6i6 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 29 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TEE BUSINESS FABMEE'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Ur. Walter Tax Fleet, ( 
Mrs. K. T. Koyle, Associates. 
JoHX J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOBBAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to 8s. 6d., 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 losjB 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 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street. New York. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 1903. 
Prizes! ! Prizes! ! 
$12, $10, $8, $5. 
The R. N.-Y. offers cash prizes for the best account, 
with pictures, of 
ONE DAY’S WORK ON THE FARM! 
We want a plain, natural story of the operations 
which fill one busy day on your farm—either indoors 
or out. This ought to give a clear idea of what farm 
life means. 
These prize articles should contain not over 1,200 
words and should, if possible, be accompanied by two 
or more photographs. Preference will be given to 
the plain, homely accounts of farm life and work, for 
what we desire is a true pen picture of a farm work¬ 
ing day. The articles must be in our hands by 
October 15. 
* 
The interest in the canal question is increasing. 
Granges and farmers’ clubs are organizing debates 
on the question, and we have been asked for facts. 
No better line of argument can be taken than that 
marked out by Mr. Wood in this issue. It cannot be 
aniswered by the canal men from a farmer’s stand¬ 
point. For further details write to John M. Ives, 
Rochester, N. Y., secretary of the Anti-Canal Asso¬ 
ciation. 
* 
The fruit-stealing birds receive a broadside on page 
614 that seems to us well deserved. There are thou¬ 
sands of fruit growers who, for years, accepted the 
statement that birds destroy injurious insects as a 
complimentary ticket into the cherry trees and fruit 
patch. Finally, they began to count the cost. They 
find that many of the birds destroy so much fruit 
that they cannot possibly offset the damage by killing 
insects. With many of us it is far cheaper to kill 
the insects than to feed the birds. It is time to revoke 
their free pass! 
* 
Reports from Central America are that the Colum¬ 
bian Senate has rejected the treaty which would give 
this country the right to finish the Panama Canal. 
This may mean a “hold-up” for a higher price, or 
real patriotic feeling on the part of those who prefer 
independent poverty to a foreign canal. There are 
those who from the first declared that the Panama 
route is impossible, and that sooner or later the 
Nicaragua route would be decided upon. The average 
citizen has little to say about such matters. It is 
clear, though, that we need a ship canal connecting 
the two oceans, and that the United States must build 
and control it. 
» 
Last year the people in New York City consumed 
560,000,000 quarts of milk. This means a tank one 
mile long, half a mile wide, and about two feet deep. 
Every drop of it must be forced out of the cow by the 
human hand. Probably no farm product that comes 
to New York pays a smaller share of its gross re¬ 
turns to the producer than milk. The dairyman will 
find it harder to get away from old habits or methods 
or into new crops than any other farmer. He is in 
fact “tied to a cow’s tail.” The time is coming when 
the consumption of milk in New York City will be 
doubled, and that point will be reached long before 
population doubles. It will come as a matter of edu¬ 
cation. City people will learn more and more to re¬ 
gard milk as a necessity, not as a luxury, and as this 
goes on year after year, the demand for milk will be 
greater. With this increased demand will come plans 
for a fairer distribution of the consumer’s price for 
the milk. But why is The R. N.-Y. hopeful for the 
future of American farming when so many black pic¬ 
tures are drawn? We hope because we feel sure that 
education and thought are slowly but surely develop¬ 
ing the farmer in the right direction. There can be 
no sudden revolution about these things, but there 
will be a slow, steady development of the man on the 
farm which will carry the farm along with the man. 
* 
The apple shippers appear to be still climbing 
down with their estimate on this year’s apple crop. 
Many of them lost money last year, but that is no rea¬ 
son why farmers should pay their losses this year. 
The foreign shippers are also doleful, but the facts 
seem to warrant the advice to hold good fruit for a 
good price. The consumption of apples is growing 
fast—far ahead of the increase in population. We call 
attention to the remarks on page 621 about growers 
and buyers. If the buyer expects the farmer to sit 
meekly by and take what is offered him he will be 
about the worst disappointed man who ever bought 
an apple—a Ben Davis victim not excepted. 
m 
When the New York Legislature increased the 
liquor license last WTnter the saloonkeepers in this 
city told fearful tales of what they would do to the 
“hayseeds.” They were to abolish the “free lunch” 
and refuse to buy eggs, cheese, milk or butter from 
New York farmers. Not a hen or a cow lost an hour’s 
sleep over this threat. The threat came to nothing. 
The “free lunch” has been restored and the saloon¬ 
keepers buy where they can make the best bargain. 
If your cow lets out with both heels some day with¬ 
out warning you may know that she has heard the 
news. That is the only sort of milk punch allowable 
on the farm! The hen is justified in cackling even 
when she has no thought of laying an egg when the 
saloonkeepers admit that their threat was hollow. 
« 
Milk farmers are still discussing the proposed con¬ 
tract with the People’s Pure Milk Co. We understand 
that many producers are signing this contract. Now 
and then some one asks the questions which we prim 
on page 623. As will be seen, the officers of the com¬ 
pany refer to the sales committee for answer. They 
do this in a fair, business-like way without any at¬ 
tempt to evade the question. We also print a letter 
from a local dealer which will give an idea of the 
way some of the milk handlers feel. It will be un¬ 
derstood that The R. N.-Y. prints these articles be¬ 
cause we desire to give all sides of the matter an 
airing. No reader of this paper shall have a chance 
to say that we purposely kept a part of the truth 
from him. It is no part of the duty of an agricul¬ 
tural paper to give its readers any one-sided discus¬ 
sion. We have found our readers to be men fully 
capable of forming a clear judgment when all the 
facts are presented. 
We call attention to the interview with Hon. James 
Wood, printed on the first page. It would hardly be 
possible to put in a more compact form the argument 
against the proposed enlargement of the Erie Canal. 
Every one of the 15 points can be elaborated if need 
be, but Mr. Wood’s statement makes the farmer’s case 
very clear. The only answer that can be made to it 
is the claim that the canal will build up the cities 
along its banks and at its ends, and thus indirectly 
help the farmers. Some of the arguments advanced 
by the canal advocates are too absurd to come from 
sensible men. One man actually claims that the en¬ 
larged canal will enable milk farmers in northern 
New York to ship milk to this city at low rates. Im¬ 
agine cans of milk coming 350 miles on a canalboat! 
By the time it got here it would be nearly as thick as 
the head which thought out such an argument (?) for 
the canal. Yet that is a fair sample of the reasons 
given by the canal men why farmers should vote for 
the canal scheme. The argument that the barge 
canal will develop manufacturing cities along its 
banks is nearly as lame as this milk-shipping argu¬ 
ment. Are we to understand that the large amount of 
“hot air” which is being applied to the scheme will 
prevent the canal from freezing during the Winter? 
When navigation closes manufacturers will be forced 
to depend on the railroads, and manufacturing towns 
will be built where railroad communication is most 
reliable. The scheme for canal enlarging is to benefit 
western shippers and eastern receivers. Does anyone 
imagine that a western grain grower or general 
farmer will receive more for his crop because his pro¬ 
duce can be loaded on a barge, brought to New York 
without change, and transferred to a ship for export? 
Is there anyene so simple and guileless as to believe 
that the saving in this cost of transportation is go¬ 
ing to the farmer? It will go to the canal-boat trust, 
the elevator men and the foreign shippers. In other 
words the farmers of New York are asked tcT consent 
to a scheme to pay millions of State money to benefit 
a class of people who are less in need of public help 
than any other! The most dangerous thing about 
this whole scheme is the deception which the canal 
men are practicing. Mr. Wood exposes their bluff and 
pretence, and it may be said that their whole plan is 
based on an effort to present one small side of the 
argument. As an illustration, the canal men claim 
that the late Abram S. Hewitt favored the enlarge¬ 
ment of the canal. They print a letter from him in 
proof of this, but they know that Mr. Hewitt wrote 
another letter later in which he said: 
My knowledge of the subject inclines me to believe that 
we have reached a permanent era of low cost of trans¬ 
portation by rail. • ♦ * * Hence, the question is pre¬ 
sented in altogether a new light, and although I am re¬ 
luctant to come to the conclusion that the canals have 
lost their usefulness, I confess frankly that the argument 
for their continued maintenance is greatly weakened if 
not altogether destroyed. My conclusion, therefore, is 
that there seems at present to be no justification for the 
expenditure of any considerable sum of money by the 
people of the State for the enlargement of the existing 
canals. Whether in the future the State shall part with 
the canals and rescue any portion of its investment from 
the wreckage is a question which I do not think it neces¬ 
sary to discuss at this time. 
Tbis attempt to bide the facts and rush the scheme 
through should of itself give farmers a valid reason 
for voting against the appropriation. And it cannot 
be said that farmers are alone in their opposition, for 
every city off the canal will realize what it means to 
have State money spent for the avowed purpose of 
developing their competitors! This canal appropria¬ 
tion can be defeated. Organize everywhere to get 
out the vote! 
* 
The total population of the city of Greater New 
York in 1900 was 3,437,202. The old city of New York 
on the island of Manhattan has grown in population 
as follows: 1900, 2,050,600; 1890, 1,515,301; 1880, 1,- 
206,299; 1870, 942,292; 1860, 813,669; 1850, 515,547. So 
there are men with little gray in their hair who dur¬ 
ing their lifetime have seen the old city quadruple in 
size. If we take in the three cities in New Jersey 
just across the river we have now nearly 4,500,000 
people crowded into a narrow compass, and producing 
less than one per cent of the food they require. As 
a contrast let us consider that the 10 States or Terri¬ 
tories of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, Idaho, 
Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Oregon and Washing¬ 
ton, with an area of 1,039,175 square miles, had in 1900 
slightly over 4,000,000 inhabitants. These States were 
largely agricultural, and sold much of their surplus 
to the four and one-half million consumers who live 
within 15 miles of the New York City Hall. If this 
single great city has made such a wonderful increase 
in 50 years, let us think of the multitudes that must 
be fed here 10, 20, 30 and 40 years hence. The capac¬ 
ity of the hungry mouth at the foot of the Hudson is 
startling, and we must remember that American 
farmers are to provide most of the food needed to 
supply it. While some articles of food will be fur¬ 
nished by other lands, the American farmer will pro¬ 
duce a larger proportio'n of the food needed by Ameri¬ 
cans. He will, also, we think, obtain a fairer share of 
what the consumer pays for his food. At the present 
time middlemen obtain more for the mere handling 
of produce than the farmer who must pay all the ex¬ 
pense of production. We are hopeful that these de¬ 
fects in the farmers’ business relations with consumer 
will be slowly remedied. With increased home mar¬ 
kets and a fairer share the American farmer has a 
right to be hopeful for the future. 
BREVITIES. 
Plant the plantain—turn it under. 
One tale that should be docked Is the story of the long- 
winded man. 
Why is it that farmers cannot make a “go” of trying 
to operate with a big “Co?” 
Turn ye oh turn ye, for why will ye buy low-grade 
fertilizer when freight is so high? 
Acting upon impulse entirely is like sending a rudder¬ 
less boat adrift on an unknown sea. 
The worst thing about the barge canal scheme is the 
precedent it establishes of spending State money. 
There is great interest in squabs, and their care, if 
we may judge by the questions asked about them. 
What has become of all the potato diggers? A scant 
half dozen kinds seem to have survived the test of actual 
digging. 
We never had more “new” varieties of fruit sent for 
inspection. Some of them really seem to have merit— 
but there are too many sorts now in use. 
Norwegian cod-liver oil, ordinarily worth $22 a barrel, 
has gone up to $160 a barrel. A good many youthful vic¬ 
tims will decide that the price can’t be too high to suit 
them. 
In spite of reports of dull, cold weather we are still 
hopeful, for the corn crop. We look for warm weather 
through September, and hope that killing frosts will 
hold off till late in the season. 
A New Jersey court recently decided that a tenant had 
a right to break a lease when he found that the house 
was infested with bedbugs, and the landlord could not 
recover rent for such property. 
Reports from the onion-crop sections are thus far dis¬ 
couraging. It would seem that the crop is quite sure to 
be short. Here and there are men with heavy yields, and 
they will surely reap a harvest. 
