i34 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
February 21 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert W. Coi.lingwood, Editor. 
Ur. Walter Vax 
Mrs. b. t. Koyi.E 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
AN Fleet, ( . 
Mrs. B. T. Koyle, Associates. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal Postal Union, J2.04, 
equal to Ss. 6d., or 8'^ mark.s, or francs. 
“ A SQUARE 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 subscribens 
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 hone.st 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. FEBRUARY 21, 1903. 
Join the Procession I 
The following larger farmers’ organizations in New 
York State have put themselves on record as favoring 
an appropriation this year for the Agricultural Col¬ 
lege: 
New York State Grange. 
New York State Breeders’ Association. 
New York State Dairymen’s Association. 
New York State Fruit Growers’ Association. 
Western New York Horticultural Society. 
Niagara County Farmers’ Club. 
Orleans County Horticultural Society. 
Other smaller societies are coming into line. Det 
every Grange and farmers’ club in the State go on 
record. Send us the name as soon as action is taken, 
that we may print it here. 
* 
In Pennsylvania too Uie farmers are making a 
brave effort to improve the State agricultural college. 
They ask an appropriation from the Legislature to 
put tlie college on a strong foundation. Good! Every 
farmer in the State should help push this thing along. 
The time is ripe for a forward movement. Push it! 
* 
The following letter from a woman in Georgia is 
respectfully referred to our Ben Davis friends; 
Why can we never get any good northern-grown apples? 
This Winter I hear the same complaint as for several 
years past. All we can buy are mealy, not juicy, and to 
my taste, unfit for eating or cooking. 
You do not get good northern apples because they 
offer you Ben Davis! We do not wonder that people 
stop eating apples and buy oranges after a trial of 
mealy old Ben! Some day our western fruit growers 
will wake up and find that we tell them the truth, 
witliout prejudice, when we say that Ben Davis hurts 
the apple trade. 
m 
Two St. Louis men who were recently convicted of 
illegal use of the mails took in about ?10,000 through 
their scheme, which was merely an appeal to people 
who always hope to get something for nothing. They 
advertised extensively, offering a leather pocketbook, 
fine handkerchief, and “genuine Canadian seal col¬ 
larette” as premiums for selling a few articles of 
cheap jewelry. This was such an alluring offer that 
at least 5,000 people sent them $2 each for the jewelry, 
but when they asked for the collarette the “company” 
informed them that they must send $8 and sell that 
much more jewelry, after which they would receive 
the fur piece. A number did so, and received a fur 
neck-piece worth about $3.50. Uncle Sam has put a 
stop to this business for the time being, but there are 
plenty of get-something-for-nothing mail-workers 
still on the wrong side of the prison bars, and it is 
wise, when reading their misleading advertisements, 
to apply the test of common sense to their glittering 
promises. A man who really wishes to give away 
twice the value of what he receives can do it easily 
without advertising, and it is safe to assume that 
no “get-rich-quick” worker is in the business merely 
for his soul’s health. Unfortunately, these advertis¬ 
ers make their strongest appeal to honest and indus¬ 
trious people whose work brings them little ready 
money, and especially to young women in rural 
homes, who, while comfortably housed and clad, are 
denied by force of circumstances the privileges of 
wage earners. The R. N.-Y. has been obliged to 
print many warnings against swindlers of this class 
in the past, and will, no doubt reiterate these warn¬ 
ings in the future. 
Those Ohio nursery rogues are at work early this 
year. Their agents come and offer several new varie¬ 
ties of peaches about which wonderful stories are 
told. They charge 50 cents each for the trees by the 
100, or sell a “half interest” in trees for 25 cents, the 
remainder to be paid when the trees bear. The varie¬ 
ties are unknown—that is, they do not appear in any 
of the lists which have been carefully prepared by our 
best fruit growers. When asked why these varieties 
are not thus listed these rogues reply that they “are 
too valuable,” and that the owner has been able to 
hold all the stock, etc. This traudulent business has 
been exposed again and again, and we warn our read¬ 
ers that they will surely be disappointed if they in¬ 
vest money in any such schemes. Give such fellows 
the dog rather than the dollar. 
* 
Dublnh the year ending January 1, 1902, Americans 
exported $3,391,940 worth of green apples and $2,147,- 
660 worth of the dried fruit. To show what this ex¬ 
port trade means compare these figures: 
Total Exports for 1902. 
Apples .$5,539,600 
All mowers and reapers. 8,894,542 
All horses . 6,086,012 
All fertilizers . 6,576,810 
All furs . 6,080,424 
All boots and shoes. 6,470,412 
All butter . 1,681,723 
All cheese . 2,109,347 
All vegetables . 2,312,749 
Thus it will be seen that our friend the American 
apple plays a respectable part in our foreign trade. 
Our total exports of all fruits and nuts last year came 
to $15,253,349. During the same year there were im¬ 
ported from other countries $23,128,837 worth of nuts 
and fruits. The largest items were $7,950,978 worth 
of bananas and $3,395,628 worth of lemons. The 
American Apple Consumers’ League must take a hand 
in this, and head off the foreigners by increasing the 
demand for good apples! 
Tius California State Fruit Growers appear to be 
laboring with the labor question. They have a com¬ 
mittee at work in the hope of locating laborers and 
securing them for farmers. The following statement 
of the accommodations for bed and board offered these 
laborers gives one powerful reason for the scarcity of 
good hands in California; 
Almost any old thing from a snooze on the top of a 
rail fence to a noisome bunk with a ragged blanket and 
a little foul hay has been the rule. The rule, did we say? 
We are wrong, and the average orchardist knows it. So 
much has not been provided. The laborer too often has 
been expected to provide his own blanket and his own 
hay and his own cooking facilities, and this very prac¬ 
tice has done more to breed hobos in this State than a 
dozen other causes combined. Give a man such treat¬ 
ment as this and what can be expected of him? Treated 
worse than a dog, he loses all self-respect, and when that 
is gone one finds in him an enemy of society, a fellow who 
is fit for almost any crime. 
That is a good way to ruin the hired man. De¬ 
prive a man of a home and such comforts as he de¬ 
serves and you are driving him down the scaie of 
civilization, when it is your duty to try to lift him up. 
* 
S 11 . 4 .LL a farmer buy the ready-mixed fertiiizers or 
buy the ingredients and mix them himself? The 
fertilizer manufacturers make all manner of fun of 
“home mixing,” and claim that their goods are bet¬ 
ter. The scientific men, on the other hand, are fond 
of saying that the only scientific or sensible way to 
buy plant food is to purchase the separate chemicals. 
Now as neither the manufacturer nor the scientific 
man actually does the work or pays the money, 
neither can clear the “if” out of his advice. It is 
sound theory to say that a farmer should never buy 
bread or meat or fuel or fruit or potatoes, yet hun¬ 
dreds of practical farmers conclude that it does pay 
to buy one or more of these things rather than try to 
grow them on the farm. As to the various brands of 
mixed fertilizers there are several things that are 
settled. It never pays to buy low-grade goods. As 
we have explained, these mixtures consist of acid 
phosphate with a little tankage or fish scrap and a 
small amount of potash. If you are- to buy mixed 
goods at all take nothing but the very highest grade. 
The price per ton may be higher than for the low- 
grade mixture, but the price per pound of plant food 
is much less. Do not buy any mixture unless you 
know that the nitrogen in it is found in at least three 
different forms. You must remember that the manu¬ 
facturer can make a more even and a drier mixture 
than you can, since he has the machinery for doing 
it. Still, if you are doubtful as to what the mixture 
contains you will be wise to buy the ingredients and 
try mixing at home. After a farmer has used a cer¬ 
tain brand for several years with profit and uniform 
success it is safe to conclude that it is properly made. 
The analyses made at the experiment stations will 
enable a farmer who studies the question to know 
about what the mixture contains. We shall tell next 
week how this is done. We think it comes down to 
the fact that a farmer should never buy any but the 
highest grade of goods—^that he should study and 
know just what he wants, and then buy to the best 
advantage—giving fair consideration to the cost of 
mixing and handling. 
The National Department of Agriculture needs a 
new headquarters at Washington. Plans were pre¬ 
pared for a building of suitable size and convenience, 
and the Senate passed a bill appropriating $2,500,000 
for it. The House cut this appropriation down to 
$1,500,000, preserving the plan and size, but substi¬ 
tuting brick and terra cotta for marble. The Senate 
yielded to the House in this reduction. It was re¬ 
ported that Congressman J. W, Wadsworth of New 
York was responsible for this cut. We are glad to 
state that this report is false. Mr. Wadsworth in¬ 
forms us that he opposed the reduction from the first, 
and is in no way responsible for it. We are glad to 
do justice to Mr. Wadsworth. We fought him as best 
we could on the oleo question—though he still insists 
that he was right. 
* 
The keynote in the fight to strengthen our Agricul¬ 
tural College is the fact that the farmers themselves 
call for it and desire to make it practical. We have 
gone past the time in New York State when men out 
of sympathy with farm life, and with a mere theory 
as to its daily needs, are to decide what a farmer’s 
boy is to study. The farmers themselves have a clear 
idea of the situation, and in a general way know what 
they want They will leave the details to men in 
whom they have confidence, but having started to 
make a college worthy of their profession they will 
never stop until that object is accomplished. Organ¬ 
ized societies representing nearly 100,000 farmers 
have now called for the college appropriation—some¬ 
thing that never was done before. In addition to this 
thousands who do not belong to any farm society 
recognize the justice of this movement and join it. 
Any man who understands the character of the New 
York farmer will know that this movement is too 
broad and deep to be overcome. It is not a sudden 
hot-headed demand for a novelty, but rather the re¬ 
sult of slow thought and quiet observation through 
many years. There are those who undertake to mea¬ 
sure the value of the work done by our Agricultural 
College by the comparatively small number of gradu¬ 
ates from the four-years’ course. As well try to mea¬ 
sure the force of the waterfall by the foam whicn 
floats on the surface! The quiet, conscientious work 
of Prof. Roberts and his assistants has changed the 
thought in thousands of country homes. The present 
movement has come from that influence. It is not a 
mere notion to be killed out by the first breath of 
opposition, but a strong and enduring demand which 
must be satisfied. These things are true, and that is 
why The R. N.-Y. is fighting for the college. We 
shall continue the fight until the farmers win. We 
would not have the politicians or so-called “educa¬ 
tors” do this work—the farmers must and should do 
it themselves. They do not deserve the college unless 
they will fight for it and win it in their own name. 
That is why we have urged farmers not to be satisfied 
with any general statement, but to write at once to 
Governor Odell at Albany, We violate no secret when 
we say that the farmers have already made a dent 
upon the Governor. That dent must be dug out so 
that it becomes a cavity—filled with political wisdom. 
Keep at him! Strike now! Lick a stamp for the edu¬ 
cation of the farmer! 
* 
BREVITIES. 
It’s hard to let apples get soft on your hands. 
No strawberry crop worth picking without a good man 
behind it. 
Do not try to ship inferior fruit abroad. No one over 
there wants it. Feed it to stock. 
There was a time when the use of plaster induced a 
boy to stick to the farm. Not so now. 
“Bulk” shipment of apples gives the growers a little 
money, but how it does demoralize the market! 
Does aeration of milk pay? It depends upon the quality 
of air you use. To drive foul air through milk is the 
worst thing you can do to it. 
Last week we printed some opinions regarding the 
Raines liquor law from Grangers. Later reports state 
that ‘“the worst part of the law is the Sunday part.” 
The Kansas Legislature has passed a bill prohibiting 
the eating of snakes, lizards, tarantulas, scorpions, or 
centipedes in public. If It was necessary to pass such a 
bill, the effete East will gain a lurid impression of Kan¬ 
sas provender. 
An excellent definition of the word Grange as applied 
to an organization of farms is that given in the follow¬ 
ing words: “A lodge or local branch of the order of the 
Patrons of Husbandry, an order designed to promote 
the interests of farmers, and to bring the producer and 
consumer nearer together.” 
