94 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
February 10 
The Rural New-Yorker 
» THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, 1 
H. E. Van Deman, V Associates. 
Mrs. E. T. Royle, ) 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8s. 6d., or 8J4 marks, or 10>4 francB. 
ADVERTISING RATES. 
Thirty cents per agate line (14 lines to the inch). Yearly orders 
of 10 or more lines, and 1,000-line orders, 25 cents per line. 
Reading Notices, ending with “ Adv .,” 75 cents per 
count line. Absolutely One Price Only. 
Advertisements inserted only for responsible and honorable houses 
We must have copy one week before the date of issue. 
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, FEBRUARY 10, 1900. 
$1,000 for Honest Butter. 
The two anti-oleo laws now before Congress are, 
in our opinion, just and fair. If some one can sug¬ 
gest more effective plans for stopping the fraudulent 
sale of oleo we wish to know what they are. The 
oleo makers have formed a tru t, or combination, and 
will openly fight the laws in the 33 States which 
have attempted to legislate against their stuff. They 
will mix their oleo with “process” butter, or they will 
attempt to dispose of it in the “original package,” or 
they will attempt any of a dozen dishonest schemes 
which they have in mind. They have unlimited 
money with which to fight in the courts, and we may 
as well realize that they will succeed unless the hon¬ 
est butter men rally against tnem. Money is needed. 
It will be spent honestly and properly in paying the 
expenses of capable men at Washington, who will 
guard the interests of dairymen. 
Money is needed'. 
Those of us who are interested in honest dairying 
must put that money up. The R. N.-Y. will give the 
proceeds of 1,000 new yearly subscriptions for this 
purpose, providing only that dairymen and creamery- 
men send such subscriptions and the money for them. 
Every dollar of this fund will be fully accounted for, 
and every cent of it will be spent legitimately. We 
will gladly send full particulars to all who desire 
them. It will be the fault of the dairymen of New 
York State if we do not raise $1,000 in this way before 
March 1. This plan is fully indorsed by the State 
and Association dairy authorities. Now then, dairy¬ 
men, in the language of the street, “it is up to you!” 
• 
We print the new fruit package law on page 99. It 
is said that earnest efforts will be made to enforce 
this law, and we feel sure that all honest fruit grow¬ 
ers will try to make it effective. The danger is that 
“short” packages will be made up in other States 
to be sent here and sold in the “original packages.” 
The law is a good one and ought to be extended to 
every State in the Union. 
• 
The customs appraisers at New York have decided 
that Rosa rugosa must be considered legally as a 
Brier rose. Under this ruling, which includes it un¬ 
der nursery stock, it is subject to a duty of 25 per 
cent ad valorem, instead of 2% cents each plant, the 
duty upon rose plants budded, grafted, or grown 
upon their own roots. Manetti, Multiflora and Brier 
roses are all assessed under the 25 per cent ad valorem 
duty. These fine distinctions often cause annoyance 
to florists and nurserymen. 
A 
The New York legislative committee, headed by 
Hon. D. P. Witter, has made its report on tubercu¬ 
losis. It recommends a change and would place the 
inspection of cattle for tuberculosis and of horses for 
glanders with the Commissioner of Agriculture. It 
suggests that the Commissioner appoint a farmer 
who understands cattle as appraiser, who shall fix 
a value for condemned cattle. The State, according 
to the committee, should only force the slaughter of 
cattle that are condemned by physical examination. 
A farmer may, however, agree to have his herd tested 
with tuberculin if he desires—to slaughter or quar¬ 
antine all that respond. For all such slaughtered cat¬ 
tle that have been owned in the State for one year, 
the State shall pay half the appraised value for cat¬ 
tle found to be tuberculous, and full value for those 
not actually diseased. In brief, these are the sugges¬ 
tions made by the committee. They seem to us rea¬ 
sonable and sensible. The committee has made a 
very exhaustive study of the disease, and we hope 
that these suggestions will be carried out as a law. 
The people of New York State, and especially stock 
men, are indebted to Mr. Witter for the thorough and 
conscientious manner in which this invesigation was 
conducted. 
m 
v The tobacco growers, the beet-sugar men, the Cali¬ 
fornia fruit growers and others are rushing in pro¬ 
tests against the proposed free trade with Porto Rico. 
What were they doing two years ago, before the 
Island was mentioned as being a part of this country? 
v^They were then doubtless cheering for the war, and 
its glorious outcome. They are taking a hindsight 
now which will probably do them little good, for it 
seems to be settled that the Island is to be an Ameri¬ 
can State. They could not see the foresight. People 
seldom do. 
* 
Of course every farmers’ institute worker in the 
country ought to belong to the American Apple Con¬ 
sumers’ League. These men, more than any others, 
should go about the country demanding apples in 
every bill of fare! They travel about from place to 
place in the interests of agriculture. The sale of 
good apples is one of the principal interests of the 
farm. Come, gentlemen, talk apple wherever you 
go. The doubt may enter your mind some day as to 
whether you are really earning your salary on the 
platform. Make sure of it at the table by calling for 
apples wherever you go. Help start the fashion. 
• 
There was a lively debate in the New York Legis¬ 
lature last week over the anti-oleo laws now before 
Congress. A resolution was offered urging Congress 
to pass a law giving each State the proper police 
powers over imported oleo. An amendment was of¬ 
fered, instructing the Attorney-General to proceed 
against Armour & Co. to collect the penalties for vio¬ 
lating the present oleo laws. There was a hot de¬ 
bate over this, but the amendment was finally de¬ 
feated, while the original resolution was passed. This 
puts the New York Legislature on record in favor of 
the Grout bill. This is well, but why be so desperate¬ 
ly afraid of these cases against Armour & Co.? That 
matter is like a soft-shelled political egg—no one 
seems willing to touch it. 
Last May the Florida Legislature passed a law 
making it unlawful for any persons or firms doing 
business in the State to sell or offer for sale any gar¬ 
den, melon, or vegetable seed, unless the original 
package in which the same is sold or inclosed shall 
have written or printed on the outside a guarantee as 
to When, where and by whom the seeds were grown. 
It is said that this law is absolutely disastrous in its 
effects upon both wholesale and retail dealers. Re¬ 
tailers who buy seed in bulk at wnolesale from 
northern and western firms cannot honestly comply 
with the provisions of the statute, because the seed 
is originally secured from a number of different grow¬ 
ers. Without doubt the law was drafted in good 
faith, as a protection to farmers and gardeners, but 
modern conditions in seed growing would render its 
enforcement cumbrous and extravagant, if not impos¬ 
sible. 
* 
We are apparently entering an era of reckless 
speculation. The mails are flooded with alluring cir¬ 
culars inviting confidential investments, by options 
and margins in stocks, with the assertion that the 
sender has some secret means of ascertaining ill ad¬ 
vance the fluctuations in various securities in that 
gambler’s paradise, the Stock Exchange. The “finan¬ 
cial” columns of some of the most pretentious news¬ 
papers fairly overflow with inflated schemes of invest¬ 
ment to catch tue unwary. The law which prohibits 
lotteries is silent in regard to these transparent 
frauds, and will remain so as long as public opinion 
tolerates speculation in the products of labor as a 
means of livelihood. In a few glaring instances 
where “syndicates” promised returns as high as 10 
per cent a week on stock investments, they have been 
broken up by the police, but it is hard to see where 
they differed essentially from many more pretentious 
concerns that have not been molested. A few years 
ago New Jersey was overrun with gamblers. Great 
race courses were established at the borders of the 
State near the cities of New York and Philadelphia, 
with all the seductive features that attend this ex¬ 
citing sport. The result was that thousands of young 
men became demoralized and wasted time and money 
in attending and betting on the races. Some went 
altogether to the bad. The farmers were told that 
racing benefited them; it made a market for good 
horses, as well as for hay and feed stuffs, and brought 
money into the neighborhood, but as they saw their 
sons lured into vicious habits and companionship, they 
did some hard thinking, and when an opportunity 
came to vote for a constitutional amendment forever 
abolishing all forms of gambling in the State, they 
turned out in force and carried it. The professional 
reformers, who had loudly advocated the amendment, 
stayed at home when the voting began, and when the 
returns were first counted from the cities and reform 
centers the amendment was considered lost, but as 
they all came in from the remoter parts of the country 
it was found to be carried by a substantial majority 
and the State has since been freed from the more ob¬ 
vious forms of this curse. Some day, when the farm¬ 
ers of this country get around to it, they will abolish 
the whole business of stock gambling, to the great bet¬ 
terment of humanity. 
• 
The man with the proxy is always much in evi¬ 
dence at meetings of the New York State Agricultural 
Society. One reason for the present unfortunate state 
of affairs in this Society is the fact that hundreds of 
members have voted and acted through somebody 
else. The man with the proxy too often has his own 
ax to grind, and by the time he has an edge on that 
he gets tired. The R. N.-Y. has gone straight to the 
men who have been voting by proxy. When they 
wake up to the situation they have clear cut and defin¬ 
ite ideas about the situation. Every one of them who 
is not now in a public job or bound to one by hope 
is afraid that t~e management of the Fair will be¬ 
come a political machine if given over to the State. 
At the same time they must face the fact that the So¬ 
ciety has made nearly if not quite a failure, and 
that the Fair property really oelougs to the State. 
A change is inevitable, yet it seems to us a mis¬ 
take to kill the Society by giving up its charter. Is 
it not possible for it to take on new duties and func¬ 
tions, and thus become more useful than ever? The 
State societies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New 
Jersey and other States conduct yearly meetings which 
are of great int< rest and value. The New York So¬ 
ciety used to do something of the sort, but of late 
years little has been done beside electing the officers. 
We make the suggestion that the Society might well 
take up the work, and possible combine with the 
Dairymen’s Association and other larger organiza¬ 
tions, to hold a series of large meetings during the 
year. 
BREVITIES. 
I’ve heard the story, and no doubt it’s true, 
But even if it's all made up, I think 
That it may serve some day to hearten you 
When from the cup of failure you must drink. 
A washerwoman in a mining town 
Toiled at her tub, despairing day by day. 
With bitterness at heart and face a-frown, 
A slave to poverty, bent, old and gray. 
And as she toiled, bright, hopeless visions came 
Of wealth and luxury and all things sweet. 
The dim, delightful hopes that wish can name. 
She toiled, unmindful that beneath her feet, 
Close to her tub—hard badge of drudgery, 
A vein of silver crept—a friend—her own— 
Willing and rich and strong to set her free, 
Yet without power to make its presence known. 
Be the tale true or not—I cannot say. 
But this I know, that there are men who toil, 
Despairing, sadly on from day to day. 
Unmindful that within their half-tilled soil. 
Lie chances like the silver vein that crept 
Beneath the hated washtub all unknown. 
Forms of fertility that long have slept; 
Would that these helpless men might find their own. 
Jack Frost gave the hens a hard roast. 
Cuba has lost 50,000 population in 13 years! 
Has the English sparrow any friends? 
The reseats of the lazy man come in patches. 
The earnest and honest speaker carries his knows in 
his face. 
Many a man who “takes the cake” will wake to find 
that fame’s a “fake.” 
He is afflicted with mental mange who carries a mind 
that never can change. 
Mr. Phillips tells us that there is some science even 
in a small operation like boring a hole. 
Hens know enough to go home when the time cornea 
That’s more than some men know. 
You’re sure to get yourself let down—it won’t be very 
nice, if you Jump to a conclusion that “won’t hold ice.” 
Find a man with "honor” so sensitive that he wants to 
fight at a word, and you will be likely to find a blurred 
spot on that honor. 
"Just smell of it!” says the fertilizer fraud when he 
wants to sell some sample, strong only in smell! He 
likes to turn scents into dollars. 
The New York Assembly has passed the bill which with¬ 
holds State money from county fairs which permit any 
gambling devices on their grounds. A good job, that! 
Want to form a farmers’ trust, eh? A great idea. Be¬ 
gin right at home, and form a family trust with perfect 
harmony and faith between father, mother and children. 
That’s the first step. 
We find people who growl because the French are buy¬ 
ing our cider and turning it into so-called “wine,” and 
sending it back to us. How can we stop that trade, they 
ask? Quit drinking wine—that’s our remedy. 
