44o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
June 13 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Establiifted 1850 . 
HEBBEKT W. COLLINGWOOD, Editor. 
Dk. Walter Van Fleet, ( 
Mbs. K. T. Uuvle, Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business MansKer. 
SUBSOB.IPTION; ONE DOLLAR A YEARo 
To foreign countries In the Universal Postal Union, IJ.04, 
equal to Ss. 6d., or marks, or lO^i francs. 
“A SOU ARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement In this paper la 
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 remittance 
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 13, 1903. 
There are so many varieties of fruit now before the 
public that a new one must have strong and endur¬ 
ing qualities if it is to stay. It seems to growers 
sometimes that the “authorities” conspire to club the 
life out of a new variety whenever it shows its head. 
This is sometimes rough on the introducers, but an 
excellent thing for the public. If a new fruit has real 
merit it will run the gauntlet and assert itself. 
* 
Sad reports come from the milk producers. Pas¬ 
tures are burned up, and soil cannot be plowed for 
planting corn or other fodder crops. The clouds 
gather, but produce nothing but disappointment. To 
crown all this with meanness the Milk Exchange has 
cut the price of milk. The man with a Summer silo 
and a few acres in Alfalfa will make more money 
than ever this year. This is small consolation to the 
farmer who lacks these things. 
* 
For two years past The R. N.-Y. has discussed the 
“mulch method” of caring for orchards and the plan 
of cutting off the roots of trees before planting. Most 
of the other farm papers seemed afraid even to discuss 
melhods so radically opposed to the teachings of the 
w'ise men. Now they are coming with a rush to get 
into the discussion, just as they did regarding cow 
peas. They are a little late, but still welcome, though 
what they now say must be well warmed over. When 
they talk about these methods we wish they would 
give the credit (or discredit if they call it so) to 
Stringfellow, Hitchings and Vergon. 
* 
The unanimous opinion seems to be that it is not 
safe to bale hay as it comes from the harvest. The 
man who asked the original question now says: 
I knew tlie claim of sweating would come up, but 
they used to make that same claim as to apples in a 
pile, and now all best horticulturists know that packed, 
straight from the tree they keep longer and come out 
brighter. I have a notion to bale hay just as it is cured, 
pack the bales tightly in a well-constructed barn, and 
then cover with loose hay, which would answer for the 
sweating process If that is necessary, and. I am not sure 
about that yet. 
We feel quite sure this plan will fail. There will 
be a moldy “core” in every bale. The “sweating” of 
the living apple is quite a different thing from the 
effort of the moisture to get out of the dead hay. 
» 
Almost daily the city papers tell of children in¬ 
jured or disfigured by the bite of irresponsible dogs. 
The vagrant cur, rendered savage by disease or hun¬ 
ger, is not the only source of danger; pampered house 
dogs, petted and cared for, seem equally as dangerous 
in a sudden reversion to the savagery of their ances¬ 
tors. We do not wish to refer here to the danger of 
rabies, though the increase in this frightful disease 
may well cause painful thought, but to the risk of 
injury, which often takes the form of permanent dis¬ 
figurement. A dog which is brought up from puppy- 
hood in a family of children is too often entirely un¬ 
trained and uncontrolled. The natural result is that 
it becomes a nuisance first, and a danger afterwards. 
It is such dogs as these that rush out on the public 
road, frightening horses and endangering bicyclists. 
Is it not time for public sentiment to hold the keep¬ 
er of an idle dog responsible for the animal’s mis¬ 
doings, and to protect others against its invasion of 
their rights? The writer of this note has always been 
a lover of well-bred dogs, but is gradually, though 
reluctantly, coming to the conclusion that few per¬ 
sons are qualified to have charge of them, and that In 
the hands of too many owners these animals, however 
intelligent, are a danger or an offense. 
* 
When the oleo bill was before Congress pretty 
much all the real strength which the oleo men could 
muster came from the Southern States. Senators and 
Reiiresentatives from the South defended the bill— 
but for them it would have had absolutely no chance 
whatever. Of course we understand that these men 
did not consider the moral or true industrial issues 
involved. They opposed the principle of taxation 
which the bill contains. Some of them undertook to 
say that the unlimited use of oleo would help the 
southern farmer by providing a new demand for cot¬ 
ton oil! How absurd that seems when we consider 
how much the South needs an industry like dairying, 
which will not only provide cash, but also redeem 
the soil. Such opposition to the cow wa.s hard to un¬ 
derstand, but it is as refreshing as a cup of cold but¬ 
termilk on a hot day to read the letter from Virginia 
printed on page 447. 
* 
O.vE of our western readers wanted to buy some 
fertilizer to experiment with. He was offered a certain 
brand for $22. It was evidently a mixture of low-grade 
tankage, acid phosphate and a small pinch of potash. 
Figured on the basis given by the agricultural chem¬ 
ists the fertilizer had a value of not far from $10. The 
■plant food in it possibly cost the manufacturer $8! 
When this low value was pointed out the manufac¬ 
turer wrote: “You must remember that it contains a 
large amount of humus!” It is hard to think of a 
more ridiculous argument for buying a chemical ferti¬ 
lizer. According to that argument sawdust or planer 
shavings ought to rank high as a fertilizer! A crop 
of ragweed plowed into the ground will give far more 
valuable “humus” than that in the tankage. The way 
some of these men play baseball with scientific terms 
is enough to put a farmer out on a foul. We do not 
want humus in a chemical fertilizer. We buy it or 
ought to do so in order to obtain plant food in the 
smallest possible bulk! 
* 
In past years farmers of the East have contributed 
millions in aid of drought-stricken farmers in the far 
West. It is rather startling now to observe that farm¬ 
ers in South Dakota are offering to send grain to those 
who are dried up In New Jersey and New York. When 
you think what this means you get a good idea of the 
way this season has upset all calculations. While the 
West is being flooded the East is suffering from the 
worst drought in 40 years. We doubt whether any 
such damage to crops on light land has been known 
in half a century as this season’s reports show. The 
effect of the terrible scorching that May has given us 
will be felt for a long time. Merchants in town and 
city will realize how much they depend on the trade 
which comes'from farmers. Cutting off the farmer’s 
supply of money is like stopping the circulation of 
blood at the heart. The eastern farmer is not going 
to cry or call for aid. The drought may scorch or 
the flood soak him, but he looks ahead to another 
season and labors on! 
* 
Sevebal times during the past 15 years it has been 
stated that England was prepared to abandon her 
policy of free trade for a tariff on breadstuffs and 
manufactured goods. It is now announced that the 
English government would like to try the experiment 
of what is known as a preferential tariff. That means 
in effect free trade for English colonies, like Canada 
or Australia, but a fair tariff on similar goods import¬ 
ed from this country. The object of course is a dou¬ 
ble one, aside from the raising of actual revenues. The 
policy of the English government is to establish the 
closest relations with Canada and the other colonies. 
By giving them an advantage in the English market 
it is natural to suppose that the ties which bind them 
to the mother country would be strengthened. On the 
other hand, the English farmer would probably be 
helped by a tariff on farm produce, since all admit 
that the chief cause of the present depression of Eng¬ 
lish agriculture is due to the free importation of for¬ 
eign food. In taking such a radical step the English 
government would be forced to admit that tree trade 
for a country like England has been a mistake. While 
England as a whole has grown rich and strong, the 
English farmer has suffei'ed, and the whole character 
of agriculture has changed. Trade and manufacturing 
have absorbed the character and power which former¬ 
ly belonged to the farm. While English statesmen do 
not say so openly, they know that the chief trouble 
with England to-day is the decay of the country home 
and the country family. This fact is recognized in 
the new Irish land bill, which aims at great expense 
to carve up the great Irish estates into small free¬ 
holds. It will be asked how an English tariff on food 
products would affect the American farmer. It seems 
to us quite clear that, in the end, such a tariff would 
lessen our exports of wheat and flour. The great wheat 
fields of the future lie in western Canada, and the 
present indications are that this vast area will be rap¬ 
idly developed. As to corn and meat we do not think 
this country need fear competition. We have what 
amounts to a monopoly of corn gi'owing, and noth¬ 
ing can take it from us. As corn is the food from 
which the best and cheapest meat is made we see no 
reason why our western corn growers need feel any 
alarm. As for those farmers who feed stock in the 
Eastern States, they would be better off if there were 
smaller exports of American corn, for the foreign de¬ 
mand has without doubt increased the price to the 
American buyer. 
* 
Still another black eye for oleo! The W, J. Mox- 
ley Company, of Chicago, used palm oil in a large 
quantity of oleo and claimed that since this oil is a 
natural product the oleo which contained it was "un¬ 
colored,” and thus should be taxed only one cent a 
pound. When oleo is “colored” it must pay a tax of 
10 cents a pound. Moxley & Co., like other manufac¬ 
turers, thought they had beaten the law by discover¬ 
ing this “natural” coloring matter, so they made large 
quantities of oleo and refused to pay more than one 
cent tax. Palm oil gave the oleo a fair color and the 
manufacturers were congratulating themselves on 
their success in “riding through the law.” The case 
was carried to the Treasury Department at Washing¬ 
ton. and the decision is against the oleo makers. 
Moxley & Co. must now pay $30,000 in back taxes, or 
nine cents a pound on the oleo which they colored 
with palm oil! This was a test case, and other manu¬ 
facturers will be forced to pay up. No one will ques¬ 
tion the justice of this decision except the oleo mak¬ 
ers. They used the palm oil for the purpose of de¬ 
ception, and having been caught squarely in the act 
they are no more entitled to sympathy than a man 
who is caught robbing a hen roost. This decision will 
greatly benefit dairymen, for it will force the oleo men 
either to sell their stuff in its natural color or sell 
the colored product close to the price of good butter. 
The oleo men will appeal the case, but they are not 
likely to win it. 
« 
A HOMELY philosopher once observed that it is bet¬ 
ter to know a few real facts rather than to acquire a 
great mass of information that is not so. The truth 
of this is apparent when we realize the immense 
amount of misinformation freely given by parents, 
teachers and writers. People do not mean to mis¬ 
lead, but it is easier to say “I guess it is” than to ac¬ 
knowledge ignorance and look up an authority. A 
person with wide and diversified knowledge is not 
afraid to say “I don’t know,” but the average man is 
more ready to give an inaccurate answer that goes 
wide of the target. Yet sources of information are 
open to most of us, did we but trouble ourselves to 
look for them. A household provided with a diction¬ 
ary, an atlas and an encyclopedia possesses material 
to answer most of the questions brought out in daily 
life. Next to knowing things ourselves comes the 
knowledge of those authorities who do know. Most 
people fall very readily into slovenly habits of 
thought: they “skip” references to things unknown, 
like the old lady who, on being asked whether she 
had enjoyed a lecture on Pericles, said: “Yes, it was 
very improving, but what are Pericles?” If we con¬ 
sult the atlas or the encyclopedia when we read of 
Bessarabia or octroi duties, or chauvinism—in other 
w'ords, when we seek accurate information concerning 
anything beyond our immediate horizon—casual read¬ 
ing becomes an educational course from which chil¬ 
dren benefit as much as adults, 
• 
BREVITIES. 
Caebaoe is a good dairy crop. 
IIow do bacteiia succeed in their work? Thej^ keep at 
’em witli atoms! 
The ginseng men say don’t plant in the woods. The 
roots of the trees will rob the ginseng. 
The only form of kicking at drought that pays is to 
kick up a dust mulch with hoe or cultivator. 
It looks like sensible advice to suggest the use of a re¬ 
volving cutter on the plow when turning under cow, peas. 
Most farmers think that an editor should say what 
they would like to say about things that interest the 
farm. 
Many an institute speaker says he will bury some of 
his old chestnuts, but he takes pains not to destroy the 
get ms before they are planted. 
The Pennsylvania Legislature appropriated $100,000 to 
erect and equip a building at the agricultural college. 
The New York Legislature would not give a dollar for 
this purpose. 
There are some good citizens who find fault with a 
working man when he drinks a glass of beer, and then 
go and drink a pint of hard cider. It will gratify such 
people to learn that their cider will average about eight 
per cent alcohol. 
