920 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban llomer 
Established iWO 
Published weekly by «be Rn nil Puhlisbiof; Company, 3 SS tVestSOtb Street, New I orb 
Herbert W. Coixoigwood, President and Editor. 
Jons i. Dti.roN, Treasurer and General Manopcr. 
Wm. P. Dillon. Secretary. Mbs. K. T. Kovle. Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION i ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign conn ires in the Universal Postal Union. J3.04. Ttciuit in money 
order, express order, personal cheek or bank drat t. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, tl.00 per aerate 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 backed by a respon- 
aible person. We use every possible precaution and admit tlie advertising of 
I'clin.blo houses only. But to make doubly euro we will make Rood any Toes 
to paid subscribers sustained by trust inn any deOiborato swiiwiler, irrespon- 
eiblo advertisers or misleading; »,lvnrU>piiwml* in our col mil ns, and any 
such swindler will be publicly exposed. We are also Often called upon 
to adjust d itfereikces or mistake, between tmr subscribers and honest, 
resjKUisible )iouo-m, whether artrertlsors or not. We willingly tise our pood 
Office* to this end. but such cases should not Tar confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers against rogues, hut we will not bo 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent, to u* within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention Thk Rural Nurv- 
Yorker when writ ing the advertiser. 
Here is my check for another year. You can count 
me as one of your steadfast friends and boosters. My 
wife and The Rural New-Yorker are the two items 
of life that keep the wheels rolling for me. Business is 
good with us this season, and we are ready to help 
others. Keep the faith; you are right. c. H. \v 
New York. 
E always did like a cheerful soul and a 
booster. We are glad to be one of the wheels 
of life’s chariot, but the other one is evidently the 
main wheel. 
* 
Will you give me a brief idea of the rights of a pedes¬ 
trian on the improved highways of New York State, or 
in other words, State roads? W claims a pedestrian 
has no rights on a State road: that he must step from 
the improved part to the dirt part when he meets or is 
passed by an auto. IW also says if a pedestrian is hurt 
by an auto while on improved part of State road he 
cannot recover damages. lie should have stepped to the 
dirt part. What I mean by improved part is the part 
that is tarred and rolled. Some are 1-1 ft. wide, but I 
think all new ones are at least 16 ft. wide. a. 0. s. 
U NDER the highway laws of New York the word 
“pedestrian"’ “shall include all persons making 
use of public highway for foot passage.” Such a 
walker has just as much right to a public highway as 
any driver of a vehicle. He must, of course, com¬ 
ply with the following rule: 
“Pedestrians walking upon the traveled part of a 
street and not the sidewalk shall, when meeting or 
passing vehicles, be subject to and comply with the 
rules governing vehicles as to meeting, turning out 
and passing, except as to signals.” 
Thus a pedestrian has as much right to the road 
as any driver of a $15,000 ear, hut he must get out 
of the way when necessary. He cannot stand still 
and he run over and then claim damages, but if he 
complies with the usual rules and turns out and is 
then injured he will have a right to damages. 
* 
What is the exact situation regarding Senator Calder 
of New York State and the farmers? You have stopped 
talking about it. ' W. II. 6. 
E have explained the situation several times. 
Here it is briefly repeated. Senator Calder 
has no personal popularity among New York farm¬ 
ers. They do not like his record on daylight sav¬ 
ing, prohibition and general farm policies. Senator 
Calder cannot possibly be elected without the votes 
of these farmers. In a primary with some strong 
man popular with country people, we do not believe 
the Sen itor could even be renominated. As it is, 
there will he no primary for Senator this year. A 
State convention will nominate and our farmers 
realize how little chance they have in any such 
gathering. It seems probable now that Senator Calder 
will he renominated by this convention, but it will 
he a cold and perfunctory performance. The party 
managers have been fairly warned, and they know 
wbftt will happen. If they load up with an un¬ 
popular candidate they must take the consequences. 
They may rest assured that Senator Calder cannot 
poll the full party vote among farmers. We might 
as well state the truth openly and bluntly right 
now. It will depend on who is selected as the Dem¬ 
ocratic candidate. We think this is a year in which 
farmers will go out of their way to rebuke the man¬ 
agers if they try to put over any objectionable can¬ 
didate. for these farmers know that tlu'U are the 
heart of the party in New York State. 
* 
NEW YORK nursery company recently sued a 
1'ennsylvania farmer in an effort to collect an 
order for plants and trees. This case involved a new 
and curious principle. It appears that, a nursery 
agent approached a farmer of rather weak mind, 
and by various ‘’strong arm” methods induced him to 
“sign on the dotted line” for a bill of goods quite 
unsuited to the farmer's condition or soil. As soon 
as friends and neighbors learned about it they point¬ 
ed out the farmer’s mistake and induced him to coun¬ 
termand the order. The company paid no attention, 
hut shipped the goods. They remained for a time 
at the station, when the farmer weakly consented to 
plant them. He refused to pay and the company 
sued. The jury decided against the company on the 
theory that the agent took advantage of the farmer’s 
weak mentality. . Week after week we get letters 
from presumably intelligent farmers who say they 
have signed nursery contracts with H. M. Whiting or 
some similar windbag, and have agreed to buy stock 
which ofttiines they have no use for. Of course, in 
doing this they enter the ranks of the weak-minded 
citizens, but they could hardly use that defense in 
a lawsuit. 
* 
E have many complaints about the Baldwin 
apple. No question about it, in some locali¬ 
ties it is failing. The severe Winter of a few years 
ago hurt it. and the trees have not recovered. It is 
getting to be a shy hearer and quite susceptible to 
disease. On the other hand, in some places reports 
say that Baldwin is as good as ever, and will 
still be planted. The apple is a favorite in the mar¬ 
ket and there is nothing in sight that will quite take 
its place. Its color, shape and quality are known. 
We think the result of this discussion will he to 
make Baldwin an apple of location. It has become 
clear that in some sections the variety is no longer 
suitable. In such places the planting of Baldwin 
will slowly be discontinued. The apple will simply 
pass out. In other sections Baldwin will do better 
and planting will be kept up. Like everything else, 
this variety will find its exact place. Instead of be¬ 
ing regarded, as it has been in the past, a variety 
for planting ani/icherc in the North, it will come to 
be an apple for special soils and situations. Where 
it is suited, Baldwin will be more profitable than 
ever, because it will always be in demand, and there 
will be less competition. 
* 
E have had several letters from readers who 
say they want to camp out for a week or so 
on the shores of Long Island Sound. They come 
down out of the hills, after harvest, bring a tent, 
and “get close to nature’*—digging clams and hook¬ 
ing such tisli as they are able to reach. Some farm¬ 
ers are willing to rent tenting space to such campers. 
Now we find that the State of Connecticut has 
bought 500 acres of shore land near the town of 
Clinton. There are no cottages, but a certain part 
of this reservation has been staked off for tenting 
purposes, and may be rented. So far as we know, 
this is the first instance where a State has provided 
such opportunity. 
* 
N old farmer was told of sterilizing soil by 
steaming it in order to start cabbage or tobacco 
plants without disease germs. "Nothing to it.’’ he 
said, “nothing but foolishness!" "Well, how do you 
start, your plants right?” “1 build a big bonfire, then 
work up the ground where the fire was. and put. in 
the seed!” What he did was “sterilizing the soil’’ 
just as much as steaming it could be. Ilis idea was 
right—the same thing as the scientific idea, only 
more crude and less under control. Many of the 
modern scientific practices are much like that. The 
shrewd old farmer discovers a useful method, but 
cannot explain why it works. The scientist learns 
the “why” of it and adapts it to new conditions. The 
farmer discovers the “how” and the scientists the 
“why.” They ought to get together instead of quar¬ 
reling about it. 
* 
T is evident that the new tariff bill will carry 
extra heavy duties on all kinds of grain and feed. 
The object is to “protect” Western farmers and grain 
growers so as to make sure of the Eastern markets. 
With the present high freight rates and what the 
tariff will add the price of grain to the Eastern feed¬ 
er will he very high. Without any tariff corn can be 
sent from Argentina, Mexico and other South Amer¬ 
ican countries, and sold for less than corn from the 
Western States. Wheat, buckwheat and rye could 
lie sent from Canada on much the same basis; that 
is, so as to undersell American grown grain. It is 
evident, therefore, that while the tariff on grain 
may benefit Western farmers, it will act to increase 
the price of grain to Eastern poultrymen and dairy¬ 
men. The theory of the proposed tariff is to give 
these Eastern farmers compensating duties on milk, 
eggs, poultry, apples and similar products. We 
think that one result of (his high tariff will be to 
drive Eastern farmers to increased grain production. 
There is no good reason why the corn crop on the 
North Atlantic slope should not be doubled, save for 
tlie item of labor. This can be partly overcome by 
planting larger fields and using improved machinery 
and cover crops. When the surplus from the heavy 
July 22 , 1822 
crop years is all disposed of we think corn prices 
will go to a point which will make this crop & 
profitable one on many of our back farms. Much the 
same will be true of wheat, barley and buckwheat. 
Millions of bushels of these grains are used each year 
by poultrymen. In -many cases where the farms are 
of good size this small grain can be grown cheaper 
than it can be bought. Corn growing takes too much 
time in the early Spring, and will interfere with 
hatching and brooding, but the small grains could 
be handled with less trouble, and they can be fed in 
the sheaf, thus providing both grain and litter. We 
believe it will be possible to use llubum clover on 
wheat so as to obtain a good growth after harvest, 
plow this under and reseed, thus growing wheat 
after wheat on some back field. The tariff is sure 
to increase grain prices to Eastern farmers, and we 
think they will be forced to grow more grain on 
their own farms. 
* 
S OMEONE has started systematic propaganda 
against using milk as a food. For example, the 
following, credited to Dr. Cecil Webb-Johnson of 
England: 
|We arc the only animals in the world who drink milk 
after infancy. The domestic cat, it may be pointed out, 
drinks milk after it has grown up, but tills is purely a 
domestic habit. 
All animals will gladly drink milk when they can 
get it. Everyone knows that pigs fed on skim-milk 
or whey gain faster than those fed on grain alone. 
What poultryman does not understand that milk, 
both sweet and sour, will give wonderful results in 
his fioek? When it is desired to raise a very supe¬ 
rior eolt it is fed milk until it reaches full growth, 
and after. There have been plenty of cases where 
cows were fed skim-milk, and they always respond 
to such feeding. You might just as well argue that 
since man is the only animal to build a comfortable 
house, therefore houses are not essential. There are 
also many cases where humans have tried hard to 
commit suicide by eating great quantities of meat 
and drinking too much tea and coffee, and then 
found a renewed lease of life by coming back to 
milk. There is, without question, a strong effort 
being made to discredit milk and dairy products. It 
is being worked in the interests of butter substitutes. 
Pay no attention to it. Co right on drinking milk. 
* 
H ERE is a case very much like hundreds of 
others which come to us. A farmer of middle 
age, not in very good health, sold his farm and 
retired. He is in fair circumstances, but, like most 
active men. wants something to do that will keep 
him busy and provide a reasonable income. He 
reads an advertisement calling for agents to sell a 
popular farm, article. The managers insist that he 
must come to the city and see them, and bring $. r >00, 
which he is to deposit with them “on good security.” 
If he proves “satisfactory” he will be given a posi¬ 
tion which “ought to bring $10,000 per year.” 
Strange to say, this farmer is tempted to put up 
$500 and try it. He cannot see that if these men 
can get 100 men like himself to put up $500 each 
they will get what they are after, while the 100 
farmers will be left with a lot of goods on hand 
which may or may not be salable. It is one of tlio 
slickest schemes ever worked by promoters. It has 
been worked before, and is legal in tlie way these 
sharpers handle it. They are capable of "talking 
your arm off” and they have made many a man 
stand up ready to swear that black was white. 
Whenever you are offered a scheme to sell goods, 
provided you will first pay money for the privilege, 
get away from temptation as fast as you can run. 
Brevities 
Now is the time to mow the sod orchards and leave 
the clippings on the ground. 
No. the use of bisulphide of carbon to kill the bean 
weevil does not injure the beans for seed or food. 
Concrete tile seems to give fair satisfaction in soils 
which are not too sour. In very acid soils a chemical 
action causes the concrete to crumble. 
Human beings need a “spark plug” in order to keep 
the engine going. You can destroy the spark plug in a 
boy by crowding all the fun and play out of his life. 
'We never had so many reports of apple scab as have • 
come this year. The wet weather has made it doubly 
bad. Cutting ont the diseased wood and promptly 
spraying with Bordeaux mixture or lime-sulphur is the 
advice. 
Many onion growers know that a solution of for¬ 
malin run out of the seeder upon the seed will help 
onion smut. Now experiments are being made at dust¬ 
ing dry sulphate of copper into the drill rows. This 
seems to help, the trouble being to find a good dusting 
attachment for the seeder. 
