33o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
April 25 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
EstablisJied 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Kditor. 
Dr. Walter Van- Fleet, ( 
Mrs. K. T. Koyi.e, Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manafcer. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal Postal Union. J2.04, 
equal to Ss. 6d., or mark.s, or 10»^ francs. 
“A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper Is 
backed by a re.sponsible person. But to make doubly 
sure we will make good any lo.s.s 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, APRIL 25, 1903. ~ 
Will those who have had experience with root- 
pruned trees, planted as H. M. Stringfellow recom¬ 
mends, report their experience? Good or bad we 
want the facts—only be sure the trees have been 
cared for after Mr. Stringfellow’s plan. We are not 
seeking endorsements for the method, but we are 
after the facts! 
Our friend Van Deman is having a lively experience 
just now. He is in Mississippi planting an orchard 
of pecans. The break in the levee sent the water 
backing up seven feet deep over the planted orchard. 
This thorough soaking will really help the nuts, as 
the water will recede gently, without great washing. 
Van Deman writes that they have made boats and 
sail out to young wild trees—grafting and budding 
from the boat “thus saving the use of step ladders”! 
* 
Hf.rie is a man who moves an amendment to the 
method of voting with the postage stamp: 
Why do you keep telling your subscribers to lick post¬ 
age stamps and stick them on envelopes? Why not lick 
the envelope and then stick the stamp on? I for one 
never lick stamps or the gum on envelopes. I would 
rather lick clean paper than carbolic gum. 
We accept the amendment without debate. We do 
not care how or where the licking is done provided 
the legislators are licked into line. Anything that 
will make the stamp stick suits us—only use it! 
• 
Mr. Mouse shows us on first page how the electric 
railroads are changing the life of the New England 
farmer. We expect to have other articles on this sub¬ 
ject which will indicate what the farmer of the fu¬ 
ture may expect. As a rule The R. N.-Y. spends little 
time in the past, and is not so much concerned in the 
future as in the present. We cannot help seeing, 
however, that the telephone, free rural mail and the 
electric road are sure to change the character of farm 
life. These things are sure to bring comfort and 
strength to the farm home. We hope they will not 
take away the old charm and independence of coun¬ 
try living. 
What is responsible for the improved condition of 
the milk market? Any man who has anything to do 
with milk producers will quickly see that they are 
feeling more hopeful than for some years past. The 
price of milk is higher and there is a general belief 
that in some way the grip of the middleman is loosen¬ 
ing. There are several reasons why this should be 
so. The passage of the Grout anti-oleo bill not only 
cut down the fraudulent sale of oleo but created new 
demands for pure butter. People are using more 
milk. For years the scientific men have been demon¬ 
strating that milk is not a mere luxury but a whole¬ 
some food. People who formerly used it by the spoon¬ 
ful in coffee or tea now drink it by the glass. All this 
has wonderfully increased the demand for milk. If 
every man, woman and child in Greater New York 
were each to consume only one extra tablespoonful of 
milk per day it would mean a daily increase of over 
50,000 quarts! We speak of this to show the great 
possibilities for increasing the demand for milk pro¬ 
vided people are made to understand what it is and 
what it should be used for. With all this increased 
demand, however, the milk producers will never re¬ 
ceive what they deserve until they put themselves 
Into a position where they can demand their rights. 
Let 10,000 farmers continue to sell their milk singly 
—as individuals—and the dealers will always receive 
the lion’s share. Let these farmers form even the 
skeleton of an organization and the mere rattle of 
its bones will help them to a fairer share. 
* 
From the standpoint of a farmer there are many 
strong reasons why the State of New York should not 
spend the money required to turn the Erie into a 
barge canal. The Legislature, so far as it can, has 
saddled the expense upon the State. Let us now see 
whether the farmers cannot take the saddle off. The 
question must be settled by popular vote in Novem¬ 
ber, and if the farmers will exert themselves they 
have a good chance to beat the scheme. Let us waste 
no time in grieving over the defeat—for we have not 
yet been defeated. Begin at once to organize and edu¬ 
cate rural voters so that on election day they can 
make tbeir mark in the right place. Dig the grave 
of the canal scheme with your ballot! 
• 
An unusual number of labor strikes aud concerted 
demands for higher wages or shorter hours has dis¬ 
tinguished the opening weeks of April. These agita¬ 
tions are viewed with much annoyance by financiers 
and business people, but in the main they may be re¬ 
garded as reflecting a general demand for a better 
distribution of the products of human energy. The 
last census shows that the average annual wage for 
each individual employed in manufacturing indus¬ 
tries in this country was $445 in 1890, and $7 less or 
$438, in 1900, while the gross annual product for each 
wage-earner was $2,204 in 1890 aud $2,451 in 1900. 
Thus the laborer produced $247 more in value in 1900, 
while receiving $7 less on which to support existence. 
The increasing perfection of machinery probably ac¬ 
counts for much of the increased product, but it 
scarcely justifies the diminished wage. It is only fair 
to suppose that a substantial portion of the increased 
earnings should go to the laborer and not all to the 
capitalist These strikes and demands for improved 
conditions are but ever-recurring efforts better to ad¬ 
just a strained situation. 
• 
Much of the water which supplies Brooklyn, N. 
Y., is pumped out of wells sunk in the farming or 
gardening sections outside the city. So thoroughly 
is this pumping done that in many places the ground 
is sucked dry and crops suffer. A farmer who owns 
80 acres of this sucked land sued the city, claiming 
$60,000 damages. He claimed that for years his crops 
had steadily decreased and that the pumping ruined 
his farm for agricultural purposes. The judge re¬ 
fused to admit evidence regarding profits on this 
farm, and as a result the jury gave damages for only 
six cents. This was sustained by the Appellate Di¬ 
vision but now the Court of Appeals reverses this 
aud orders a new trial. Judge Bartlett says: 
If it is necessary in the public interests for the de¬ 
fendant to subject the inhabitants of Long Island to the 
damage incident to maintaining a large number of pump¬ 
ing stations and driven wells, depriving extensive sections 
of the country of its underlying and percolating waters, 
as well as drying up its surface streams and wells, the 
least it can do is to meet plaintiffs in a spirit of fairness, 
eschewing technicality, and ascertain their actual damage 
in the premises, and if not contented to pursue such a 
course to institute condemnation proceedings. 
That seems to be fair and just. After ruining a 
man’s farm it is very small business for a great city 
like Brooklyn to take advantage of technicalities to 
cheat the man out of fair damages. There are claims 
amounting to several million dollars against Brook¬ 
lyn for drying out these farms. Now they must either 
be settled in court or the property must be legally 
condemned and paid for. 
• 
• Central and eastern Pennsylvania has been visited 
by a smooth-tongued fakir who professes to tell all 
about the sick by looking at them and examining 
their eyes. Then he gives treatment, if permitted to 
do so, or prescribes some wonderful medicine pre¬ 
pared by the “German Medical Co., City of Mexico, 
Buffalo, N. Y.” Medicines and treatment are always 
paid for in advance, the fakir stating that he will 
visit his patients every two weeks, and refund the 
money if the treatment or medicine does not effect 
a complete cure. Of course he does not come back, 
and a correspondent in Cambria County tells us that 
some of his victims were very ill from the effects of 
his medicine. Communications sent to the “com¬ 
pany” he professed to represent were unclaimed. The 
swindler is a large stout man of sandy complexion, 
puffy of face and short of neck; in Cambria County 
he gave the name of E, J. Jones. There is a very 
serious side to a swindle of this character, and that 
is the permanent bodily harm that may be caused by 
a quack doctor. No sensible man would think of 
handing his watch to a traveling tinker for repairs; 
why is he so much more careless with the wonder¬ 
ful mechanism of his body? The nearest local doc¬ 
tor may be a plain, old-fashioned general practition¬ 
er, with no special record of wonderful cures, but it 
is far safer to trust to him, whether in chronic dis¬ 
ease or sudden emergency, than to any glib-tongued 
stranger with marvelous remedies. If he had this 
wonderful ability he would not find it necessary to 
hawk it about the country. If such a man visits you, 
give him an outside view of the door; it will save 
both money and health. 
• 
As WE go to press the report from Albany is that 
every member of the Legislature with a rural con¬ 
stituent has been well plastered with stamps by farm¬ 
ers who want the appropriation for the Agricultural 
College. Everybody, apparently, favors the bill, but 
the trouble over the mortgage tax bill has upset all 
calculations and no one can tell what the end will be. 
Not for many years has there been such a “mix-up” 
at Albany. It is like a fight beneath the surface be¬ 
tween monsters so huge and fierce that even the ocean 
is stirred into foam. The R. N.-Y. feels that it has 
done its duty, and so have thousands of our readers. 
We shall hope for the passage of the bill up to the 
last minute of the session. Should it fail after all we 
shall begin one minute after the Legislature adjourns, 
to start a new campaign! 
• 
The saloonkeepers insist that they will “gel 
square” with the hayseeds by refusing to buy New 
York cheese, butter, eggs or hops. On page 323 will 
be found estimates of the amount of cheese and but¬ 
ter consumed as free lunch in New York bar rooms. 
The first thing that strikes one is an idea of the profit 
that must result from a business which can afford to 
give away 30,000,000 pounds of cheese in one year— 
to say nothing of the remainder of the “free lunch.” 
We do not imagine that any New York cow will hold 
up her milk, or that any hen will stop laying because 
these saloonkeepers have suddenly grown tired of 
New York cheese and eggs. They really ought to 
chew the cud with greater contentment or cackle on 
a higher key to feel that their honest and sober pro¬ 
ducts will not go near a rumshop. The saloonkeepers 
are going to buy where they can get the most for 
their money. They will not give up the use of cheese, 
and if they carry out their threatened boycott there 
will simply be a new adjustment of trade and New 
York cheese will be eaten outside of the saloons, it 
is not a bad thing to bring this question of the saloon 
trade up every now and then. It will make farmers 
think what would happen to their pocketbooks if less 
rum and beer and more milk and fruit could be sold 
in this city! 
• 
BREVITIES. 
WiiAT varieties of strawberries do best for you on 
muck? 
Many a farmer will, live to thank the day that made 
him a cow-pea crank. 
Who has time to cut oft all the flowers from Spring- 
set strawberry plants? 
Ip a workman will not get in line with what the boss 
wants done, he should get out. 
Wife-beaters are now put at hard labor when caught 
and sentenced. Surely exercise is a forcible lick her tax. 
It is estimated that about 6.000 deer were killed in the 
Adirondack forest last season, yet the wild herds are 
larger than ever. 
Never buy guano except on a guaranteed analysis. 
There are many different "guanos” varying from iess 
than one to 14 per cent of nitrogen. 
A LADY writes; “Having changed my name I have no 
use for The R. N.-Y.” We presume that the gentleman 
who suggested the amendment is also a subscriber! 
Great things were told about the future of chestnut 
culture a dozen years ago. The time has now come 
when these wonderful results should be in sight. They 
are still in the future. 
The test of good business through thick and thin is 
not what you pay out or yet what you pay in, but in 
the tail end does the secret appear—it’s what you have 
left at the end of the year. 
The expert nurseryman who writes the following has 
a level head: "You are aware that although the working 
man is supposed to be down-trodden, etc., the boss often 
has to do many things that his men would not.” 
The city saloonkeepers fume and talk vengeance be¬ 
cause, as they say, the "hayseeders” favored an increase 
of the liquor tax. How about the big Canal tax which 
the city legislators saddled upon the “hayseeders?” 
According to the newspapers, the young men at Wash¬ 
ington whom Dr. Wiley is feeding upon borax for ex¬ 
perimental purposes are gradually turning a beautiful 
pink. We had an impression that these food experiments 
might make the victims blue. 
In an Australian agricultural journal we notice that 
several farmers’ clubs hold their meetings on “Wednes¬ 
day before full moon.” or “Saturday on or preceding full 
moon.” Fixing an evening meeting in accordance with 
the moon seems a very sensible proceeding for people 
who must drive any distance over country roads. 
