3io 
April 18 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FABMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Hkkbeet W. Coli.ingwooi), Kditor. 
1)U. WALTER VAN FLEET, I, .„sopiatps 
Mrs. M. T. Kovlk, A.ssociaies. 
John J. Dillon, Business ManaKer. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to Ss. 6d., or 814 marks, or 10*4 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 lo.ss 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 comjjlaint 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 addre.ss of sender, and what the remittance 
is for, .should appear in every letter. 
Remittances may be made in money order, express 
order, person.al check or bank draft. 
THE RURAT. NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 1903. 
Read what the practical fruit growers say about 
putting fertilizer around the trees. The general opin¬ 
ion seems to be that the best feeding is done out near 
the spread of the branches. Who knows? This dis¬ 
cussion shows how little we really know about many 
of our farm operations, and how much we depend on 
opinion or guess. 
A FEW weeks ago we referred to some nursery rogues 
who were trying to sell “seedless” apples in Iowa. We 
w'ere wrong—it was Ohio. We make this correction 
because some of the worst rogues in this line claim 
to have a residence in western Ohio. They hurt the 
trade of reputable nurseides. The Iowa Agricultural 
College people have been very successful in heading 
off such rogues. About the only way to head off some 
things is to behead them. 
» 
This is what a Jerseyman says: “I haven’t near 
as much faith in our scientific men as I once had. 1 
find they are sometimes wrong.” Formerly he had 
faith without works! He accepted the suggestions of 
our scientific friends without working them out in 
actual practice. Now he tests them fairly before ac¬ 
cepting them for general practice. The scientific men 
are all right if we roast their science over the fire 
of practice before we swallow it. 
« 
It is said that J. P, Morgan was recently seen eat¬ 
ing a lunch of baked apple and a glass of milk! In 
front of bis office a working man at the same time 
was topping off his dinner with a good-sized raw 
apple. The millionaire and the day laborer are both 
active members of the American Apple Consumers’ 
League. We will guarantee that neither had a Ben 
Davis apple. That is the last thing a man with the 
entire market to select from would take, and also 
the last that an apple eater with limited capital 
would buy! Yes, but somebody must buy Ben Davis 
apples, for they still bring good prices! The world 
has always been pretty well filled with people that 
you have to feel sorry for! 
« 
It seems strange to speak of American silk culture 
as anything more than play, yet it is actually becom¬ 
ing a legitimate business. A magazine devoted to 
silk culture has been started and a filature for reel¬ 
ing the silk is to be started this year. A fair crop was 
actually produced last year, with good prospects for 
a large increase this season. The business is best 
adapted to the South—and will suit women and chil¬ 
dren well. Prof. Gerald McCarthy, of the North Caro¬ 
lina Experiment Station deserves credit for develop¬ 
ing this little business without starting it into a 
“boom.” The rogues may be expected to take it up 
later, and figure out profits that will make ginseng 
and Belgian hares blush for shame. 
* 
During the past 20 years we have printed thou¬ 
sands of questions in Tjie R. N.-Y. Many of them 
had been given up by scientific or professional men, 
and we printed them in the hope of obtaining the ex¬ 
perience of some reader. So far as we know, every 
one of these questions has been answered—not al¬ 
ways definitely, but in such a way as to suggest a 
way out! Thus we have come to believe that the 
most valuable feature of The R. N.-Y. is its ability 
to obtain practical experience from its readers. There 
is a good deal of talk just now about “race suicide.” 
We can put in a confident plea of “not guilty” for The 
R, N.-Y. family, both as regards size and character! 
m 
Canadian farmers are but little better off for farm 
help than those on this side of the line. Many of 
them have become discouraged, and will seed down 
all available lands and pasture stock. This seems the 
favorite refuge for thousands who are at the mercy 
of the hired man, or rather the hole he made when 
he stepped out of the neighborhood. It is evident 
that if too much of this pasturing is attempted the 
whole thing will be overdone. It will either be im¬ 
possible to obtain feeding stock, or the margin be¬ 
tween lean and fat stock will become too small for 
profit. At any rate the fields put down in grass will 
become more fertile, so that when the change of labor 
back to the farm occurs they will produce larger 
crops to pay for their rest. Will this change ever 
come? Most certainly, for the cities cannot provide 
work for all much longer. 
Presldknt Roosevelt in a recent address made the 
following true statement: 
The fanner himself still retains, because of his sur¬ 
roundings and the nature of his work, to a preeminent 
degree the qualities which we like to think of as dis¬ 
tinctly American in considering our early history. The 
man who tills his own farm, whether on the prairie or 
in the woodland, the man who grows what we eat and 
the raw material which is worked up into what we wear, 
still exists more nearly under the conditions which ob¬ 
tained when the “embattled farmers” of ’76 made this 
country a nation than is true of any others of our people. 
Too many of our public men have forgotten wbat 
the Republic owes to the common farmer. The tiller 
of the soil not only provides food and raiment in the 
rough, but he aiso provides character and a steady 
conservatism which hold the ship of state on an even 
keel. The President recognizes the fact that the work¬ 
man in cities and large centers of population can no 
longer live as independently as was the case in old 
days. The farmer who lives on his farm is now the 
only really independent worker. If his independent 
qualities were of service to the nation in its infancy 
they are doubly necessary now. The farmer needs 
and deserves every advantage of education which hon¬ 
est science can give him! 
* 
The R. N.-Y. has tried to help the farmers who 
grow produce for the canning factoides. It seemed to 
us that their demands for better prices were fair, and 
we advised them to hang out for their rights. The 
following report from Chautauqua Co., N. Y.. shows 
what can be done: 
1 am glad to be able to say that the canners have 
finally come to our terms and are contracting tor Stow- 
ell’s Evergreen sweet corn at $10 per ton on the “flat” 
rate, and are offering proportionately higher prices for 
the smaller varieties. They are also in some cases omit¬ 
ting some of the fine print on the backs of the blank 
conti'acts, and thereby making the "conditions” somewhat 
easier. The only objection now remaining is the date 
of payment (January 15, 1904), which is later than it 
ought to be. We thank The R. N.-Y. for its help all over 
the country. 
The “fine print” in a contract is often the place 
where the “fine work” is put in. It ought to be print¬ 
ed in italics. There may be some localities where 
farmers are obliged to take what is offered them, since 
they cannot grow and market general crops. In other 
sections it is possible to live at dairying or some other 
line of farming. In such sections the farmers wouia 
rather quit the canning crops and live on bread and 
cheese for a few years than submit to injustice! 
The complaint is often made that children in the 
public school do not receive enough individual at¬ 
tention, not merely in their lessons, but also in the 
higher training of mind and conscience. The parents 
—and this is especially true in towns and cities—are 
inclined to throw upon the State the entire care of 
the child as far as mental and moral growth is con¬ 
cerned. They give food, clothing and shelter, while 
permitting the children to acquire their notions of 
morality from chance acquaintances; their mental 
ideals from the open street. Such children are sent 
to school, and expected to bring home a fairly good 
report card; when complaint comes of waywardness 
or even dishonesty the parents are grieved over the 
lax discipline of the pubiic school. The fact is that 
the responsibility rests with the parents. When we 
hear a mother state limply that she “can’t do a 
thing” with six-year-old Tommy—that “he just won’t 
mind,” we know that she is laying up future trouble 
not only for herself, but also for Tommy’s unlucky 
teachers. Some highly advanced persons say all this 
trouble could be saved by handing over the children 
to specialists from their earliest days, relieving pa¬ 
rents of their care, and providing for the child’s best 
welfare, but we have not yet arrived at this stage, 
nor does it seem a step forward to relegate the 
mother to the position of a human incubator. The 
earlier years of a child’s life belong to the mother; 
if she persistently inculcates obedience, truthfulness 
and regard for the rights of others she has little rea¬ 
son later to complain of lack of discipline in school 
The boys who roam the streets at night, indulging in 
wanton mischief—the girls who pick up dangerous 
acquaintances, unchecked until character is wrecked 
—are too often the offspring of comfortable homes, 
where every influence should work for good. If all 
parents acknowledged their responsibility, and as¬ 
sumed it even at the expense of much self-saci ifice, 
we should hear less cf incorrigible youth, and the 
problem of public ediication would be greatly sim¬ 
plified. ^ 
liN many of the great glass houses near Boston, 
Muss., it has become a regular practice to steam or 
cook the soil before planting lettuce or cucumbers. 
Perforated pipes are run through the soil so that 
steam can be turned on until the heat is so great that 
insects and fungus germs are destroyed. This steri¬ 
lized soil produces remarkable crops, and the labor 
required to care for them is greatly reduced. At 
points in the Connecticut Valley great tents of cheese 
cloth are built under which acres of the finest to¬ 
bacco are grown. Under these light tents conditions 
of shade and moisture are possible which are beyond 
reach of the outside grower. We mention these two 
things to show how New England soil culture has 
developed. While thousands of acres on the hills have 
been properly abandoned, in the more favorable lo¬ 
cations farmers have made their soil produce so 
abundantly that the total sales of cultivated crops in¬ 
crease rapidly from year to year. What would one of 
the old New England farmers think had he been told 
that those who followed him would cook the soil and 
build tents for their crops? Yet that is being done, 
and these things are only evidences of what men may 
do under hard conditions if they will only try to mas¬ 
ter the home situation. It is seldom really necessary 
for a man to go away from home to better himself. 
m 
The United States Circuit Court of Appeals has just 
rendered a very important decision. Two railroad 
companies, the Northern Pacific and the Great North¬ 
ern, run in parallel lines and competed for traffic. A 
scheme was devised for “merging ’ these roads with 
another under one management, so that instead of au 
active competition there would be a monopoly. A 
corporation was formed under the laws of New Jersey 
known as the Northern Securities Company, and it 
was a part of the scheme to have this third party or 
corporation take control of all the railroads and thus 
destroy all competition. The United States Govern¬ 
ment, through Attorney-General Knox, brought suit 
to restrain this corporation, claiming that under what 
is known as the Sherman Anti-Trust law, the trans¬ 
action is illegal and in restraint of trade. We have 
not the space here to give all the details of the case. 
Enough to say that the court upholds the Govern¬ 
ment’s position at every point. It expressly declares 
that Congress has supreme power over inter-state 
commerce and that a corporation formed under the 
laws of New Jersey or any other State cannot perform 
that which Congress declares to be unlawful, 'i'his 
decision is of great importance—one of the greatest 
legal victories won by the Government for many 
years. The way now seems clear to proceed against 
every unlawful combination which seeks to prevent 
competition ^ 
BREVITIES. 
Percuerons make a good pole breed of horses. 
ALL is not lost, although the fruit falls victim to the 
frost. 
THE seed testers are finding much trash in the clover 
seed this year. 
Failure may result as a strike from the job of striking 
while the Iron is hot! 
Is there any real market need for a strawberry of poor 
quality that will ship like an apple? 
Voting with the postage stamp beats the postal card 
all hollow. The sealed letter has far greater effect, and 
the extra cost pays well. 
Would you not lend a poor man the money needed to 
buy good clover seed? That ought to make a mortgage 
on the farm worth more. 
There are thousands of discouraged farmei-s who are 
ready to “seed down” the whole farm, owing to the lack 
of farm labor. Hayseed is certainly a faithful hired man! 
Let us .say again that “Pencillaria” is the old Peail 
millet. This millet has given fair results under the best 
conditions, but it is not a pearl worthy of the great 
price demanded for “Pencillaria.” 
Prof. Bi,odgett, on the first page, argues that we 
should make and use the Bordeaux Mixture to the be.st 
advantage before we call for a better mixture. We ad¬ 
mit the truth of that statement, and still say that oin 
scientific friends should keep up the hunt for something 
better than Bordeaux. 
