1448 
•Pie RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 0, 1022 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FAB MEN'S FA PEE 
A National Weekly Journal lor Country and Suburban Homes 
Established ISM _ 
Pollibhed weekly hy tile Rural I’ublislihif Company. 338 West SOtli Street, New York 
Herukkt W. CObLlsevTOOD, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer aud General Manager. 
Wm F. Dillon, Secretary. Mas. E. T. Hoy lb, Associate Editor. 
L. H. MVBrilV, Circulation Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION t ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. $2.04. Koimt In money 
order, express order, personal cheek or bank dralt. 
Entered at New York Post Office a« Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates. *1.00 per agate line—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; aud cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL - ’ 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable bouses only, lint to make doubly sure, we will make good any loss 
to paid subscribers sustained by trip-.ting uoy deliberate swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible advertisers or misleading advertisements in one columns, and nny 
such swindler will be publicly exposed. We are also often called upon 
In adjust diltorenco* or mistakes between OUr swlwerlhoi* and honest, 
I'osponsible lions' whether advertisers or not. Wo w illingly use opr good 
offices to this end, but such eases should not he confused with dishonest 
imnsaetKins. We protect suhscrihcrs against rogues, hut Wo will not be 
responsible fur the iield;- of hi.. haiiknipt:! 'auctioned by th. courts. 
Notice of the complaint, most be sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Kitral New- 
Yorker when wilting the advertiser. 
I subscribed first some time in the eighties. I don’t 
want to be left out. I have missed a few copies (missed 
them is light), hut it has been like running the Lizzie 
without lights. Walter e. patten. 
New York. 
W HEN a man tries to run “Lizzie” without 
lights the constable gets after him. It may 
not be illegal to let the subscription elapse—but it 
will be lonesome. 
* 
Market reports show a steady increase in price for 
Medium Red and Alsike clover seed up to about March 
1 each war. That the price will advance this year 
seems likely in view of the recent tariff of 4 cents a 
pound on foreign seed. 
B UT if there are full supplies of such seed in the 
country, why should the«tariff raise the price? 
Is it because the dealers are determined to get all 
they can, without regard to actual supply and de¬ 
mand? The tariff will he useful if it keeps inferior 
seed out of the country, but apparently the extra 4 
cents a pound will be added to the price, whether the 
supply is ample or not. 
* 
I F you read the daily papers carefully you will 
often notice little items about the great value of 
vegetable fats for feeding children. As you read 
them hastily you get the idea that Dr. So-and-so. or 
I'rof. This-nnd-that states that vegetable fats are 
quite equal to butter. A careful study might show 
that these noted men did not quite say that, but the 
items convey that Idea to the average mind. That is 
what was intended, for it is all a part of a very 
shrewd propaganda worked by the makers of butter 
substitutes to popularize cocoa mu oil. That is all 
there is to it—and it is quite enough. As an in¬ 
stance of the way this is done, the papers recently 
printed what purported to he an opinion from l» r . 
Merrill Champion of the Massachusetts Board of 
Agriculture. This item tried to give the impression 
that Dr. Champion considers vegetable fats equal 
to butter for feeding children. We wrote Dr. Cham¬ 
pion about this, and he replies: 
Ii is. of course, a well understood fact that there is 
no fat equal to butter in a child's diet, anti there was 
no intention on my part to suggest the vegetable fat for 
such use. The vegetable fats do not contain the neces¬ 
sary growth and health promoting viramines which but¬ 
ter does. 
Of course that disposes of the whole false state¬ 
ment. We intend to run this dangerous propa¬ 
ganda down whenever we can. There is no fat on 
earth equal to pure butter for feeding children. 
* 
I N response to our note about inoculating the silo. 
some 15 farmers have arranged for an experi¬ 
ment. They will cut dry cornstalks into the silo, 
use a reasonable quantity of water and add a quan¬ 
tity of special bacteria which are known to help in 
making good silage. It is expected that this form of 
inoculation will greatly improve I he quality of the 
dry stalks. Usually these dry stalks make very poor 
feeding stuff. The bacteria ought to change that. 
It is a good experiment, and we hope these farmers 
will carry it through carefully. We have now a 
sufficient number for the experiment and cannot sup¬ 
ply more bacteria. 
* 
T HE daily papers are printing great stories of a 
wonderful new strawberry. We are told that 
$50,000 lias been paid for one single plant! Of 
course there is no one outside of an insane asylum 
who would pay any such money for one plant. The 
truth is that the new variety is an “everbearing” or 
Fall hearing plant of superior excellence. We 
think it probably the best of the Fall bearers yet 
produced. Imt the stock sold by the producer to the 
nursery firm represents many thousand plants. The 
sale was made on a commission basis, but will run 
into the thousands, for the new variety is honestly 
a good one. It may seem too bad to spoil a fine 
story about this single $50,000 plant, but the truth is 
good enough for most of us. Probably this new 
variety will stand for about all the good things you 
can say for it, except the reported price. 
5k 
A RAD T CII LOR OBENZEN E is the name of a 
chemical used for killing peach borers. It will 
do the work if properly used, for no self-respecting 
peach borer can endure the gas arising from this 
stuff and live. It does not seem to be equally effect¬ 
ive against apple borers, but it surely lias power. 
We had a box of it in our office for exhibition, aud 
after a few days it certainly sent strong men out 
after coffee 1 The success of this stuff seems to have 
induced various fakers to come on the market with 
other chemicals or powders which are said to kill 
all insects. That is the way such things generally 
work. Let some method or material work and the 
air will soon be full of substitutes. Our advice is to 
let them alone. The effective chemical is para- 
dichlorobenzene. If you are tempted to buy sub¬ 
stitutes, we advise you to wait until you can spell 
that offhand without winking, and pronounce it with¬ 
out stuttering. That ought to give you time for your 
desire to cool off. 
5k 
Y OU can hardly pick up a daily paper without 
reading an account of the great potash mines 
in Western Texas! This we believe to be part of a 
propaganda to be followed by efforts to sell stock 
in potash operation. This country needs potash. 
It is the one fertilizing material which we must 
import in large quantities. The national need is 
great, and if a great bed of potash eau he found and 
developed it would be as profitable as a gold mine. 
The promoters know all about that, and they will 
work the wires hard before long, so they are starting 
in to talk about these Texas potash deposits. The 
truth is that there are streaks of potash in Texas. 
They are more than 1.000 ft. underground, the 
richest thus far found being nearly 1,500 ft. below 
the surface. Most of the potash veins thus found 
are very thin, with not enough of the mineral to 
make mining profitable. Thus far it is all a guess, 
beyond the fact that some potash is actually found 
down in the soil. There is absolutely nothing to 
justify anyone in offering stock in a potash mining 
proposition. Any claims along that line may be dis¬ 
missed as pure "hunk.” We hope none of our read¬ 
ers will listen for a moment to any scheme for ad¬ 
vancing money to float this potash proposition. 
* 
AST week, at the State Farm Bureau meeting at 
Syracuse, James It. Howard spoke of the 
changes in crop production which are being forced 
upon Eastern farmers. In general. Mr. Howard ad¬ 
vised our people to grow the perishable crops, like 
fruit, vegetables, liquid milk, eggs, etc. Many of 
the Western States are, without doubt, turning from 
grain growing to dairying, arid Ibis great increase in 
milk production will soon have its effect upon the 
markets. Mr. Howard would have us leave the pro¬ 
duction of grain and beef very largely to the West, 
and have Eastern land owners turn more and more 
to fruit aud gardening. In general, this is good 
advice. On our own farm we have seen half a dozen 
crops pass away from profitable production in con¬ 
sequence of competition with the West and South. 
At tins moment it is a great problem for Jersey 
farmers to know what to raise. As for grain grow¬ 
ing, we think our Eastern farmers can well afford 
to raise more corn. Our poultryiuen should try to 
raise more wheat and barley, and feed these grains 
to their bens without thrashing. There will be good 
economy in that. The market for bay is not prom¬ 
ising. and we doubt if any Eastern farmer has 
raised a profitable crop of oats in the past three 
years. We are surely face to face with great changes, 
and the general advice to grow the perishable crops 
and leave beef and grain to the West is good. 
5k 
EW YORK'S new Senator, Dr. Copeland, is 
after the auto fiends who are responsible for 
much murder or accident, through reckless driving. 
Thousands of people are killed or injured every 
year by these careless or criminal drivers. We 
have had them dash up behind us (when walking 
on the road) actually trying to see how close they 
can come without actually striking the pedestrian. 
Then they look hack and laugh! At such a time it 
would be a great temptation to use a pistol and 
shoot a hole in one or more of the tires. Dr. Cope¬ 
land demands a more rigid test in granting licens'es. 
It is too easy for the man with defective eyes or 
ears to obtain a license, and the enforcement of 
laws against speeding is little better than a farce. 
When some wealthy human hog. half drunk, is fined 
for speeding it is no punishment at all. He should 
be promptly jailed, put at hard labor and given no 
food except plain prison fare. That is the best plan 
we can think of for taking the “pep” out of some of 
these smart drivers who play with murder on our 
highways. 
5k 
S URELY we are willing to give Mr. McCurdy, on 
the first page, every chance to tell the story of 
the consolidated school. He could not have a more 
prominent place than that accorded him. Mr. Mc¬ 
Curdy refers to the recent article by Mr. Hathaway, 
but he seems to forget one very important thing. 
Salem Co., N. J.. is nearly 300 miles south of Schuy¬ 
ler Co., N. Y. The Winters in Southern New Jersey 
are comparatively mild, while in Central New York 
they may often be popularly called “fierce." The 
surface of (he ground in Salem County is level or 
gently rolling and the roads are good. Schuyler 
County. N. Y., is for the most part rough and hilly 
—a section of high hills and narrow valleys, with 
many inferior roads. There are snowdrifts and zero 
weather for children to struggle through, such as 
Salem County. N. J.. people never saw. Thus a 
system of school transportation which might giwe the 
finest satisfaction in Southern New Jersey might be¬ 
come plain brutal punishment for children in Cen¬ 
tral New York. We think MVs. Willeox makes this 
very plain. Yet many plans and methods are fas¬ 
tened upon people on the theory that because they 
work admirably in some favored section they will 
work equally well in other places, where conditions 
are entirely different. The people of Cuba might 
live a happy and useful life clad in a palm leaf 
fan and a smile, hut that would be no argument for 
advocating the same costume for Alaska. 
♦ 
T HE New York Tribune has been printing a series 
of letter.'' describing actual visits to New York 
City schools. Here is a sample description of what 
the writer found: 
I was leaving Public School 171 with a 14-year-old 
boy of the seventh grade. 
“Do you like school?” 1 asked. 
“Sure, it's a cinch.” he swaggered. 
“What do you mean by cinch?” 
“Why your turn to do examples at the blackboard 
don’t come until next week, aud there is so many ahead 
of you that you don’t have to answer questions in other 
things for a lung time. And. besides, you get promoted 
anyhow. The teac-her says you better study and all, 
but at the end of the term you get promoted just tb? 
same. Why. even that blockhead," pointing to a fat 
boy just in front of us. "was promoted last term! Go 
and ask bim about Mississippi. He said it was a crazy 
woman running around a lot of States out West! 
Why, it’s a cinch !” 
The public schools are crowded, especially in the 
tenement districts, where many foreigners live. The 
teachers try hard to do their full duty, but they are 
overworked and often discouraged. The pupils de¬ 
mand “promotion,*’ and they are usually passed 
along from one grade to another, whether they are 
prepared or not, in order to get rid of them. They 
cannot be well drilled or fitted under the circum¬ 
stances. With all the money lavished upon the 
graded schools in this city, the average pupil is get¬ 
ting a poorer drill and less thorough training in 
practical education than the pupil in the average 
country school. We know this is true of the coun¬ 
try school in our own district, as we have had chil¬ 
dren come out of the city schools. We might sug¬ 
gest that some of the people who are attacking our 
rural schools and bewailing the future of their 
pupils, give a little of their attention to the graded 
schools of New York Uity. 
Brevities 
On a recent shipment of money to Germany we found 
that 6.600 marks are given for one American dollar. 
A shipment of cranberries to this city from Russia 
was reported last week. Also horseradish from tier- 
many. 
Wiif.n we scrape otr rne rough bark of apple trees 
we kill many insects, including one form of the codling 
worm. 
A SURPRISING number of people have written this 
year to say they have found wild seedling apples of 
superior quality. Will nurserymen pay for such things? 
Not unless the apples are very superior to most varie¬ 
ties now common. There are loo many varieties now, 
and very little chance for it new one unless it has re¬ 
markable qualities. 
Wk have all sorts of questions and calls for help. 
One man says he has a habit of scolding or snarling at 
his invalid wife and children, knows he should not do 
it. hut how can he help it? Due course of treatment is 
to slop and repeat the following before he starts; “lie 
that is slow to anger is better than the mighty: and he 
that ruleth his spirit than he that tuketh u city!” 
