392 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
May 23 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FAB MENS PAPEB. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Eatabliafud 1850. 
Herbert W. Coelingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Tax Fleet, ( 
Mrs. B. t. Roylb, j-Associates. 
JoHX J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION; ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal Postal Union, JJ.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 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 remlttanc# 
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 23, 1903. 
The farm labor question is likely to enter politics. 
A reader in Vermont is liable to get into trouble: 
I write to ask if New England farmers can hire help 
and domestic servants in Canada without violation of 
contract labor laws? Help is very scarce here. For many 
years we got men for the Summer at $20 per month; last 
year $25; this year $30, and hard to And. 
We are informed by the Treasury Department that 
farm hands are not domestic servants within the 
meaning of the law. Therefore a farmer importing a 
farm hand from Canada would lay himself liable to a 
penalty. Can anything be more absurd than such a 
decision? What excuse can there be for preventing 
a farmer from importing a farm hand if he can get 
one? Certainly the American farm hand is not 
benefited by such a law, while a farmer might be put 
to great inconvenience. 
* 
Tino recent Transvaal loan of $176,000,000 offered 
by the British government at three per cent was ap¬ 
plied for by investors nearly 30 times over, $5,870,- 
000,000 being offered. It should be observed that the 
system of employing bankers’ syndicates to sustain 
an arbitrary price, as is customary, was not used in 
placing this loan. The British Exchequer learned 
what was the actual price at which the loan could be 
placed with real investors, and then offered it at that 
figure. That seems good sense and good business, 
and is certainly more wholesome than to employ a 
wealthy syndicate to keep prices of securities higher 
than the public desires to pay. A government loan 
which calls out the money of many moderate invest¬ 
ors forms a working partnership between a nation 
and its citizens which makes for the best interests of 
country and people. 
« 
“I AM thankful for one thing,” said a well-informed 
man the other day, ‘T am not guided in my actions 
by any old-time superstitions! It is a blessing to be 
free of them!” As we walked on a small, harmless 
snake ran across the path. This wise man who is so 
free from superstitions ran after the snake and finally 
killed it. When asked why he did it he was unable 
to give any answer worth considering. The snake 
harmed no one, and it consumed great quantities of 
injurious insects. It was a positive benefit to the 
farmer—incapable of doing him injury! Here was a 
man who prided himself on his “freedom” and yet 
was a slave to one of the most senseless of supersti¬ 
tions! Many of our little friends in field and wood 
suffer because of just such freedom. It is too bad 
some of such men cannot be reminded of their folly 
as forcibly as was the old darky. He hated a toad. 
One day while hoeing he made a chop at what he 
thought was a toad and nearly cut off his own toe! 
* 
Jack Fkost having let up on Florida for a few years 
Jack Fakir will try his hand again! The American 
people have short memories, and the rascals who 
thrive on the hard earnings of others know this only 
too well. The old scheme of “colonizing” tracts of 
Florida land will be worked again. The old plan was 
to obtain a large area of worthless land and offer 
“town lots” and farms to northern settlers. Pictures 
showing the most remarkable prosperity are sent out, 
and the poor consumptive at the North, who feels the 
sting of the Winter’s cold, is led to believe that a 
paradise awaits him. After paying out his money he 
comes to find a dreary waste of sand with little chance 
of making a living. There may be new variations 
this time, but that is the brief history of many of 
such schemes in the past. We would not do injustice 
to Florida. In some sections of the State there are 
good opportunities for enterprising men—but we warn 
our readers against the fakirs who offer cheap land 
and make extravagant statements about Florida pros¬ 
pects. As for successful orange growing it seems to 
be pretty well settled that any attempt to grow the 
fruit without cover north of Tampa is like a game of 
cards with Jack Frost holding the trumps. 
• 
Prof. T. F. Hunt, of Ohio, has accepted a call to 
the New York Agricultural College. He is to be pro¬ 
fessor of agronomy, which means general farm man¬ 
agement, farm practice and farm crops. This will be 
a new word to many. Do not be scared—it means 
practical farming—and it will be practical. The old 
department of agriculture will be divided into two 
or more special departments. Prof. Hunt is now the 
head of the Ohio Agricultural College. He has ac¬ 
quired a National reputation, and now comes to New 
York to help build up what we firmly believe will be 
one of the greatest agricultural colleges in th6 world. 
We rejoice that Cornell University is seeking after 
the strongest men in the country. Every move made 
in the reorganization of the college thus far will con¬ 
vince fair-minded men that the authorities are sin¬ 
cere in their desire to give New York farmers a col¬ 
lege that will fairly represent them. Let every 
farmer in the State realize that he has a part to work 
out if the college is to prosper! 
• 
The R. N.-Y. has been criticised for saying that 
western farmers would in time come to use chemical 
fertilizers. How can this be, we are asked, when 
stock-raising is the leading feature of western farm¬ 
ing and manure always enriches the soil? We have 
tried to make it clear that stock-growing will in time 
exhaust the soil of available phosphoric acid, while 
maintaining its supplies of potash and actually in¬ 
creasing its nitrogen. We are not surprised to be 
told that the Experiment Station of Missouri is con¬ 
ducting extensive experiments with fertilizers on 
wheat and corn. At least 50 farmers will this year 
try different combinations of chemicals to see what 
ingredient is needed on their soils. Prof. Waters tells 
us that already the farmers of Missouri pay each year 
about $1,000,000 for chemicals. Less than 10 years 
ago this fertilizer bill was less than $50,000! Much 
the same is true of other Western States, and it is 
absolutely necessary that farmers should know what 
a fertilizer is in order to buy what they need. 
• 
We are told of wealthy men east and west who 
desire to buy land which they will farm as a business 
investment. They see possibilities in the soil when 
skillfully managed with fair capital. In many cases 
the investment hinges upon a satisfactory answer to 
the following question: “Where can I find a capable 
and energetic young man to manage this business for 
me?” Such men are able to hire competent managers 
to handle manufacturing or other lines of business, 
and if they are to buy a farm they want to handle it 
as they would a factory. In many cases the farm is 
not bought because there is no capable manager in 
sight. Whenever we mention this matter publicly we 
receive letters from farmers who think they are fully 
capable of managing such a farm. The fact seems to 
be, however, that a trained man from an agricultural 
college is preferred. We do not think this is always 
a wise choice, yet it indicates the chances that are 
opening for the agricultural college graduate. A sen¬ 
sible and industrious young man can dig as large a 
hole with his agricultural diploma as any graduate 
of a professional school! 
* 
The postal regulations permit a carrier on a rural 
delivery route to perform errands or aid his patrons. 
Some carriers seem to have taken advantage of this 
permission and have gone so far that they have clear¬ 
ly violated the law. They are selling coal and gro¬ 
ceries or buying eggs, wool or butter, sometimes on 
commission and again in partnership with some 
dealer. Complaint comes from local merchants that 
these carriers are sending trade out of the neighbor¬ 
hood and using their official position to feather their 
own nest. It is now proposed to shut off all such 
work and stop the carrier from selling or handling 
goods. That is the only safe way. There are some 
articles which cannot compete with anything pro¬ 
duced in a country neighborhood. Magazines or books 
are of this class, and there is no good reason why a 
carrier should not introduce them to his patrons. 
When he tries to sell goods which compete with those 
handled by local merchants who pay taxes and help 
support the community he should be stopped. No 
man representing the United States Government 
should use his position to help one business house 
take trade from another. If in the course of free com¬ 
petition, trade is to leave the country storekeepers no 
one can make complaint, but the United States Gov¬ 
ernment has no right to lend its infiuence to help pull 
the trade away. It will be a mistake if the farmers 
of any country neighborhood kill off the country 
store. It was to be expected that some objectionable 
features would develop in this rural delivery. Weed 
them out at once. 
• 
Not a day passes without several letters asking 
about cow peas. It would seem as though this crop 
had all of a sudden jumped into popularity. That is 
not so. We are now just getting returns from the 
educational work of the past five years. We are glad 
to see that readers begin to understand what to ex¬ 
pect from cow peas. They will grow on poor soil, 
but they respond wonderfully to fertilizing. We may 
use potash and phosphoric acid to feed them and thus 
increase our supply of nitrogen, for the larger the 
vines of cow peas the more nitrogen is taken from 
the air. We have steadily urged northern farmers 
to consider the cow pea as a manurial or fertilizing 
plant entirely, and not to try to cut it for hay. That 
is the safest advice from our experience. All should 
remember, too, that this crop is not well suited to 
heavy and cold soils. It is the crop for light, hot 
soils and sunshine. As between broadcasting or sow¬ 
ing in drills, the former plan is less work while the 
latter gives larger vines, enables a farmer to work 
the soil and also enables him to sow Crimson clover 
and turnips among the vines at the last cultivation. 
• 
A RECENT news note recounts the death of two per¬ 
sons, and the serious injury of a third, as the result 
of an explosion caused by heating kerosene emulsion 
on a small oil stove. According to information given, 
the maker of this spraying mixture thought that in 
order to mix the ingredients thoroughly they should 
all be heated together; a dreadful error of judgment, 
which inflicted upon him a lifelong sorrow. No for¬ 
mula we have ever seen advises the maker of such a 
mixture to heat it after the kerosene is added, the 
usual instruction given being to dissolve the soap in 
hot water, and then to add the kerosene to the warm 
mixture, agitating it until a smooth emulsion is form¬ 
ed. There is no danger in this process, and it would 
be unfortunate to permit an impression, on the pan 
of those unaccustomed to spray mixtures, that the 
making of kerosene emulsion is attended by any risk. 
The fatality referred to belongs in the same class with 
a recent accident where a man casually lit a match 
to look at a place where he was applying benzine. In 
each case there was an inexplicable lapse of reason 
while dealing with a dangerous substance, with an 
inevitable result; yet the prudent and cautious may 
continue to use kerosene or benzine under proper 
conditions with no fear of disaster. 
• 
BREVITIES. 
The smart set will smart some day. 
No question but that the cook is a dough mestic servant. 
Some faint hearts regard faith only as evidence of 
things seen. 
The “living stuff” is what makes the man—you cannot 
stuft it into him. 
The First Assistant Postmaster-General settles that 
mail box question on page 386. 
No good reason why the board of agriculture should 
be pork and potatoes 365 times a year. 
Ip your friends fail to walk straight—all the more 
reason why you should walk straighter. 
Two different strawberry experts represent divergent 
views concerning picking when the berries are wet- 
page 387. 
One of the coming graduates of the Rhode Island Col¬ 
lege of Agriculture is preparing a thesis upon the 
problem of the addition of hypochlorous acid to cin- 
namenylacryic acid, phenylcinnamenylacryic acid and 
other similar compounds. This is deeply interesting, but 
can he tell us how to kill out chickweed? 
Some finicky people in Nebraska wish to refuse Mr. 
Rockefeller’s offer of $67,000 for their State University 
merely because that philanthropist increased the price 
of oil immediately after proffering his benefaction. They 
have even described him as a modern Robin Hood, which 
is shamefully unjust in view of the fact that the dis¬ 
tinguished medieval bandit never robbed the poor. 
Many of the religious papers are printing that old 
“cold process” for preserving fruit advertisement. We 
regret to say that some agricultural papers are also 
printing it. The cold facts about this process are that 
salicylic acid and borax are used on the fruit. It will 
interest our religious contemporaries to learn that the 
undertaker at times uses much the same drugs for em¬ 
balming purposes. 
The National Department of Agriculture has issued a 
bulletin on Pearl millet. Several seedsmen have adver¬ 
tised a “wonderful forage plant” called pencillarla. This 
was nothing but Pearl millet, which many of our read¬ 
ers have grown for years. It was offered at one time 
at $69 per pound, which certainly made it a pearl of great 
price. The Department is a little slow in printing this 
bulletin. It is well to try Pearl millet in a small way. 
