36o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
May 9 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homea, 
Establithed 1850. 
Hicbbeut W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Waltjcr Van Flekt, ( 
Mbs. H. T. Uovlb, Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION; ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal Po.stal Union, J2.04, 
equal to Ss. 6d., or 8^ marks, or 10*/^ 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 subscribers 
sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler advertising 
In our columns, and any such swindler will be publicly 
exposed. We protect subscribers agaliust 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, MAY 9. 1903. 
Reports from western orchards show that there is 
real merit in the “dust methods” of spraying trees. 
In this method, as most readers know, the lime, cop¬ 
per and other materials are blown upon the tree in 
the form of a dust instead of being mixed with water. 
We have thought that this dusting was used where 
water is scarce, and that most growers will admit 
that a fine, misty liquid is best. The dusters dis¬ 
pute this and claim that their method is better! We 
still use the liquid. 
* 
Hon. J. W. Wadswortji, the New York Congress¬ 
man who did his best to defeat the Grout anti-oleo 
bill, wrote us recently that this bill has proved a 
great failure, and that everyone is dissatisfied with it 
When confronted with the facts Mr. Wadsworth be¬ 
comes as silent as the grave, and makes it very evi¬ 
dent that he doesn’t know what he is talking about. 
The Grout bill is not a failure! Prices of milk and 
its products have not been higher for years. The out¬ 
look for dairying never was better. Even the cry 
of the oleo men that the passage of the Grout bill 
would ruin the beef industry has been proven false. 
Why does a Congressman from the great dairy State 
of New York make such statements? 
* 
O Unci.e Sam, I thankful am, you’ve not forgot my 
garden’s needs. The mail to-day, without delay, has 
brought the annual dose of seeds. Yes, I will try the 
salsify, leek, endive, radish, squash; the watermelon 
and will tell, if they add to my cash. There’s beans 
to put fiesh on my bones; cukes long enough for razor 
hones; and beet seed mixed with gravel stones, and 
O. with undiluted joy, spinach I see, Bloomsdale 
Savoy. But where’s the corn, the corn I need? The 
hybrid, big-eared, horse-tooth corn. I’ve always crack¬ 
ed for chicken feed? The oversight may seem but 
slight; it scarcely can be called a crime. But may I 
hope another time, that you will send in large sup¬ 
ply, the feed for which my chickens cry? 
• 
The New York Court of Appeals has declared the 
State Franchise Tax law valid. We regard this as 
one of the most important legal decisions of recent 
years—and also one of the most satisfactory. The 
essential facts may be briefiy stated as follows: Dur¬ 
ing the past 25 years towns and cities have granted 
numerous public rights to individuals or corpora¬ 
tions. Of course this has long been done, but in re¬ 
cent years the system has become vastly extended. 
Most of these special franchises granted the right to 
use public highways for transporting passengers, lay¬ 
ing pipes or stringing wires for public service. But 
for this permission the use of the public highway for 
these purposes would be a clear case of trespass. At 
first many of these franchises were of little real value, 
but as demand for public service increased they be¬ 
came immensely valuable, creating a new form of 
wealth which was contributed entirely from the pub¬ 
lic. Thus there came to be in New York State over 
$200,000,000 worth of property paying large dividends 
yet contributing nothing to the State in the way of 
taxation. In calling for a franchise tax Gov. Roose¬ 
velt said: “The farmers, the market gardeners and 
the mechanics and tradesmen having small holdings, 
are paying an improper and excessive portion of the 
general taxes.” After a hard struggle a law was jess¬ 
ed which taxed these franchises as real estate, and 
created a commission which was to assess the prop¬ 
erty at a fair valuation. Many of the large corpora¬ 
tions refused to pay the tax, and have since been 
fighting it from court to court. It has now been de¬ 
cided against them, and though they talk of going to 
the Supreme Court it is not likely that they will suc¬ 
ceed. From the standpoint of common sense it seems 
absurd that a corporation should expect to use a pub¬ 
lic highway without paying for the privilege. But 
for the public consent to occupy the street or road 
their rails and wires and pipes would have no legal 
value except for old iron! We rejoice that one great 
decision after another clinches the right of the people 
to rule themselves through Legislature and Congress! 
Another important decision is one which declares that 
the value of a patent or trade mark should be con¬ 
sidered in making up the amount of the franchise tax, 
• 
On May 20 there will be a fruit growers’ meeting 
on the farm of Grant Hitchings at South Onondaga, 
N. Y. Prof. S. A. Beach will give a demonstration in 
preparing and applying Bordeaux Mixture, and manu¬ 
facturers of power sprayers will be on hand. There 
will be a basket picnic and other agreeable features. 
Much has been written about the Hitchings orchard 
and its management. This meeting will give those 
who attend a fine chance to see just what this “mulch 
culture” is. We are glad this meeting is to be held. 
It indicates a good growth in public sentiment. A 
few years ago the idea of such a meeting would hardly 
have been considered, because this mulch method was 
regarded as rank heresy. Now fruit growers are at 
least ready to study it carefully. The world moves. 
• 
Appabbntly one of the hardest things for a stock- 
man to understand is that where live animals are 
sold from the farm the great manurial drain is in 
phosphoric acid. The living ox is mostly water. In 
each 1,000 pounds of his weight there will be found 
on the average 600 pounds of water, 27 of nitrogen, 
two only of potash, 21 of lime, and 19 of phosphoric 
acid. What becomes of the potash which the ox con¬ 
sumes in his food? It is almost entirely sent out of 
the system in the liquid manures. On farms where 
clover is grown far more nitrogen is brought to the 
farm than the ox carries away. Therefore the chief 
drain upon such farms is in lime and phosphoric acid. 
No wonder then that the Illinois experiments given 
on page 366 show that lime and phosphate prove the 
best fertilizers for Alfalfa. 
Tre tide of immigration from this country to Can¬ 
ada has set in stronger than ever this year. Great 
armies of farmers are crossing the frontier to take up 
land in the Northwest Some of these men never 
were true freeholders, but are land tramps, wander¬ 
ing from one piece of cheap land to another with no 
permanent home. Others have sold their farms to 
good advantage and now go to the Canadian North¬ 
west for a larger farm, where they can use part of 
the price obtained for their former home as working 
capital. It seems to us quite reasonable to suppose 
that in the end this crowd of American farmers will 
plow up the boundary line, and break Canada in two. 
The Eastern Provinces of Canada do not gain in popu¬ 
lation, while the west seems to be growing closer to 
St. Paul and Duluth than to Toronto or MontreaL 
• 
When Andrew Carnegie gave $600,000 to the Tus- 
kegee Industrial School for negroes he made the best 
use of his money that we have yet seen recorded, 
lilbraries to be located in town and city are all very 
well, but they do not strike at the true needs of 
American education. The great problem is now and 
will continue to be to reach down into the lowly 
country places and help those who cannot rise with¬ 
out inspiration and practical help. That is why we 
rejoice that Mr. Carnegie gave his money to Tuske- 
gee rather than to some great “university.” Some 
of these institutions have been endowed and helped 
almost to the point where self-respect and self-help 
are likely to be blotted out. The writer has been at 
Tuskegee and knows what is being done there. We 
are frank to say that no agricultural college in the 
country Is doing more for practical agriculture than 
this negro school. Others are doing far better work 
in science, and turning out men with a far better 
training. Other colleges, too, are wielding a power¬ 
ful influence upon the higher industries of their 
State—but Tuskegee is going down to the bottom of 
the pile and teaching the common laborer and his 
son how to graft skill upon brute force. There are 
25 or more poor struggling agricultural colleges in 
the land, each with its feeble handful of students. 
To our mind they make but a sorry showing by the 
side of Tuskegee with 1,400 eager and ambitious 
black boys and girls. We wish there could be a simi¬ 
lar school in every State where an equal number of 
white boys and girls could come together with equal 
sacrifices and equal enthusiasm. We take no part in 
the present discussion of the negro question. Having 
lived at the South we know that the southern white 
people must handle the question at short range. The 
negro used to think he could butt his way through 
all obstacles by striking against them with his head. 
His race is now confronted with problems which will 
only grow harder as the result of such pounding. Not 
the hard skull but the soft gray matter which lies 
inside must be used now. There are three things that 
must solve the negro question—to the great advan¬ 
tage of American agriculture—^the fair and kindly help 
of the better class of southern whites, the willing 
dollar of the wealthy northern man and the everlast¬ 
ing patience of the negro. 
• 
The New York saloonkeepers told fierce stories 
about what they would do to the "hayseeders” when 
the liquor license fees were increased. Not a cow 
stopped chewing her cud, and not a hen left her nest 
at these dire threats! Somebody, however, came and 
told the saloonkeepers that if they said much more 
the Legislature would increase the number of excise 
inspectors! They flourished a deadly looking sword, 
but when it came to action they took a dull case knife 
and carved this resolution: 
We are compelled by the high license and the general 
increase in the price of commodities to abolish the free 
lunch, but It is not meant by this action that we are act¬ 
ing in any spirit of retaliation. Lunches will still be 
served, but they will be charged for. 
Thus endoth the cheese boycott! 
• 
Mr. Cook’s suggestions concerning note-taking at 
institute meetings, page 354, touch an important 
point, and yet we think this duty may be more hon¬ 
ored in the breach than the observance. Anyone com¬ 
pelled, for business reasons, to take such notes knows 
what a burden it becomes, and how easy it is to lose 
the foixe of a speaker’s reasoning in the effort to fol¬ 
low some technical formula. To a person unaccus¬ 
tomed to such work the effort is usually extremely 
irksome, and any attempt to insist upon it would be, 
in our judgment, extremely ill-advised. A better 
plan, to our mind, would be to print recipes, feeding 
combinations, and other formulas in leaflet form for 
distribution at institute meetings, these leaflets being 
prepared to go with the addresses delivered by the 
various speakers. Such leaflets could be inexpensive¬ 
ly printed; they would be a lasting convenience, and 
thiey would present the information needed while the 
influence of the speaker was fresh in mind. To break 
off a speech while tardy note-takers caught up with 
the procession would be an unwarrantable waste of 
time. We think that, under existing circumstances, 
a speaker is often allowed to infringe too greatly up¬ 
on time belonging to persons following him upon the 
programme, and official insistance upon notebooks 
would increase this. Why not try the leaflet plan? 
BREVITIES. 
Keep sweet, whatever you (^. 
Quack grass Is brought into the lawn by ducks. 
“Cranks move the world”—sometimes they move it to 
pity. 
The hen lays the egg down—the cold storage man lays 
it up. 
Jack Frost has been reasonably kind to the southern 
strawberry crop. 
Is the dooryard of your rural school a credit to the 
community, or the reverse? 
If we expect, to encourage nature study in the schools, 
we must begin by teaching the teacher. 
It is natural that wild-cat tales should be told about 
Pencillaria. It is the same thing as Pearl or Wild-cat 
millet. 
A CASE where like does not produce like is in the barrel 
of hard cider. The more it "works” the lazier are those 
who drink it. 
In discussing child labor in factories, do not forget that 
Its most demoralizing effect is exerted in small rural 
communities. 
Some people appear to think that the difference between 
theory and common sense is that the former Is un¬ 
common sense. Theory has the effort of its life before 
it to become ordinary sense. 
There Is no doubt that the disease glanders can be 
transmitted from horse to man. It is stated that six 
men have died of this horrible disease from infection 
while working in the Pasteur Institute at Paris. 
Statistici.ins now tell us that Italian Immigrants will 
finally effect the reclamation of the abandoned New Eng¬ 
land farms. They are frugal, hardy and Industrious, re¬ 
peating the lives of the pioneers who came before them. 
That western blizzard, April 28-30, gave cause for 
anxiety to many farmers and stockmen. Shearing ha 
begun in many sections, and the freshly clipped sheep 
suffered severely. The effect upon growing crops is not 
yet known. 
