72 
January 31 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FABMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert w. Collinqwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Vax Fleet, ( 
Mrs. E. T. Royle, Associates. 
JOHx J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal Postal Union, J2.04, 
equal to 8s. 6d., or 8^4 marks, or 10^ francs. 
“ A SaUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement In this paper Is 
backed by a responsible person. But 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 trifling 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 to us within one month of the time of the trans¬ 
action, and you must have mentioned The Rural New- 
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 31, 1903. 
10 Weeks for 10 Cents* 
Examination of records shows that more new sub¬ 
scriptions were received at this office for The R. N.-Y. 
on January 2, 1903, than were ever before received 
here on a single day. The total of new and renewed 
subscriptions also exceeded any previous record. The 
interest of our good friends all over the country is 
responsible for this showing. It is encouraging be¬ 
cause we take it as an expression of approval in the 
main of the paper’s policy and work for agricultural 
interests. The R. N.-Y. table is set to accommodate 
a family of 100,000 regular weekly diners. There are 
yet some vacant seats. Can’t you bring one or two 
at a cent a plate for at least 10 weeks? 
• 
Scientific men are hopeful that the lime, salt and 
sulphur wash will prove very useful as a general in¬ 
secticide. They are now making it by using caustic 
potash instead of boiling the mixture, and the experi¬ 
ments are very encouraging. Good! Our scientific 
friends must not sit down upon Paris-green and Bor¬ 
deaux Mixture and say they have reached the end of 
their journey! 
* 
There are some who profess to sneer at the at- 
tem.pts made by certain members of Congress to pass 
bills for regulating the trusts. While we are not hope¬ 
ful that the present Congress will settle the question 
we do believe that these bills indicate the growing 
feeling among the people. They show that the slow 
and conservative common people are studying their 
way out of the old fixed habits of thought and political 
prejudice. It is coming, slowly it is true, but none the 
less surely—the protest of the honest small property 
holder in defense of his rights! 
• 
The "moth-trap” man is beginning his annual 
Spring fishing for people who like to believe that In¬ 
sects will save dur spraying bills by committing sui¬ 
cide. This good-natured old humbug would have us 
believe that day-fiying insects will break all fixed 
habits in order to accommodate his trap and fiy into 
it at all hours. A large proportion of the insects 
which this device traps do us more good than harm. 
We do not advise its use. The claim that it will en¬ 
able an apple grower to give up spraying Is nonsense! 
The following description of some habits of a farm¬ 
er is written by a farmer: 
He just dotes on delegating others to attend to his 
political affairs for him, also the larger portion of his 
most Important business affairs. If there is any wood to 
chop or other back-breaking manual labor to perform 
that job’s "hls’n.” If there’s any economizing to be done 
(and there usually Is plenty), that job is his wife’s. How 
honored he feels to be spoken to by the judge or Con¬ 
gressman he supports In luxury to attend to his business 
for him, always in the other fellow’s favor. 
Of course this doesn’t hit you in any way—but does 
it hit your neighbor? We ask you and your neighbor 
the same question! 
When husking one occasionally finds an ear of corn 
about as near perfection as could be asked. Such an 
ear is valuable, worth more than a dollar, having in 
it possibilities of seed improvement which no farmer 
can afford to ignore. Instead of mixing it with the 
less desirable seed, plant it and half a dozen more 
ears of the same type, if they can be found, in a block 
by themselves on one side of the field. Then select 
the finest of the crop, and in a few years there will 
be enough selected for the whole planting. But keep 
right on with the selection. It takes but little time 
each year, and no work will pay better. Besides, there 
is real satisfaction in having a hand in the improve¬ 
ment of anything, whether plant, animal or man. 
Now is the time to Iqok over the seed, before the rush 
of planting comes. This is called “seed breeding,” but 
a farmer must have a clear idea of what a good ear 
should be. 
We call your attention to the following note: 
2 !^ ‘^Lerxr^ O-dxJiL, » 
* f 
Mr. Yeomans is ex-president of the New York State 
Fruit Growers’ Association. All know him as a man 
of high character, great ability and extended infiu- 
ence. Such a man would not take a hand in this cam¬ 
paign unless he felt that the object is a worthy one, 
and that there is need of his services. He is right in 
saying that if all fruit growers will vote with the post¬ 
age stamp the battle will soon be won. For farmers 
may as well make up their minds now that there is a 
battle before them. They can win a clean and en¬ 
during victory if they will—not by sitting down and 
waiting for the politicians, but by following the ex¬ 
ample of Mr. Yeomans at once. The R. N.-Y. has 
never asked its readers to use a stamp for an un¬ 
worthy object, and it never will. Here is a noble 
cause—entirely outside of “politics.” Lick a stamp 
for the education of the farmer! 
m 
The "Hope Farm man” recently spoke of selling a 
pony belonging to a child. This is the sort of thing 
that does as much to drive children from the farm 
and destroy the confidence between parent and child 
as anything we know of. The little one takes the 
young animal, believing it is all his, and learns to 
love it in a way that Father cannot understand. That 
is usually the trouble with Father—he has grown 
away from such love as the little one bestows upon 
the calf or colt or pig. Father does not realize how 
the child feels when he tramples on its sense of own¬ 
ership and sells the animal—and pockets the money. 
The hard, practical things of life have crystallized his 
love around a dollar! If a man really gave the ani¬ 
mal to the child he has no more moral right to sell it 
for his own benefit than he has to steal his neighbor’s 
horse or cow and sell that! We use strong language 
about this, because we know that the confidence and 
love of the child ought to be worth more to the 
farmer than all the dollars his live stock will bring! 
Never give your child an animal unless you are will¬ 
ing to hold his property rights sacred. 
Last. year we gave an account of some boxed apples 
which were sold in Atlanta, Ga., by Henry Lutts. 
Readers will be interested in the following note from 
Mr. Lutts written January 3 of this year: 
This was the first lot of boxed apples ever offered In 
Atlanta, Ga., and I could only get one man to try them. 
He found they would sell and used the entire lot. This 
year I had about the same number of boxes come in a 
car, and I saw the man who bought the first lot of boxed 
apples I offered, and he at once said he wanted at least 
half of them, and would undoubtedly want more. I saw 
a few other men shortly after, and each took a part. 
Within two hours after offering the half-car of boxes 
all were disposed of, and the first party telephoned say¬ 
ing he would use the entire lot. I am satisfied the de¬ 
mand Is rapidly growing and for this climate and for 
strictly prime fruit the box Is just the package. Another 
thing worth mentioning; the good quality of the New 
York apple gives It a preference far ahead of the west¬ 
ern fruit. 
That is the way it seems to go everywhere. At first 
the boxes are not very popular because the small 
package is new and the commission men are not in¬ 
terested In it. Once let the consumers realize what 
the box means and they want it. The box is just the 
package for southern markets. There is no question 
about the demand for high-class apples that may be 
developed in the Southern States. 
* 
An example of what is lost by failure to pick up the 
“reading habit” in youth is given by many a dis¬ 
contented old man. He may be well-to-do, an active, 
well-spent life has provided him with all that man 
may need to supply bodily comforts. Yet he is often 
unhappy, for as the physical powers decline there is 
nothing to take their place. While he can no longer 
shoulder the ax and follow the plow as he did 25 
years ago, the wealth of the world’s thought lies be¬ 
fore him in books. Alas! He was never trained to 
read and study, and thus the years of life which 
should be the calmest and most helpful are wasted 
and unhappy. It is, of course, possible to overdo the 
"reading habit” and give the child an artificial view 
of life, yet it is a part of man’s best development to 
love a book and look to it for consolation. 
• 
We have always contended that men who beat their 
wives are not entitled to mercy at the hands of the 
law. We favor the whipping post for such rascals! 
The probation officers in New York now put such 
fiends at work on Riker’s Island, where ashes from 
the city are dumped. Several months at sifting and 
shoveling ashes takes much of the fight out of 
these women-beaters. One man who was caught in 
the act was sent to prison and given a job as a clerk. 
He served his term and in two months was back again 
for whipping his wife. This time he was given a 
shovel Instead of a pen, and put on the ash heap. 
There is little more fight left in him. The job of sift¬ 
ing the home ashes has led to many a family jar—it 
may well be used to jar the fight out of a wife beater. 
Give them the worst job in the jail. They deserve it. 
* 
It is practically decided by the Congressional Post 
Office Committee to appropriate $12,000,000 for the 
rural free delivery service during the coming fiscal 
year. Five years ago the service began with a modest 
appropriation of $40,000. There were then 44 free de¬ 
livery routes; there are now 12,500, and the De¬ 
partment means to establish 10,000 more. These car¬ 
riers travel daily over 275,000 miles, and serve about 
7,000,000 rural dwellers. Publishers of daily papers 
and periodicals have much reason to bless the rural 
mail delivery, for it has added very materially to 
their subscription lists. On the other hand, those 
who are on a rural route feel that they are no longer 
cut off from the advantages of the outside world; the 
arrival of the mail forms a welcome break in the 
monotony of a dull Winter day, and prompt acquaint¬ 
ance with market news often turns the scale towards 
profit for the business farmer. Now we want Uncle 
Sam’s post office to give us parcel delivery and sav¬ 
ings banks. Are not country people more interested 
in these conveniences than anyone else? 
* 
BREVITIES. 
Don’t have a skating pond In the cow yard. 
Plenty of bedding for the hogpen—less squeal. 
Yes, a barked tree is likely to go to the dogs! 
Look out for defective chimneys this cold windy 
weather. 
We have heard of a new seedling strawberry named 
Ben Davis. 
Now we learn of a potato plant 12 feet high—growing 
in a California garden. 
You do not spray to poison sucking insects, but to hit 
them on the outside. 
Who has used potash alone as a top-dressing for 
meadows? Did it pay? 
The latest proposition is a ginseng trust! The American 
people have already trusted too long in the stories of the 
ginseng boomers. 
Axways use a complete fertilizer unless you are sure 
that one element is not needed! How does anyone make 
sure of anything? 
The coal famine has taught many families to sift the 
ashes. They find how small a proportion of the real 
heating power of the coal is utilized at the first burning. 
It is reported that blood poisoning may be overcome 
by injecting formalin Into the veins! This is the sub¬ 
stance used to destroy the scab disease on potatoes. 
The suggestion made on page 79 that buckwheat should 
not be given to hens on a dark day, because It Is diffi¬ 
cult for them to see the grains, sounds like good prac¬ 
tical sense. 
A SCIENTIST may tell a man how to make and use Bor¬ 
deaux Mixture, but not having had control of his ances¬ 
tors they may not be able to make him use it carefully 
and thoroughly! 
A READER has invented a machine which “saves mother 
a sleepless night by giving a dose to the babe!” That is 
all right for mother, but tough on the child. There are 
too many people now who are willing to cope with trouble 
by giving It “dope.” 
Few have left a better record than Abram S. Hewitt. 
His unflinching integrity, industry, business foresight and 
genuine interest in all that pertains to good government, 
made him a forceful character in private and public life, 
a type of citizen whose departure leaves a real vacancy. 
