424 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
June 6 
Tke Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
. Hebbert W. Collinowood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, ( . . 
Mks. K. T. Roylb, j-Associate#. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION; ONE DOLLAR A YEAR, 
To foreign countries In the Universal Postal Union, J 2 . 04 , 
equal to 8s. 6d., or 8^ marks, or 10^ francs. 
“A SaUABE 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 
erder, personal check or bank draft. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street. New York. 
SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 1903. 
Pastures are burning up and feed is going higher, 
and yet the Milk Exchange cuts the price of milk one- 
quarter of a cent. The retail price to the city con¬ 
sumer has not been reduced, still the price goes down 
—into the pocket of the dealer. 
• 
Hon. J. W. Wadsworth is the man who said the 
Grout bill has proved a failure, and that all are dis¬ 
satisfied with it What will he say to the reports 
from dealers and farmers which we are printing? 
Really, there is nothing for him to say except that he 
didn’t know what he was talking about. 
* 
The man with the “fiy-proof” wheat has opened up 
early this year. It is easy to secure several jars full 
of some fine-looking grain and then go around telling 
big stories about it, and selling “seed” at double the 
ordinary price. The small sample inside the jar looks 
well—thi'ough the glass. It is also easy, after getting 
the cash or a contract, to buy ordinary wheat at a 
grain elevator and ship it to the trusting farmers who 
paid for the “new variety.” Ail this is easy for a 
rogue. It has been done in the past and will be done 
again. The really superior varieties of grain do not 
get into the hands of the wandering glass-jar man. 
It is safer to buy a small quantity of new grain of 
some reliable seedsman and raise your own seed. 
* 
Each year seems to bring into the market several 
new insecticide mixtures. They find fair sale as a 
rule, and some manufacturers go so far as to infer 
that they have discovered some new poison or some 
new method of mixing. Such claims may be rejected 
as nonsense. When a farmer buys one of those “pat¬ 
ent” articles he buys the same old poisons that he 
has used repeatedly. Arsenic, sulphur, copper and 
lime are the ingredients mostly used by these manu¬ 
facturers, just as nitrogen, potash and phosphoric 
acid are used by the fertilizer manufacturers in their 
various “brands.” The “patent” article sometimes 
gives better results than the homemade mixture. That 
is not because the former contains any new poisons, 
but because the mixture, being made on a large scale 
and under the eye of an expert is more uniform and 
sure. There are many cases where a well-mixed paste 
or powder will prove very convenient to a farmer. 
If sold at a fair price it may be cheaper to buy than 
to mix. 
• 
We once heard a professor in a classical college 
undertake to prove that what he called an “academic 
course” offered the best form of education for a 
farmer as well as for a preacher or lawyer. The study 
of the languages and mathematics, he said, trained 
the mind, and with this training a farmer is qualified 
to go out and investigate any of the problems which 
face him. To make his point clear, the speaker un¬ 
dertook to illustrate. “Take a farmer,” he said, “who 
sharpens his ax or scythe on a grindstone—does he 
carry a piece of the grindstone away with him? In 
the same way a boy at college should sharpen his 
wits on the classics and on mathematics and then use 
them to cut his way in the world.” An old farmer 
who heard the speech made this reply: “It is true 
that the farmer sharpens his scythe on the grindstone 
but he always carries a whetstone in his pocket!” 
There never was a more complete answer to the ar¬ 
gument that farmers do not need a special education 
in the sciences which run through their profession 
like the great arteries in the human body. The 
farmer must always carry a whetstone in his pocket, 
and this is just what the “academic course” does not 
ordinarily provide. 
• 
In many parts of the West farm land has reached 
the point where it is valued for what it will produce 
—the same as other forms of property. For example, 
land within fair distance of a railroad and suited to 
Alfalfa or corn may pay good interest on $100 per 
acre, while natural wheat land would earn half as 
much. Fortunes have been made in the West by buy¬ 
ing cheap land, showing its full capacity for produc¬ 
ing a crop like Alfalfa and then selling it at a price 
based on what it will earn under the new system of 
culture. A few years of “know how” farming have 
doubled the results from a lifetime of anyhow farm¬ 
ing. if such things can be done in the West they can 
also be done at the East. There are some rough but 
strong farms quite close to good markets which are 
considered failures. Buyers shun them because it 
has been made evident that the oid-fashioned crops 
produced under the old system do not pay. Quite 
likely these farms have never been asked to produce 
the crops for which they are best fitted, l.et some 
man who knows how, and who has faith and strength, 
cover the rougher parts of such a farm with orchards 
and the smoother parts with small fruits and garden 
crops and he can double its value because its earning 
capacity will be evident to all. 
# 
A BOUNTY law, whether for wolves, sparrows, or any 
other form of wild life, is very likely to prove a boom¬ 
erang, and some experience reported from Maine em¬ 
phasizes this point. It appears that the Legislature of 
that State offers a bounty of 25 cents for porcupines, 
which have increased greatly while protected, the 
new law going into effect May 1. To obtain the bounty 
the nose and forepaws of the animal must be given to 
the town clerk. In one township the clerk paid bounty 
on 210 porcupines previous to Apidl 24, when it sud¬ 
denly dawned upon him that six days were still to 
elapse before it was legal to pay the bounty. He en¬ 
deavored to make the hunters refund, which they de¬ 
clined with contumely. Being a Down-Easter, and 
therefore a man of resource, the town clerk dug up 
an archaic unrepeaied statute which prescribes a fine 
of $5 for killing a hedgehog between October 1 and 
June 1; after the hunters had been disciplined under 
this law they were poorer by $4.75 for each and every 
hedgehog on which they had received bounty. This 
was very cheering to the town clerk until his victims 
began to look up back-number statutes also, when 
they found that a fine of $5 was imposed on anyone 
having any part of a dead hedgehog in his possession 
between October and June. Under this law, the town 
clerk was carrying $1,050 worth of hedgehog paws 
and noses, to say nothing of $65 costs, so that un¬ 
happy man has taken the case to a higher court, 
where it will be argued next Fall. In the meantime 
he is probably reflecting on the difference between 
things that are lawful and things that are expedient. 
• 
The last New York Legislature passed a bill which 
was evidently aimed at the reckless drivers of auto¬ 
mobiles. After an exciting heaiing Gov. Odell signed 
this bill. Briefly stated it imposes the following re¬ 
strictions upon auto drivers: 
Eight miles per hour in closely-built sections of cities; 
15 miles per hour in streets where houses are lOO feet 
apart. On country highways not more than 20 miles per 
hour. Not more than eight miles within one-half mile 
of post office; when passing a person driving a horse or 
other domestic animal; when passing a pedestrian, or 
crossing a main highway. Not more than 10 miles when 
passing a schoolhouse between 8 A. M. and 4 P. M. Im¬ 
prisonment for 30 days may accompany fine for second 
offense. 
Some owners of automobiles say that this law is 
too severe, and they are up in arms against what they 
call an “invasion of their rights”! It would be inter¬ 
esting to know what sort of an idea such people have 
of the “rights” of drivers or pedestrians. Long be¬ 
fore automobiles were dreamed of the highways were 
occupied by walkers and riders; in fact, the man on 
foot has ever the first right to the road. This law 
will not injure the careful man who drives his auto 
with some regard for the comfort of others. It is 
justly aimed at the reckless drivers who dash along 
our roads in a cloud of dust and terror. During the 
recent road race in France a dozen people were killed 
or injured. The country roads in France are sup¬ 
posed to be the best in the world, yet even on these 
superb highways the automobile at high speed proves 
a terrible menace to horse and man. There is greater 
danger than ever on our American country roads, 
which have been built for slower and safer traffic. 
Better the safety of a single child than the mere 
pleasure of some idle millionaire! 
Immigrants from southern Europe are swarming to 
this country. Reports are that the flood has hardly 
begun, and that next year the rush will be worse than 
ever. Country districts in Austria and Italy are being 
depopulated; farms are losing their laborers, and 
property in small towns is falling in value. There 
seems no way of heading off the stream, for middle¬ 
men and steamship companies are reaping a golden 
harvest out of the passage money. While these im¬ 
migrants come from farming sections, and seriously 
cripple farming when they go, they do not give much 
help in solving the farm labor problem over here. 
The result of their leaving Europe will be to force 
the large Austrian farmers to purchase American 
farm machinery and follow American methods. In 
some of the countries from which these laborers come 
Indian corn is broadcast and then chopped out to 
proper distances apart with hoes. This hand method 
has been made necessary in order to provide work for 
the thousands of common laborers. When they emi¬ 
grate horse tools will be introduced and the crops 
will be grown with less hand labor. We do not share 
the view that the loss of these laborers to Austria 
will increase the demand for Amei'ican grain. It will 
enable the large farmers to change their methods so 
that they can produce more. At the same time mil¬ 
lions of dollars earned in this country by these labor¬ 
ers will be sent back to Austria, We see little of good 
and much of harm in this rush from southern Europe! 
« 
About 12 years ago we wrote to the then leading 
agricultural scientists and asked what the chances 
wei-e for developing corn with a higher per cent of 
protein or muscle-making materials. The geuGial re¬ 
ply was that such a corn might be possible, but its 
development was not practical. To show what prog¬ 
ress agricultural science is making we are now told 
of experiments in selecting and feeding corn which 
make it reasonably sure that we shall have within a 
few years a variety of corn analyzing 16 per cent of 
protein. We realize what this means when we think 
that wheat bran contains a little over 12 per cent of 
digestible protein. Imagine what it will mean to have 
corn that is “richer” than wheat bran! We speak of 
this to call attention to the marvelous work which 
plant breeders are doing. They are selecting and 
breeding corn as they would living animals and will 
in time give us seed which will change the whole 
character of our feeding. Our ordinary corn is a fat- 
producing grain. Most of us understand that when we 
feed silage or shredded fodder we must use some 
stronger grain, like bran or linseed, to balance the 
ration. With corn richer in protein than wheat bran, 
we shall have the meat bred into the sandwich and 
the grain will balance the stalk. This is only one of 
the things which agricultural science is doing for the 
farmer. The western farmers are receiving far great¬ 
er benefits than their eastern brothers because the 
Western States are far more liberal to their agricul¬ 
tural colleges. We must step on the corns of New 
York’s Governor and make him understand what 
farmers really need! 
• 
BREVITIES. 
Alfalfa laughs at drought. 
Hustle without too much bustle. 
Prosperity has hit the hired man. 
Try the Cow-horn turnip for a humus crop. 
Put tar on the seed corn and you certainly plant It 
with a crowbar! 
Drink all the water you can. Few people drink as 
much as they need. 
The best union a farm hand can join is a union of in¬ 
terests with the man who hiies him. 
Spend no time weeping over the wrongs of the Russian 
Jews while the horse is suffering from thirst or the wife 
has no fuel! 
“I DO not want to spend time writing simply to fill 
space,” says a well-known contributor. We wish there 
were more like him. 
The description of cassava as eaten in Brazil, given in 
Ruralisms, page 422, sounds very much like some of the 
popular breakfast foods. 
Mapes appears to be happy, for while the drought la 
burning his pasture, that part of the country which pro¬ 
duces his grain is swimming. 
We are told that there is a great demand In foreign 
countries for graduates of our agricultural colleges. 
What about the need of them in this country? 
We have been asked If hay can be baled direct from 
the field—without going through the “sweating process.” 
Hay shippers say no. Who has ever done it? 
Every home garden ought to contain at least one 
flower bed from which the children can pick anything 
they like Without hearing their mother say “don’t.” 
When the hen hatches and raises a iarger per cent 
of chicks than you do, remember that she with her an¬ 
cestors have been at the business for thousands of years 
—while you are a beginner. 
The new chemical radium has been cornered by a Ger¬ 
man scientist, and is held at $1,500,000 a pound. Only one 
ounce of it has been manufactured so far, and the gen¬ 
eral public will not suffer from the radium trust. 
