theory.  He  probably  believes 
that  farmers*  wives  ought  to  do  twice  as  much  work 
as  they  rsov  do — as  a  core  for  insanity.  Onr  favor¬ 
ite  punishment  for  such  blowliards  would  lie  to 
fasten  them  to  some  old.  rundown  farm  without  cap¬ 
ital.  poor  tools  and  small  credit,  and  make  them 
pay  the  mortgage!  When  they  did  that  they  would 
le  mellow  enough  to  go  to  Congress  1 
* 
The  spirit  iri  which  you  received  my  mild  kick  seems 
t<*  be  Hint  shown  in  most  matters  by  The  K.  N'.-Y.,  for 
which  its  subscribers  are  to  be  congratulated,  v.  a.  it. 
IIIS  man  pointed  out,  what  he  though  was  a 
misstatement  in  The  TL  N.-Y.  After  a  little 
thought  we  agreed  with  him.  and  1  old  him  so. 
Thereupon  lie  offers  to  help  obtain  Hie  evidence  to 
put  the  matter  right.  Now  The  R.  N.-Y..  like  all 
other  papers,  will  sometimes  make  mistakes  of 
judgment  or  of  statement.  Such  things  are  un¬ 
avoidable  in  the  rush  of  journalism.  Our  ambi¬ 
tion  is  to  he  right,  and  when  our  people  c*ome  and 
point  out  an  error  we  accept  their  criticism  in  good 
spirit,  and  thank  them  for  it.  Sometimes  people 
come  with  lather  harsh  language  and  say  wo  are 
all  wrong.  When  we  analyze  their  evidence  we  find 
that  they  are  simply  offering  au  opinion.  Because 
they  hapjien  to  think  differently  they  say  others 
must  lie  wrong.  We  confess  that  we  have  never 
found  it  worth  while  to  argue  with  such  people. 
Tline  are  a  few  of  them  in  the  country,  and  we 
grant  them  the  right  of  their  opinion  and  let  it  go 
at  that. 
Brevities 
Now  the  problem  is  how  to  make  tlie  poison  stick  to 
the  apple  trees  in  tins  wet  season. 
You  never  can  make  the  hog  believe  that  the  pen  is 
mightier  than  the  sward.  He  knows  hotter  after  a 
taste  of  grass. 
Ix  11)14  this  country  produced  $172,600,5*7  worth 
of  wire  in  addition  to  what  the  politicians  worked  out 
by  wire-pulling. 
The  South  African  Alfalfa  crop  is  reported  short. 
Farmers  may  even  have  to  come  to  America  for  part, 
of  their  supply. 
Severai,  readers  ask  what  they  can  use  to  kill  out 
bad  patches  of  "devils  paint  brush”  in  then*  pastures. 
Salt  is  advised  by  the  wise  men.  hut  it.  must  not  he 
"salt  whit'll  has  lost  its  savor.” 
Western  Canada  has  adopted  prohibition,  and  ties 
will  soon  make  great  breweries  and  distilleries  idle. 
It  is  now  suggested  that  t he.se  big  plants  he  used  for 
making  industrial  alcolioj  to  he  used  as  rued,  and  thus 
save  the  coal  hill.  Why  not? 
