4o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
January 17 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FAllMEB'S PAPEli. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established ISHO. 
Heubkkt W. Collingwoou, Editor. 
l)K. Wai.teu Va.v Fi.ket, ( 
Mhs. E. T. Hoyi.K, Associates. 
■John J. Oili.on, Business Manafrer. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, 12.04, 
equal to 8s. 6d., or 8% marks, or 10% francs. 
“A SGUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is 
backed by a responsible person. But to make doubly 
sure we will maae good any loss to paid subscribers 
sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler advertising 
in our columns, and any such swindler will be publicly 
exposed. We protect subscribers against rogues, but we 
do not guarantee to adjust trilling differences between 
subscribers and honest responsible advertisers. Neither 
will we be responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts 
sanctioned by the courts. Notice of the complaint must 
be sent us within one month of the time of the trans¬ 
action, and you must have mentioned Thi Rurai. Nbw- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
Name and address of sender, and what the remittance 
Is for, should appear in every letter. 
Remittances may be made in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 1903. 
10 Weeks for 10 Cents, 
We want to advise our good friends that we yet 
have room for more of those 10 weeks trial subscrip¬ 
tions. Of late they have come in 300 to 500 a day. We 
have put on extra help to take care of them so that 
copies go out the week order is received. We again 
thank those who have assisted in this work, and re¬ 
mind those who have put off the good intention that 
we are yet in a mood to appreciate whatever interest 
they take in the matter. Send along a name and dime. 
* 
At the last meeting of the New York Consolidated 
Milk Exchange the price was reduced 10 cents per 
40-quart can, or to $1.71. This nets the producer 3^/^ 
cents per quart unless he has to pay more than 26 
cents freight and five cents 'ferriage. A microscope 
would be needed to discover any very good reason 
for this cut. The receipts have not increased ma¬ 
terially, but it is claimed that consumption is less¬ 
ened, as is usually the case iu cold weather, thus 
creating a surplus. 
* 
The new license iaw, which went into effect in 
Great Britain January 1, makes drunkenness a legal 
offence even when not accompanied by disorder. The 
habitual drunkard is black-listed, the police making a 
list in each district of persons who have been convict¬ 
ed of drunkenness three times within a year. This 
list, with photographs, is to be supplied to all public¬ 
ans, who will be heavily fined for selling drink to 
such persons, and lose their licenses for repeated 
offence. People treating habitual drunkards will be 
heavily fined, and also intoxicated persons in charge 
of children. 
* 
At the recent meeting of the New York Fruit Grow¬ 
ers hundred of farmers carried their appetite for apple 
with them and called for their favorite fruit at the 
hotels. Good judges declare that our old friend H. S. 
Wiley, of Cayuga, N. Y., called for more baked apples 
than any other man in the convention. He was there¬ 
fore elected president of the American Apple Con¬ 
sumers’ League! He is fully qualified to explain and 
demonstrate the principles of the League. We sug¬ 
gest that members write him for full particulars. 
Grant Hitchings and H. L. Brown ran a neck and 
neck race with Mr. Wiley. 
• 
FAHMEiis sometimes vote with the postage stamp 
without clearly understanding what they are doing. 
Here is an illustration. Land grabbers are trying to 
obtain possession of the public lands. They have 
seized vast tracts of this land, fenced it, and now hold 
it illegally—keeping out home-seekers who could use 
the land for small farms. In order to secure them¬ 
selves they are trying to force through Congress a 
bill which provides for the leasing of this land at 
tiro cents per acre. If this bill becomes a law these 
large cattle men will soon control all the public land 
that has any value for grazing. In order to obtain 
support for this bill these cattle men are urging 
stock breeders all through the Central West to vote 
iritti the postaye stamp and urge their Congressmen to 
vote for it. The argument is that if these illegal 
fences are taken down and the cattle men forced to 
stay on their own land as every respectable farmer 
east of them is obliged to do, there will be less de¬ 
mand for eastern purebred cattle! Strange to say. 
some of these breeders are actually working for the 
bill on this ground. We do not believe that a loss 
in their trade will follow if the land grabbers are 
denied the privilege of enriching themselves at Uncle 
Sam’s expense. In any event these wealthy cattle 
kings have no right to gobble up this land so long 
as an acre of it is fit for a poor man’s home. The bill 
should bo killed as dead as a door nail and then the 
nail may be sharpened into a brad to punch these 
grabbers away from the land they do not own! 
• 
Here we have a suggestion from a friend in Maine: 
1 want to say If you have any expense by way of law¬ 
suit, I would urge that all readers of the paper contribute 
a certain sum, say 10 to 26 cents, for there are many who 
would have been robbed if some caution had not been 
thrown out. e. p. c. 
We like the spirit which prompts such a note. Law¬ 
suits are always expensive. We cheerfully put up the 
monej'. It is part of the duty we assume when we 
claim to be the friend of the farmer! If any reader 
really feels that coin burn in his pocket we suggest 
that he use it to pay for a short-term subscription 
for some friend or neighbor! 
m 
Now then, ye scientific men, here are three things 
that fruit growers and gardeners want: 
1. A better and more reliable fungicide than the 
common Bordeaux Mixture. 
2. A mixture that will kill Potato beetles and not 
injure the vines. 
3. A remedy for the Melon blight that will enable 
us to grow good melons. 
If you gentlemen have any desire to win a slice of 
everlasting gratitude we advise you to move in the 
direction of one of these things. Of course we under¬ 
stand that you may say Bordeaux Mixture and Paris- 
green are good enough. There are thousands of prac¬ 
tical men who do not agree with you. Excuse us if 
we say that it’s up to you to come down to them! 
* 
Just now the public press teems with announce¬ 
ments of successful flying machines. First one emi¬ 
nent scientist* then another, has made a practical air¬ 
ship, or some obscure inventor has demonstrated the 
possibilities of a dirigible balloon. Except as a mat¬ 
ter of news, however, the mass of people do not great¬ 
ly care for the idea of flying machines. The prospect 
of collapse at soaring heights is not alluring. The 
law of gravitation is about the only law thoroughly 
respected by the average citizen with a heavy-weight- 
ed conscience. Fast railroads, trolleys and steamships 
are speedy enough for the great majority. What is 
universally wanted is a machine for squeezing the 
water out of our over-capitalized present transporta¬ 
tion facilities, so that the expense of getting about 
may bear a juster proportion to the real cost of op¬ 
erating. 
A F-i-MOus English lawsuit recently decided is that 
of the Taff Vale Railway Company against the Amal¬ 
gamated Society of Railway Servants, a labor union, 
for injury done its property and business during a 
strike. Damages of over $100,000 have been awarded. 
This establishes the principle that though a labor 
union may not be incorporated, it may be compelled 
to pay out of its funds for injuries to persons or prop¬ 
erty or damage to business caused by unlawful acts 
committed in pursuance of its rules or by the orders 
of its officers. This is not due to any special statute, 
but to the principle that there must be reparation for 
any damage done to common rights, and that indi¬ 
viduals cannot so combine their responsibility by as¬ 
sociation as to oppose a principle of justice. The pre¬ 
cedent established by this English suit is likely to 
affect labor unions everywhere in their methods and 
organization. 
About 15 years ago we met a young farmer at an 
institute. The silo was then little known in the lo¬ 
cality, and some one had brought a sample of silage 
for exhibition. It was poor stuff made from green 
corn and not well packed—probably a ffrst attempt. 
The young farmer shook his head at it. We well re¬ 
member his words: “I would rather feed good swill 
to my cows!” Seven years later we visited that 
farmer at his home. There were two good silos in 
the barn. As the fragrant silage went into the man¬ 
gers we recalled his former remark. “Yes,” he said, 
‘if I had held to my first belief that such stuff fairly 
represented a silo I should never have huilt one. That 
rotten stuff was only a suggestion of what silage can 
be if a man will learn how to make it. I have tried 
to learn how!” There is an illustration of one way 
iu which improvement in farming grows. A new 
thought is presented to a farmer. At first it offends 
him. It seems absurd and rubs hard against his 
strongest prejudice. Yet it hums him, and work as 
hard as he can against it he cannot drive it away. It 
is alive, he cannot kill it—sooner or later it becomes 
a part of his purpose and ambition. How is life given 
to such a thought? By putting into it sincere, earn¬ 
est conviction and hopeful enthusiasm. 
* 
What business has a farmer to say what Cornell 
University shall do with the Agricultural College? 
All the business in the world! If it had not been for 
the land grant fund—or property laid aside for the 
education of the farmer—there would not be any 
Cornell University to-day! It was the rise in price 
of the lands donated by the Government for agricul¬ 
tural education that saved Cornell from bankruptcy 
and gave her a noble endowment! We also claim that 
the Agricultural College under Prof. Roberts has done 
more to advertise the University than any other ad¬ 
vertising feature. The agricultural teachers have 
gone out to the people. Bulletins and pamphlets have 
carried news of Cornell into thousands of homes and 
made friends and students for the University. 'These 
facts make it clear that the farmer has a perfect right 
to take a hand in the effort to build up his college. 
More than that, it is his duty to do so. Have you 
written Gov. Odell yet that you favor a new agricul¬ 
tural building at Cornell? If not, you are neglecting 
a duty! 
* 
The plant breeder is now strongly in evidence as a 
necessary factor in progressive horticulture. The 
high value of his labors in molding plant life to the 
needs of civilization is widely recognized. All are 
willing to admit he is a useful individual in a general 
way, but few consider the scanty and precarious com¬ 
pensation for even his most successful efforts. Now 
and then a big yarn, detailing some fabulous price re¬ 
ceived for a plant novelty by the originator, filters 
through the public pre.ss, but investigation usually 
shows that the actual sum received, if the story is not 
wholly false, is only a moderate return for past ex¬ 
penditures, and cannot in any manner be considei’ed 
a profit The public seldom hears of, and cares noth¬ 
ing for the countless costly failures always made by 
those engaged in the work. The law gives the origi¬ 
nator of new plants no protection. His products are 
ordinary merchandise, and their vital powers of re¬ 
production may be utilized by anyone in whose hands 
they may come without restriction. The breeder of 
poultry and animals has at least the advantage of 
starting with a commodity of known value which he 
may greatly increase, but scarcely reduce by his ex¬ 
periments, but the unsuccessful products of plant¬ 
breeding work are always worthless from the com¬ 
mercial standpoint. There is much talk of plant 
breeding among the publicly supported experiment 
stations, but the practical output is remarkably small 
when their fine equipments and ample facilities are 
considered. Plant-breeding as an occupation will not 
tolerate divided allegiance, and the station workers 
generally have many other things to look after. When 
a real genius in selection and hybridization arises 
and is given hearty support by a well-established 
horticultural experiment station or botanic garden 
we may look for sensational results, but he is likely 
to have great difficulty in establishing his first claims 
to consideration. 
BREVITIES. 
‘‘The truth hurts!” Hurts what? 
Don’t lean too much on a fat purse. 
There Is too much implied science In the bulletins. 
They say the rural school is doomed. We would make 
a big fight for it yet. 
Can you make a pig weigh one pound of dressed meat 
for each of 225 days of age? 
The man who’s afraid with the truth at his side, could 
never be master of fate if he tried. 
Buckwheat fed to laying fowls has a tendency to cause 
light-colored yolks, says a correspondent on page 47. 
A TRUST in parrots is now reported. Perhaps Polly has 
formed a merger to meet the cracker trust. 
When land in the Middle West rises above $50 per acre 
in value farmers see that they cannot afford to waste 
cornstalks! 
California bee-keepers have imitated their busy little 
helpers and formed a stock company for the sale of their 
honey. Of course, a man may learn from a bee. 
The Pennsylvania State Game Commission recommends 
that aliens and non-residents be compelled to take out a 
license before being allowed to hunt in that State. 
Prof. Fernow says that at the present rate of con¬ 
sumption the timber supply of the United States will only 
last another 30 years. It might be just as well to start 
replanting your wood lot this year. 
The White Star steamer Cedric, recently launched at 
Belfast, Ireland, is the largest ocean liner in the world, 
her length, 700 feet, being eight feet longer than the Great 
lOastern. She will carry a population of 3,350 persons, and 
cost £732,000 to build. 
The California State Fruit Growers have a committee 
to try to solve the help question. They will attempt to 
induce desirable men and women to come into the State 
for employment. Is there any spot between the two 
oceans where the hired man problem Is settled? 
