47a 
June 27 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE B USINESS FAltMEB’S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Hkiiukut W. CoLLiNGwoon, Kditor. 
Du. Walter Van Fleet.) . , . 
Mrs. K. T. Kovlk, ^Associates. 
.louN J. Dillon, liusiness Manat^er. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to Ss. 6d., or marks, or lOV^ francs. 
“ A SaUARE 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 lo.ss to paid sub.scribers 
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 trilling 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- 
uetio)i, 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 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
THE RURAL NK'W-YORKER. 
409 Pearl Street. New York. 
SATURDAY, JUNE 27, 1903. 
Last week several nurserymen stated that they 
have found live aphis on trees which were fumigated. 
This leaves the impression that fumigation will not 
entirely destroy these insects. It is only fair to say 
that the entomologists and many nurserymen insist 
that aphis cannot live after a thorough fumigation. 
♦ 
There seems no good reason why prices lor grain 
should be so high. They have gone steadily up until 
eastern stockmen can hardly afford to feed bran, oats 
or cornmeal. There was once a time when the law of 
demand and supply regulated such matters, but that 
now seems to be outlawed. 
* 
We are sometimes asked why it is desirable to erect 
a fine building for the Agricultural College of New 
York. Why not be satisfied with a cheaper one? Agri¬ 
culture is just as worthy as any profession on earth. 
It is just as worthy of a good home. It must take no 
back seat, in any way. The agricultural building at 
Cornell must be just as good as any at the Univer¬ 
sity. Why not? 
* 
Sometimes when a farmer says his corn will produce 
grain in “100 days” he forgets the nights. Such a 
corn at the South might not succeed at the North, 
where the nights are much cooler and the real grow¬ 
ing period in the 100 days much less. There are 2,400 
hours in 100 days. In the warm climate the corn may 
“grow” 2,000 hours during this period, while 400 miles 
farther north 1,300 hours may be the limit! 
* 
For cool brutality in getting rid of unpopular rulers 
Servia is entitled to first place. No defects, moral or 
otherwise, of the late king and queen could make the 
shocking murder excusable, and the offense is aggra¬ 
vated in the eyes of all civilized people by the matter- 
of-fact way in which those in authority have been 
conducting newspaper correspondents through the 
royal apartments, still reeking with evidences of the 
ghastly deed. 
It is easy to find evidence of the work done by the 
American Apple Consumers’ League in every large 
city and town in the country. Apples are now served 
where, five years ago, they were never heard of. All 
this adds to the demand for good apples, and this de¬ 
mand grows like a snowball. First one man, then a 
dozen, then 100, then 1,000, and now close to 50,000 
went about calling for apple in some form at every 
public table. The end is nowhere in sight. What an 
object lesson this is of the power in a simple idea if 
only a few earnest men will get back of it and push! 
♦ 
We seldom attempt to advise our advertising nur¬ 
serymen—they know their own business best. We 
think, however, that they would be wise to do come 
of their advertising through the Summer and Fall in¬ 
stead of crowding all of it into a few months of 
Spring. The best buyers make up their minds slowly. 
If they see the name of an advertiser in the paper 
week after week they feel that they know him, and 
when the time comes they are ready. Nurserymen 
understand that the buds which produce this season’s 
fruit were formed last year. Their business is devel¬ 
oped in much the same way by constant and un¬ 
remitting advertising. This growth might well go on 
through the entire j'^ear. 
Few people understand what it means to organize 
and manage a season’s work in farmers’ institutes. 
Ix)ng before the speakers are to begin, the whole cam¬ 
paign must be outlined and planned. Dates are made, 
pertinent topics assigned and advertising arranged 
for. Even now, six months before the institutes are 
to begin, this preparatory work is well under way, 
and will require constant attention for months. These 
institutes have grown in importance. They now con¬ 
stitute one of the most practical departments of agri¬ 
cultural education, and should be strengthened in 
every possible way. A farmer can help by telling the 
director what topics will best suit his neighborhood 
and then talking “institute” wherever he goes. 
* 
Will it be possible for the farmers of New York 
State to defeat the canal appropriation at the next 
election? Why not? There is no popular demand for 
the canal. A comparatively few shrewd men at New 
York and Buffalo are working hard for the privileges 
which this money will bring them. The average citi¬ 
zen in these cities cares little about it. It is an “off” 
year in politics and the city vote will be light except 
in New York, where a mayor is to be elected. On the 
other hand, farmers generally oppose the canal, and 
with good arguments, while the city people are in¬ 
different, country people realize what it means to 
them. With these conditions, it ought to be possible 
to poll an enormous country vote against the canal 
and thus overcome the indifferent feeling in New 
York. It is worth trying at least. Organize! Or¬ 
ganize! Organize! 
Let any fair-minded eastern farmer go into the 
States west of the Alleghenies and visit the agricul¬ 
tural colleges! He cannot fail to see their strength 
and the power for agricultural development which is 
centered at them. It is evident that in these States 
the controlling classes believe in agricultural educa¬ 
tion, and understand that the educated farmer is the 
best asset on the farm. Look for the cause of this 
and you will find that what we may call the true 
agricultural spirit is responsible. By “spirit” we mean 
the feeling which makes a farmer believe in his call¬ 
ing and claim for it an honorable place by the side of 
any business or profession. It is this spirit which 
gives power and force to agriculture rather than the 
millions which have been dug out of the soil! One 
great reason why our eastern agricultural colleges 
are said to have fallen behind those of the West n 
influence and power is because this agricultural spirit 
is lower in the East, absorbed by other lines of busi¬ 
ness. If we are to have a great agricultural college in 
New York, we must revive this spirit of agriculture, 
and first of all believe in our calling. The college 
cannot create this spirit, but will be created by it. Let 
every farmer who believes in his business lend his 
aid in building up a true farmers’ college. 
* 
The best field of wheat we have seen this year was 
on the farm of the Michigan Agricultural College. The 
straw was stiff and tall and the heads perfect. When 
asked what manure or fertilizer was used we were 
startled by the answer—“nothing but cow peas!” The 
vines were plowed under before wheat seeding. On 
the light lands of northern Michigan we found farm¬ 
ers using cow peas freely and with excellent results 
on soil that would not produce good clover. The cow 
pea has jumped out of the fields at the experiment 
station and run all over the State. It is pleasant for 
a “cow-pea crank” to see how this tough little friend 
of farming has shown its worth in the face of hard 
opposition. Western farmers do not yet realize that 
one of its great uses is to mix a complete fertilizer by 
adding nitrogen from the air to acid phosphate and 
potash. They will learn in time to feed the cow pea 
with chemicals as a bait for nitrogen. In the college 
wheatfields part of the cow peas were drilled and cul¬ 
tivated and part broadcast. All were plowed under 
together. It is easy to pick out the difference between 
the drilled and broadcast strips. Where the peas were 
drilled the wheat is better. The chief reason for this 
probably is that the cultivation induced a better 
growth of vine, kept the soil well stirred and left more 
moisture in the soil at seeding, and thus gave a better 
seed bed. That wheatfield contains a great lesson for 
Michigan farmers who will study it with the right key. 
* 
Tiffi correspondent on page 478, who i-efers to the 
extinction of the sheep industry in his neighborhood 
resulting from the hordes of worthless dogs, touches 
upon a very grave injustice to farmers generally. The 
fact is that people who prefer a dog to a sheep ought 
to pay for their preference. Even a nominal dog tax 
of 25 or 50 cents a head is not paid on a great propor¬ 
tion of the mongrels running at large in many rural, 
or even urban communities. .A tax as.sessor told us 
recently that people he visited would solemnly affirm 
they had never owned a dog even while the animals 
came into the room and settled down in their accus¬ 
tomed places. As a result, no one is responsible for 
the misdoings of these animals, nor is there sufficient 
revenue obtained to indemnify anyone injured by 
sheep-worrying. We believe that in both country 
and city every licensed dog should wear a numbered 
tag on his collar for identification, and every dog 
without the tag should be confiscated or destroyed. 
The license fee should fie $1 (in some of the cities it 
is now $2), and no dogs should roam at large un¬ 
muzzled. We think that agricultural organizations 
everywhere should unite to abate this dog nuisance. 
No owner of well-cared-for and well-disciplined ani¬ 
mals can possibly object to it. An intelligent and 
good-tempered dog harms no one when properly con¬ 
trolled; he is a loving and faithful companion—a 
shield against loneliness and often a brave defender 
against danger to life and property. But this is no 
reason why a useless brute .should be permitted to 
mangle and destroy a flock of timid sheep, or bring 
the dangers of forest and jungle into civilized life. 
♦ 
At the recent nurserymen’s convention two topics 
aroused great discussion. One was the old question 
of varieties and the variations of stock for budding or 
grafting; the other the treatment given the smaller 
orders. Prof. Bailey suggested that specimens of any 
given variety will vary greatly in their ability to pro¬ 
duce fruit buds or make a thrifty growth of wood. He 
favored using buds or wood from these superior trees 
rather than to take them from the nursery row. A 
few nurserymen agreed with him that this careful 
selection would pay, but the majority seemed to think 
the public were not prepared to pay the increased 
cost which such trees would represent. One prominent 
nurseryman said that if he took buds from a well- 
selected tree and used them in a nursery row, he could 
not see why the wood grown from those buds would 
not answer for other budding! The plan of taking 
pits from the finest peaches seemed to meet with little 
favor. Regarding the small order, a majority of the 
nurserymen present took occasion to explain that 
they take greater pains with the small orders than 
with the large ones. They do this because they feel 
that these small orders are feeders for the larger ones. 
Another prominent nurseryman said that years ago 
his firm received an order for a dozen trees. It was 
during the rushing season, and it seemed like a waste 
of time to handle this small order while more profit¬ 
able ones were waiting. They took time to fill the 
order carefully. They did not receive even thanks for 
their pains, and had forgotten the incident when, some 
years later, they received an order for 20,000 trees 
from the same person, who was delighted with his 
former purchase! The experience ought to be remem¬ 
bered in the packing sheds where the small order is 
regarded as a nuisance which costs more than it brings 
in. Thousands of small buyers know that there are 
just such sheds, 
• 
BREVITIES. 
The hog believes in rool-pruning the pasture. 
Beet sugar and beans are becoming great crops for 
Michigan. 
The canned cherry crop will be short in Bergen Co., 
N. J., next Winter. 
We want to hear from anyone who has successfully 
made a walk from coal tar and furnace slag or gravel. 
Mr. Roadmaster, have you looked after that crop of 
loose stones in the highway and the foul weeds on each 
side? 
With hay wholesaling at $20 to $26 per ton, fodder corn 
should be sown on every bit of idle land at all suitable 
lor it. 
Wouldn't it sour your temper if you ordered Dahlia 
roots of a nurseryman and saw them sprout up into 
rhubarb? 
Let those who follow oats with wheat try a crop of 
cow peas between the two crops. Try it on part ol ti. ' 
field as an object lesson! 
iHE eastern Potato bug has hard luck this season. 
First the drought kept his pasture under ground, and 
now the cold and wet give him the “rheumatics.” 
Find a place for some perennial larkspurs in your 
border of hardy plants. They are cheaply started, and 
the intense blue of their graceful spikes will afford 
pleasure to all who look upon them. 
Which animal is of greater value to society In general 
the sheep with his golden hoof, or the riotou.s, unclean 
and useless dog that makes sheep raising practically 
impossible in many parts of the country? 
Why not feed Crimson clover hay to horse.s? Because, 
when the clover stands too long before cutting the heads 
become hard, with little hooks or spines which catch in 
the stomach and form hard balls. There Is much le.ss 
danger to cows. 
There are two extremes to be avoided during vaca¬ 
tion, while the children are out of school; one is to 
permit them to run wild, without home training, the 
other to lay upon them continual duties that leave no 
time for wholesome recreation. 
