8 
THK RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
January 3 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TEK /iUS/XFSS FA/rVE’E'S PAf^’h'. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
KilnbU^ihf'l lf>A(K 
IIKKHKKT W. Coi.l.lNGtvooi). Kditor. 
t)U. WALTF.lt Van Fliet. ) „ 
Mus. F-. T. Royle. Associates. 
John J. Dillon. Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
'I'o forcig:n countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
tMinal to .Ss. 6d., or 814 marks, oi' 10'4 francs. 
“A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement In this paper is 
backed by a resitonsible iierson. Hut to make doubly 
sure we will make 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 triflitig ilifferences 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 The Rural New- 
'S ORKER when writing the adverli.ser. 
Name and address of sender, and what the remittance 
is for, should appear in every letter. 
Remitt.ances ma.v be made in money order, express 
onler, personal check or bank draft. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 1903. 
10 Weeks for 10 Cents, 
At this time w'e wish to thank our good friends for 
the interest they are taking in introducing The R. 
N.-Y. to their neighbors and friends on this 10 weeks 
for 10 cents plan. At no other time in the history of 
the paper did names ever come in so fast, and from 
so many quarters of the country. This is a great en¬ 
couragement to us, and gives us our best inspiration 
to make it a help to the farmer who reads it, and a 
power for good to the w'hole agricultural interests of 
the country. We simply want you who have helped 
in this work to know that your interest has been ap¬ 
preciated. 
* 
We are always sorry to see a good man stop in the 
fight for a worthy object to claim that he started the 
conflict. Such a man seems to be afraid that some 
one else will get a share of the glory which he right¬ 
ly claims. If a man is w'orking for glory this may be 
a proper thing to do, but who that ever deliberately 
“worked” for it was ever really glorified? No man 
ever handles glory without leaving finger-marks on it! 
m 
No! No! The farmer has a chance yet Don’t sit 
down and grieve. Take your pen and vote icith the 
postage stamp! Get a clear idea of what you want 
and then tell the story to those who represent you at 
the State and National Capital. Afraid that your 
letter will count for nothing? There is just where 
you make your mistake. A strong letter from you 
may be more effective than your vote. Lick a stamp 
for the farmer’s rights. 
* 
Have you voted for Prof. L. H. Bailey as head of 
the New York College of Agriculture to succeed Prof. 
I. P. Roberts? If not you should do so at once. No 
matter where you live write to President J. G. Schur- 
man, Ithaca, N. Y., and tell him what you want. 
Under Prof. Bailey the college will assume National 
importance, hence every interested farmer in the 
country has a right to put his pen into it. Let’s 
build a popular structure w’ith words for bricks and 
ink for mortar. 
* 
From the recent article on page 853, last volume, 
the reader might conclude that there are no short 
courses in agriculture at Cornell. There is a two- 
years’ course which is confined almost exclusively to 
agriculture. The short Winter courses are also very 
useful. We know this because we have made a per¬ 
sonal study of them. We are glad to state that the 
coming Winter’s course will have nearly 40 per cent 
more students than ever before! 
• 
A BiLi. now before Congress provides for the leas¬ 
ing for grazing purposes of the vacant public domain. 
It should be killed so dead that it will never be heard 
from again! In 16 States and Territories there are 
525,000,000 acres of land—practically all that is left 
of the vast tract of public lands originally designed 
for home-seekers. The great cattle herders and land 
speculators want to gobble up this land. This bill 
will enable them to do so by paying a yearly rent of 
tiro cents an acre! The bill is drawn in such a cun¬ 
ning way that were it to be passed every acre of 
desirable public land w’ould be placed out of the reach 
of the real home-seeker. From the standpoint of the 
small freeholder this bill opens a chance for the most 
shameless land grab yet known in this country. The 
bill must be defeated and the Government must grab 
these land grabbers by the most convenient handle 
and throw them off the land which thej' occupy with¬ 
out warrant! 
* 
Some of the business men who have talked most 
about the country’s prosperity are quite annoyed be¬ 
cause workingmen are calling for higher wages! If 
the general prosperiiy is as great as we have been 
told, certainly all classes of people should profit by 
it. If the cost of living is advanced a larger income 
is required—or else a poorer living. So far as farm¬ 
ers are concerned they are always best off w’hen the 
working people or middle class of town and city are 
best paid. A dollar gets to the farmhouse quicker 
through a workingman’s pocketbook than through a 
millionaire’s safe. 
* 
Foil many years the Provinces of eastern Canada 
have .sent a .stream of men and women across the 
iKU’der into this country. This is one chief reason 
why the population of Canada has increased at a rate 
far below that of our own. Now a counter sti-eam is 
flowing back across the border into the w'estern Prov¬ 
inces of Canada. This is composed mainly of farm¬ 
ers from Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota and the 
Dakotas. Most of them seem to have sold their farms 
at fair prices, and have gone to the Northwest after 
new grain lands! The movement of Canadians to 
this country changed the aspect of New England 
manufacturing, but the northw’ard movement of the 
Yankees is likely to have much greater effect upon the 
history, not only of Canada, but of all North America. 
* 
Still another swindling scheme is reported from 
Illinois. Quantities of letters have been received at 
one post office from a New York collection agency, 
all being to the effect that the recipient of the letter 
had received jewelry from a New York firm, and that 
unless the sum due, $1.20, was immediately remitted, 
suit would be instituted. Of course these letters are 
nothing but an attempt at blackmail, but it is quite 
likely that many innocent persons, frightened by the 
threat conveyed, have paid the tribute demanded. 
Post office inspectors notify postmasters that recipi¬ 
ents of such letters are to ignore them. This scheme 
of sending fraudulent dunning letters through so- 
called collection agencies is a particularly annoying 
one, and is very likely to be extended to the rural 
routes. Don’t be frightened into paying money you 
don’t owe, and bring such blackmailers to the notice 
of the post office inspectors. 
• 
SoMB discouragements aside, we have received no 
little inspiration and much encouragement in our 
fight for the farmers’ interests in the many kindly 
and appreciative letters from subscribers. Here is a 
typical one from Michigan: 
There are many good reasons why I take The R. N.-Y., 
most of which have already been given by your excellent 
friends in better language than I could command, but 
there is no reason stronger than this, that you have got 
yourself into an expensive lawsuit by your sturdy de¬ 
fense of our interests, and I for one am going to stand 
right by you just as I would stand by any friend who 
had got himself into trouble on my account. May God 
give you courage to stand up for the right in the future 
as you have done in the past, and believe me, we shall 
never allow you to regret it. m. b. b. 
Our friend backs up his words by sending a list of 
names and cash for several new subscribers. While 
we cannot attempt to publish all, we take this oppor¬ 
tunity publicly to thank all w'ho have contributed 
approval and help in this substantial way. We did 
not provoke the lawsuit for our own health, or plea- 
.snre, or comfort. We simply knew that for want of 
the information that was wiihin our reach, farmers 
were induced to part with their hard-earned cash, 
without any prospect or even hope of a fair equiv¬ 
alent. They w'ere asked to pay high prices for goods 
that were basely misrepresented to them, and induced 
to make investments in stocks that had little if any¬ 
thing back of the paper upon which they were writ¬ 
ten. In several sections of New York and other 
States, farmers were subscribing to these schemes 
even to the amount of $12,000 to $15,000 in single 
locations, and we felt it our duty, as the spokesman 
of the farmer and the guardian of his interests, to 
caution him against investments of this kind. We 
got into the lawsuit then in an honest effort to benefit 
the farmers. We regard this work as a legitimate 
part of agricultural journalism. We believe the farm 
paper that neglects this duty, is missing an opportu¬ 
nity to be useful and helpful to the people who sup¬ 
port it. For our part we do not believe our full duty 
is done when we help a man produce a big crop. We 
believe in going on with him. so as to help sell it, 
and if not always to assist him in a good investment 
for it at least to protect him against bad ones. The 
only shade of discouragement that has come to us 
tliiis far is the recent publishing of the advertisement 
of the offending concern in the other two farm papers 
published in this State. From past experience we 
hardly expected these paper.s to come to our assist¬ 
ance In the matter, and to repeat the warning that 
we have already given to our readers. We were not 
prepared to believe, however, that they would go over 
to the side of the enemy in a fight of this kind, in 
which it would seem that the injury to one was the 
concern of all. As prudent business men, however, 
we take it for granted that they looked up the stand¬ 
ing of the advertiser in the commercial ratings, and 
that they insisted on cash in advance for the adver¬ 
tising. In .so far as we have been able to le^rn, the 
Ohio Farmer is the only other agricultural paper in 
the country that has uttered one word of warning to 
its readers, or referred in any way to the suit brought 
against The R. N.-Y. While fighting alone in the 
midst of our immediate neighbors, we welcome this 
word of cheer and help from our friends in Ohio. 
There is encouragement, how-ever, in fighting the .suit 
in the support and expressed approval of the farmers 
all over the country, and we expect to continue right 
on, striking the best blows that we can for the farm¬ 
er when his interests demand it. regardless of con¬ 
sequences. 
* 
Will farmers who grow corn, peas, tomatoes and 
otlier farm crops for the canners tell us what prices 
are offered this year? The outlook for canned goods 
is promising. Prices are likely to rule high, and 
there is no apparent reason why the canners should 
not pay fair prices for what they buy. If there is any 
prosperity to be carved up The R. N.-Y. wants to see 
that its friends get a fair share of the white meat. 
There are business carvers who will pass out nothing 
but drumsticks and neck unless they get a strong 
hint from across the table. Tell us what the canners 
are offering you! 
Those suggestions about cleaning grease from 
kitchen drain pipes on page 865 omitted reference to 
one very important fact, and that is the possibility 
that the use of lye, as recommended, aids in forming 
the obstruction, rather than removing it, since it will 
unite with the grease and form soap. No wonder 
that a hard gray mass results. Washing soda is al¬ 
ways preferable; it should be used in strong boiling 
solution once a week. If, in addition to this, there is 
a thorough flushing with clear boiling water every 
day, there is little risk of obstructed pipes. Grease 
and coffee grounds together are a prolific source of 
obstruction. If soiled dishes and cooking utensils 
are properly prepared for washing it is possible to re¬ 
duce the amount of escaping grease very materially. 
The sink is no place for waste grease, and the first 
responsibility for obstructed pipes may be laid upon 
carelessly performed housework, if the plumbing has 
been properly constructed in the first place. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
Ruralisms puts the scale in the scales this week. 
Read the reports from farmers who have tried “after- 
milking," page 9. 
better walk with the old farm friends than to run 
after strange gods. 
A GILL grows into a peck when the gill contains whisky 
and the peck is filled with trouble. 
Perpetual egg production comes to pass when we 
combine the hen with water glass. 
Let your light so shine that men cannot hide it under 
a bushel. Make it set the bushel on fire! 
A CORN is a root gall. An expensive remedy for it is 
to own two pair of shoes and wear them on alternate 
days. 
Before I’d nose the grindstone with commission man 
at treadle, I’d harness up old Dobbin and see what I 
could peddle. 
What proportion of people you know make use of 
“canned thoughts”—that is, thoughts fixed up for them 
by some one else? 
Hunters must be fierce in Michigan from what Ibis 
man says: “Hardly safe to ripen a pumpkin around this 
town without sitting on it.’’ 
One good way to teach agriculture in the public schools 
is to take a shingle to every insignficant little sniff who 
sneers or laughs at a farmer and his calling! 
Shame on the man who feels a sense of shame when he 
writes “farmer” opposite his name. Lift up your eyes 
and feel a noble pride that you may labor close to Na¬ 
ture’s side. 
The western boys will wonder at that rocky New 
England pasture pictured on first page! There isn’t 
much Blue grass and clover there, but it is still able to 
send out some first-class crops. 
It is a common belief that every man w’ho attempts 
to help along some public benefit does it from a selfish 
motive—to help himself. A good job for you this new 
year is to disprove that statement. 
COMMIS.SIONER FOLKS, Of the New York Department of 
Charities, says that the dietary of the institutions under 
his charge would be improved by a more liberal use of 
milk, eggs, butter and vegetables. The producers will 
agree with that opinion. 
