376 
May 16 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TEE BUSINESS FABMEES PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Eatahlished 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, ) , 
Mrs. k. t. Koyle, f Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
in the hands of discriminating customers without 
delay. We know a man who does not own even a 
horse, who does all his work by hand and yet cleared 
$1,500 on his fruit last year. The salvation of eastern 
soil culture is the fact that a man who knows how 
can with no implement but a good hoe clear more 
money than a western grain farmer working 100 
acres of good land! 
courage every man who loves his country to go on 
fearlessly and hopefully along the patriot’s road. 
There are great wrongs yet to be overcome and great 
depths of ignorance and sin to be filled in. The best 
lesson we are learning is that this work cannot be 
done all at once, but only through the slow, patient 
growth of moral sentiment, in which the humblest 
farm home may take part, 
• 
SUBSCRIPTION; ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal Postal Union, JJ.M. 
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 re.sponsible 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 remlttanca 
Is for, should appear In every letter. 
Remittances may be made in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft 
We would like to let the Hon. J. W. Wadsworth 
sleep quietly with his delusion concerning the Grout 
anti-oleo bill, but even this sleep is dangerous! Here 
he is claiming that everyone is dissatisfied with the 
results of this legislation. To show how little he 
knows about It we give the following report right 
from his own district It comes from one of the best 
posted men In the State: 
The dairymen, creamery men and cheese-factory men 
of western New York are well pleased with the Grout 
anti-oleo law, and they want the law enforced to the 
letter; it has given new life to the dairy interests of 
western New York. 
Mr. Wadsworth should wake up and learn the sen¬ 
timent of his own district. A nice man that—to rep¬ 
resent a district where farmers are in partnership 
with cows! 
The New York Legislature failed to pass the bill 
providing for suitable buildings for the Agricultural 
College. When the mortgage tax bill was abandoned 
positive orders were given not to pass any more bills 
appropriating money—and the legislators obeyed, not 
like little men, but like little machines! The State 
can spend $350,000 to “show off” at the St. Louis Ex¬ 
position, and yet is too poor to provide a suitable 
home for the Agricultural College. Well, this is not 
the ending—it is only the beginning! Since a fair 
request is not strong enough the farmers will now pro¬ 
ceed to demand what is due them. Let us begin on the 
next Legislature now. We ask readers to send us the 
names of all who are suggested as candidates for the 
next Legislature. We want these names before the 
conventions arc held, so that we can put the candi- 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street. New York. 
SATURDAY, MAY 16, 1903. 
Readers are taking a lively interest in the question 
of educating the boy recently brought up by the Hope 
Farm man. We have little patience with the idea of 
keeping a boy at college just because it Is the custom¬ 
ary thing to do so. For men and women to slave and 
deny themselves in order that a stout boy may 
leisurely saunter through a college course is nonsense 
of the most ordinary sort. Unless a boy is willing to 
do his own climbing up the steep road that leads to 
“higher education” he would better not be boosted. 
• 
The State of Delaware is now in the market for 
immigrants. The State Board of Agriculture has been 
given powers and duties of an immigrant commis¬ 
sion. The State has an abundance of cheap lands—It 
wants them occupied by a useful class of people. It 
is significant that as soon as the Board started busi¬ 
ness in this new line farmers from all over Delaware 
began to call for able-bodied farm laborers! New 
Jersey farmers have been sending to Delaware after 
colored help, which would indicate a surplus down 
there, yet here are Delaware farmers calling upon the 
North for help. This farm-labor question is so mixed 
up that there seems no way of untangling it. 
* 
Still another fakir is reported from Florida; he 
visits the home of some well-to-do farmer and, after 
getting acquainted with the family, proceeds to have 
a fit. The sufferer expresses the fear that he Is dying, 
and makes a will, leaving a considerable amount to 
the family for their kindness to the wayfarer. He 
does not die, however, but recovers sufficiently to 
borrow a few dollars and then progress to the next 
township, where he repeats the programme. “Throw¬ 
ing fits,” as the professionals term it, seems a some¬ 
what laborious way of earning an undignified living, 
yet there are men who prefer this to any form of 
honest work. The worst of these cheats is that they 
prejudice people against genuine unfortunates, who 
may be looked upon as impostors. 
• 
Tiunk of that great Iowa farm of 7,350 acres—page 
371. Reports of such farms are brought East now 
and then to make the eastern farmer wonder what is 
coming next. Such vast farm enterprises are impos¬ 
sible here. In hilly sections it would hardly be pos¬ 
sible to find this area lying so that it could be profit¬ 
ably farmed under one management. We are not 
sorry for it. The hill lands will, in the future, offer 
about the only chances that are left for the smaller 
individual farmer. These great western farms do not 
seem to indicate the truest progress. When we hear 
of such a farm we want to know what has become of 
the small freeholders who formerly represented many 
Independent homes. Under the new “factory system” 
have they gone elsewhere for new land, or are they 
working their old farms as hired laborers? When the 
fences which separated the old farms come down and 
the little homesteads are melted into one great enter¬ 
prise, there may be great financial gain and at the 
same time considerable loss in independence. It is 
quite likely that in most Western States free and open 
competition in farming such as was known 40 years 
ago has gone forever. Strange to say, there appears 
to be a better outlook for fair competition in the 
older sections of the East. The character of the land 
does not favor consolidation. The markets are close 
at hand, and the finer, perishable articles can be put 
Onh of the best jobs that one can do at the begin¬ 
ning of Spring work is to burn the sweat pads that 
were used under the horse collars last year, and not 
get any more. We have handled all sorts of horses 
on the plow, harrow, grain drill and mower, and never 
found it necessary to use anything but a hard leather 
collar; but have seen many horses with flesh prac¬ 
tically cooked by hard pullii>g under these pads in 
hot weather. Of course a leather collar that does not 
fit reasonably well or is allowed to become crusted 
with sweat and filth will make a horse sore, but these 
things are easily prevented. There are botchy collars 
that no horse should wear, but one that is well made, 
properly adjusted, and kept clean will add much to 
the animal's comfort during the hard work of hot 
weather. Lifting the collars occasionally for half a 
minute when facing the wind, and washing the shoul¬ 
ders with tepid water at noon and night will still fur¬ 
ther help horses with tender skins. 
• 
Our Pennsylvania friend who on page 371 asks how 
high-grade fertilizers can be put together, starts a big 
question. The report of the Connecticut Experiment 
Station for 1902 contains a long table giving the an¬ 
alysis of the fertilizers sold in that State. Among 
other things the director says: 
It is not dlflScult to find brands in this table which 
contain 3% times as much nitrogen, 4% times as much 
potash, and as much phosphoric acid as other brands 
which sell for the same price, and If purchasers 
can be found who will pay for a ton of plant food as 
much as would sufilce to purchase three or four tons, 
the seller Is not breaking the law In taking advantage 
of their obtuseness. 
That is as sound as a rock. The farmers of this 
country have buried millions of dollars with low- 
grade fertilizers. While the fertilizers may have given 
returns the wasted dollars never did and never will. 
If a man is to buy fertilizers at all he will make no 
mistake in hunting out the highest grade he can find. 
« 
Last week wo referred to the decision of the New 
York Court of Appeals upholding the franchise tax. 
In this, as well as In the recent famous railroad deci¬ 
sion, the courts simply reflect public sentiment. In 
a republic like ours the development of public senti¬ 
ment makes itself quietly felt in legislation and in 
legal decisions. Justice Holmes, of the United States 
Supreme Court, Is reported to have made this state¬ 
ment regarding one of his decisions: 
I have considered the present tendencies and desires 
of society, and have tried to realize that Its different 
portions want different things, and that my business 
was to express not my personal wish, but the resultant, 
as nearly as I could guess, of the pressure of the past 
and the conflicting wills of the present. 
If this means anything at all it is that the laws 
which are to govern society must grow with the de¬ 
velopment of the truest manhood. During the past 
15 years the common people have been slowly think¬ 
ing out several questions of great importance. The 
uprising of the Populists in the Western States 
threatened a revolution. We were happily spared 
that, but what they started finally settled into a slow 
and healthy development of political education which 
is now beginning to bear fruit. It is ever the story of 
history that the methods of the original reformers 
are scorned or laughed at. Slow and conservative 
study finally separates these oft'ensive methods from 
the truth which the fanatic has tied to them, and 
makes it dignified and possible. This slow and gentle 
development of the best ideals of the common citizen 
is the most hopeful sign of the times. It should en- 
dates on record. Bring the matter up at every 
Grange meeting and agricultural gathering. Talk 
about it, and above all write about it. Do not be dis¬ 
couraged when some sad and hopeless individual un¬ 
dertakes to say that the letters written to the Gov¬ 
ernor and members of the Legislature were thrown 
away. In view of the true history of the bill no one 
but an enemy of the College and the farmers would 
make such a statement. Naturally the politicians and 
their “barkers” would like to stop all such letter 
writing. They sneer at the postage-stamp vote, and 
attempt to belittle it even while their backs bear such 
a burden of stamps that they appear round-shoul¬ 
dered. Let no friend of the College be discouraged— 
but keep cheerfully at them with tongue and pen! 
Those letters did more than even the politicians 
dream of. Starting six months ago with no organiza¬ 
tion, and at best but a languid interest In the matter, 
there is now the strongest State organization New 
York farmers have ever had, and 10 times the inter¬ 
est in the College that there ever was before. These 
scattered forces have been united by pen and ink, 
and stuck together by postage stamps. Let us begin 
the new campaign at once! 
• 
BREVITIES. 
No—the old lady who kissed her cow Is not reported 
to have a “cow lick.” 
Let us spell city with a c but Country with the biggest 
C we can crowd Into line. 
What ailed tho.se Incubator chicks, page 366? Were 
the eggs handled recklessly? 
It calls for the best that is In any man to crawl past 
the “if” to be found in a plan. 
Now perched on many a good farm porch Is seen a 
lovely sample of the Ruby Queen. 
Prof. Chester, of Delaware, has found carbonate of 
copper an effective remedy for Peach rot. 
Among our early sown peas, Gradus has come up much 
better than Nott’s Excelsior, which Is very scattering. 
Many northern farmers will sow cow peas this Sum¬ 
mer-some for the first time. Use the large-vlned varie¬ 
ties. drill and cultivate. 
We use coal tar in seed corn. Take a bucket of corn- 
warm it slightly, put in the tar and stir until the kernels 
are black. Then dry by adding wood ashes and stirring 
again. Do this just before planting. 
Mr. Crow will be on hand when the corn breaks 
through, and will pull a few plants In the usual manner; 
when he tastes the tar, however, he will quit and go back 
to the woods to vote you no gentleman. 
The Missouri Experiment Station figures 7,645,600 acres 
in corn for that State. The State revenue for direct tax¬ 
ation was 52,682,000. An increase of one bushel of corn 
per acre will nearly pay this entire direct tax. That is 
what Improved corn will do. 
A Missouri court has decided that the mule is a treach¬ 
erous animal, and If a workman is injured by a mule 
his employer cannot plead Ignorance of the animal’s dis¬ 
position as defense. This sounds like an uncalled-for 
slur on one of the most intelligent workers of the farm¬ 
yard. 
A Jerseyman recently filled hjmself and a cow with 
electricity by winding the cow’s chain around an electric 
light pole while he drove a stake into the ground. The 
pole, which held a lightning arrester, was heavily charged 
with electricity. Neither man nor beast was seriously 
hurt, but the sober-minded cow was very much shocked, 
both by the electricity and by the antics of her escort 
when he received the charge. 
Will some of our friends in nursery and orchard please 
tell us why they put so much value on fibrous roots? Our 
experience is that these roots are quite sure to die before 
the tree is planted. How can these dead roots be of any 
use to the tree? The old theory of successful tree plant¬ 
ing seems based on the assumption that these little roots 
come to life when replanted. In our experience they 
“stay dead,” and every tree must put out a new set of 
roots. Wo do not want the tree which produces our fruit 
to grow just as It did in the nursery! 
