4o8 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
May 30 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FAHI/IER’S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes, 
Establislud 1850, 
Heebert W. Collingwood, Editor, 
Db. Walter Tax Fleet, ( 
Mrs. K. T. Koylb, ^Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal Postal Union, JJ.04, 
equal to bs. 6(i., or 8^4 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 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 wo 
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 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street. New York. 
SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1903. 
The first report on candidates for the New York 
Legislature has come. We shall try to put every man 
who is named as a candidate on record for or against 
the improvement of the Agricultural College. Send 
us the names early. Organize! Organize! Organize! 
4 : 
Reports that come to us show that many New York 
farmers are more than disappointed at the failure of 
the Legislature to provide for the Agricultural Col¬ 
lege. They will be heard from before the next election. 
Hend vs the 7Hmes of candidates for the Legislature as 
fast as they appear! 
* 
There are croakers who say that the days of the 
horse are numbered because autos are to take his 
place. The way to answer such a man is to send him 
out to buy a good horse. He will have to pay a good 
round price if he is able to find one for sale. The 
demand for good horses is greater than ever before. 
Ten years ago we were told that the bicycle would 
drive out the horse. The bicycle is now disappearing. 
* 
As a sample of newspaper “fakes” the recent hog 
and oil story will go up head. It was stated that 
farmers in Cass Co., Indiana, had formed a company 
to drill for oil which was to be fed to hogs. The story 
went on to say that hogs will thrive on crude petro¬ 
leum—which discovery was made by accident when 
hogs ran in an oil field. The folly of such talk is seen 
when we realize that even small doses of crude petro¬ 
leum will injure a hog! 
* 
As we write the eastern half of the country is in 
the grasp of the worst Spring drought that has been 
known for years. There is no present indication of 
relief. Here is our chance to face a hard situa¬ 
tion with fortitude. Tears will not irrigate our crops! 
We shall not cool off the parched ground by scolding 
at the wife and children, or losing faith in the great 
design of development which runs all through the 
universe. If all the crops of the field are to go down 
before the heat let us save the crops of hope and good 
nature at least. 
* 
The first real effort to test the constitutionality of 
the Grout anti-oleo law was made at Cincinnati, O. 
Suit was brought by various oleo makers to break 
that part of the law which declares that oleo when 
colored artificially so as to resbmble butter must pay 
a 10-cent tax. A Federal court heard the case and 
decided against the oleo men. They will carry it to 
the Supreme Court, but they do not really expect to 
win. They have spent vast sums of money in an ef¬ 
fort to deceive the people. Now they are to get their 
deserts through this law. 
* 
The fruit growers’ meeting at the farm of Grant G. 
Hitchings was well attended and proved very inter¬ 
esting. The fearful drought all through central New 
York gave visitors a chance to see the mulch system 
at its worst. Naturally in such a system the roots 
are close to the surface, and the fierce, baking drought 
will injure them if anything will. Thus far the trees 
look well. We think the mulch has held in the soil 
much of the surplus moisture from last year which 
would otherwise have been evaporated. The most in¬ 
teresting thing was the condition of 2,500 young trees 
planted this year by cutting a hole in the sod and 
packing the dirt hard around the roots without plow¬ 
ing. These trees were practically all alive. It will 
take many years fully to demonstrate the wisdom or 
folly of this method. In spite of the criticisms of 
radical fruit growers we think Mr. Hitchings is doing 
a useful work in carrying through his experiments on 
such a large scale. If he is wrong he will prove it 
himself. 
After years of earnest protest and agitation for the 
protection of harmless song and ornamental wild 
birds the Audubon Society and Millinery Merchants’ 
Protective Association have reached an agreement 
that after January 1, 1904, the importation, manufac¬ 
ture, purchase and sale of the plumage of such birds 
shall cease. This is really a long step forward in the 
advancement of true humanity, and it cannot be 
doubted that the cynical disregard of the unspoiled 
beauties of nature so characteristic of the present era 
will be lessened with the passing of the hat-bird 
craze we have so long endured. If carried out the 
benefits of the Audubon Society’s unselfish work will 
extend to every land, and the cruel traffic in these 
innocent feathered creatures will practically cease. 
The agreement, as it stands, is a great victory for the 
Society and a marked instance of the power of asso¬ 
ciation when directed toward a worthy object. 
* 
Some of the outrageous stuff that is “taught” in our 
town public schools is enough to make an old-timer 
tear for the future of his country. Some of us who 
were brought up on the plain fare served at the old- 
time district school are made nervous by the fads 
which now sit on a front seat. A girl of 12 was re¬ 
quired to write essays on the character of Shylock, 
and tell the thoughts aroused by “The Courtship of 
Miles Standish!” It is hard for us to understand 
what in the world a child is supposed to gain by such 
study. We see childi'en coming home from school 
with arms full of copy books in which they are sup¬ 
posed to copy all sorts of useless things. If one make 
a protest he is simply called a “back number” and 
told that he does not understand the needs of modern 
education. We are profoundly thankful that we do 
not understand it, but we have a confused sort of no¬ 
tion that while the world needs workers indoors and 
out, with hands willing and strong to grasp the hard, 
crude things which farmers must face, the schools 
are turning out typewriters and clerks, baseball play¬ 
ers and soft-fingered gentry who keep as far from 
manual labor as they can. 
* 
Good judges say that at least half a million Rus¬ 
sian Jews will come to this country as a result of the 
recent troubles in Russia. There are now more Jews 
in the city of New York than in all Germany! No 
effort has yet been made to restrict this Jewish im¬ 
migration. The Jews have become a strong political 
force in this country—so much so that probably no 
existing political party would dare to attempt to pre¬ 
vent immigration, as has been done with the Chinese. 
Opinions vary as to what will become of the Jewish 
race. It is thought by some that the Jews will slowly 
mix in with the other elements that are to make the 
future American. Others believe that the more the 
Jews come to America the stronger will be the in¬ 
stinct ot the race to preserve something of its type 
and habits. It seems to us that the latter idea is more 
nearly correct. From the standpoint of a farmer this 
great crowd of Jewish refugees is not desirable. The 
Jew has not, thus far, shown much desire to go to the 
farms and help solve the labor problem. He prefers 
to crowd into the city. He is not a good customer for 
what the farmer has to sell, and he helps to swell the 
political power of those who have no sympathy with 
the farmer’s home. 
* 
What a contrast is presented in the two ways of 
planting a tree given on page 405. In one case a 
large hole is dug and the long roots are carefully 
spread out and gently covered with dirt. In the other 
the roots are cut off and the dirt is pounded hard 
around them. The advocates of the big hole and long 
root tried to say that the short roots packed firmly 
in the ground would not start and grow. Thousands 
of trees have now refuted their arguments by not 
only growing but making a more businesslike root 
system than the long-rooted trees ever could. It is 
now quite “up to” the advocates of the old method to 
tell us why they dig the big holes and leave the roots 
as they grew in the nursery. We have been taught 
to call for “fibrous roots” and put them carefully into 
the ground. Why do this when these little roots die 
long before they get to us? We cannot bring them to 
life hy digging a big grave for them! When a tree is 
dug out of a nursery row it must make a new root 
system. We may spread the roots out and try to make 
them grow as they started in the nursery, but this 
does not seem to us a sensible thing to do. We do 
not want the fruiting tree to grow, either above or be¬ 
low gi’ound, as it did in the nursery. All recognize 
the importance of cutting the top back in order to 
develop a businesslike head, but few as yet seem to 
realize that we may cut the roots back in order to 
develop a better root system. Our experience certain¬ 
ly shows that the closer to the crown or body of the 
tree we can start the new roots the stronger and 
deeper these new roots will be. Of course if the roots 
are pruned the top should also be cut back. We know 
of ca.ses where root-pruning is said to have failed be¬ 
cause the roots were cut short, while the top was not 
pruned at all. Of course such trees died—how could 
anyone expect them to live? We feel quite sure that 
the old plan of digging great holes for long roots will 
soon become a “back number.” 
• 
The election in New York State will be quiet this 
year. Few political offices are to be filled. The ad¬ 
vocates of the big canal appropriation rely on this 
apparent lack of interest to help them in obtaining 
a popular majority. They reason that many farmers 
will not take interest enough in the matter to vote 
against the appropriation, while they can interest the 
so-called “labor ” vote in the towns and cities to carry 
it through. There is a good chance to defeat this lit¬ 
tle game if the farmers will organize and get out their 
vote, 'riiers is no sense in sitting down and saying 
that the canal men have won. That is not true, for if 
the farmers of the State will organize and conduct 
their own campaign they can win. 
* 
The Agricultural College of Nebraska has just re¬ 
ceived $100,000 from the State Legislature. For years 
this college called in vain for what was its just due. 
This little note from the Iowa Agriculturist shows 
how things are done in the West: 
A very general feeling existed among those conversant 
with conditions at the Nebraska Agricultural College, in 
favor of making the appropriation twice as large as was 
asked for; but the financial condition of the State wa.s 
such that many feared that the bill would not pass as it 
'was. The committees on agriculture from the House and 
Senate, and two or three others visited the Iowa State 
College during February, w'hile the bill was pending. The 
visit served to show the Nebraska legislators many 
things of interest: and when they returned to Lincoln 
the Nebraska Agricultural College got every dollar that 
was asked for—the bill was passed without reduction. 
The New York Agricultural College needs a new 
building and equipment, but the great Empire State 
is said to be “too poor” to provide the money. Gov. 
Odell can go to the Mississippi River on a useless, not 
to say foolish junket, but the farmers must wait! It 
is a good thing for us all to understand that we shall 
not get what belongs to us by merely asking for it. 
We must now make the Governor and the Legisla¬ 
ture understand that we demand our rights. Keep at 
it all through the Summer and Fall until we make 
them see it. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
Oats are a horse rare dish—for some horses. 
The grass is drying up. Plant fodder corn! 
Sorrel and lime w'ill not occupy the soil at the same 
time. 
Why are eastern slopes usually more fertile than 
western? 
What is true development? Rising above your mis¬ 
takes and correcting them. 
No farm neighborhood can prosper unle.ss the true 
spirit of agriculture is there. 
Remember that house flies breed in horse manure. Get 
it away from the barn as fast as possible. 
Give us the soil that needs to be fed for a fruit or¬ 
chard. Then we can be sure that the trees get just what 
they need. 
There are said to be soils In Delaware where the long- 
continued yearly use of Crimson clover has added more 
nitrogen to the soil than wheat can make use of. 
Since engraving the picture of the potato shown at 
Pig. 143 we have received another plant from Georgia. 
This one had 27 tubers on the top and 38 on the roots! 
This is what one wjio knows him well says of Prof. T. 
P. Hunt: “He will bring much strength to Cornell as 
an agricultural educator. As a man, he Is one of the 
very finest.” 
Some wise man has said that he judges the civilization 
of any section by the way the men use their women. A 
better wo.y to put it would be “by the way the women 
permit themselves to be used.” 
Crown gall is a dreaded disease on apple trees. The 
only treatment that seems to be even worth trying is 
to cut the galls off and paint the wounds with a mixture 
of copper sulphate, iron sulphate and water. 
The latest horticultural fakir will be the man who 
claims to change the habit of a tree without grafting. You 
bore a hole in a Greening tree, drop in ai few drops of his 
celebrated “tincture”—and the tree bears Baldwins from 
that time on! 
Owing to the prevalence, of glanders In New York, some 
of the large corporations using many horses have for¬ 
bidden their drivers to water horses at the public foun¬ 
tains. and it Is urged that all horse owners provide them¬ 
selves or their drivers with buckets to avoid risk of con¬ 
tagion at the public drinking troughs. 
