THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
February 24 
134 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National V/cckly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, I 
H. E. Van Deman, VAssociates. 
Mrs. E. T. Royle, | 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, 82.04, equal to 
8s. 6d., or 8*4 marks, or 10Vi francs. 
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 “ Aclv .,” 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 24, 1900. 
Great Britain would like to negotiate a parcels- 
post treaty with this country, and we would rather 
like a domestic system of the same kind, but we can’t 
have either without hurting the feelings of the big 
express companies, so we must not hope for these 
conveniences. 
* 
Belgium proposes a new electoral system, which 
will put a premium upon thrift and marriage. Under 
this plan every man between the ages of 21 and 25, 
who shall pay $1 per year in taxes, will be entitled to 
one vote; married men over 25 years of age will have 
two ballots, and if such married men shall own real 
estate or Government bonds or savings-bank deposits 
producing an income of $20 a year, they will have 
three ballots each. A mathematician may enjoy cal¬ 
culating how many ballots would be allotted to each 
of our trust magnates, if the plan should be carried 
out logically m this country. 
* 
Among the many celebrations of Washington’s 
Birthday, none will be more interesting and helpful 
to agriculture than the annual negro conference at 
Tuskegee, Ala. Three years ago the writer attended 
this conference. It was an inspiring event. In many 
ways lit was an ideal farmers’ institute. Instead of 
trying to light the fire from the top, as many of our 
institute speakers do, these black men got down to 
the bottom of the pile, and blew the flame into a 
white heat. The average farmers’ institute is getting 
to be too much of a society for retired or well-to-do 
farmers. The Tuskegee conference reaches the ten¬ 
ant and the farmhand, and lifts them up. Talk about 
the factories and shops that are putting dollars into 
the South! Tuskegee is putting brains and heart into 
the crude Southern laborer! 
* 
There is a new plan on foot with regard to return 
postal cards and envelopes. Many business men send 
out circular letters containing postal cards or stamped 
envelopes for reply. It has been estimated that only 
about 10 per cent of these are ever used. The others 
are marked over and used for private correspondence. 
It is now proposed that the Government make ar¬ 
rangements with individuals or firms, so that they 
may make a deposit of money with the post office, 
then they may send out blank envelopes which will 
be mailed back without any stamp, the cost to be 
charged against these firms and collected by the 
postal authorities. This, it is thought, will increase 
the ma'ilage business and also prove a great con¬ 
venience. It would, and yet why do all these schemes 
for helping “business men” find such favor, while 
rural free delivery must wait? The town can take 
care of itself—let Uncle Sam get out into the coun¬ 
try! 
A farmer in Vermont lost all the buildings on his 
farm by fire. It was a clean sweep, and a roof for 
family and stock was absolutely necessary. The ad¬ 
joining farm had good buildings, and the farmer 
found that he could buy this farm, both land and 
buildings, for about what it would cost to put new 
buildings on his old farm. So he bought the new 
place, and will make one farm out of the two. We 
often hear of good farms which sell for less than the 
original cost of the buildings. The writer is now 
living on just such a farm. Old men and old methods 
have cheapened these farms by lessening their capac¬ 
ity to produce salable crops. The chances are that 
new men and new methods and fresh capital may 
find in these rejected farms the best investment for 
their money. Agriculture is not the only industry 
that has lost values. In thousands of country com¬ 
munities there are broken-down buildings which 
once gave good returns as mills and small factories, 
stores or shops. They are now abandoned, and would 
not sell for the original cost of the nails which hold 
them together. The revolution of industry has taken 
their value entirely away. The capital sunk in them 
is lost forever. Agriculture cannot be ruined, for the 
old farms, under more skillful management, can be 
made as productive as ever. 
* 
Up to February 16 we received $23.75 for subscrip¬ 
tions to be applied to the anti-oleo fund. This is 
only a beginning. The creamery patrons have hardly 
started the work, and many are probably waiting to 
secure a good-sized club before sending. We shall 
print the names of all who help in this matter. Re¬ 
member the offer. The R. N.-Y. will give the pro¬ 
ceeds from 1,000 subscribers to the fund required to 
push these antl-oleo bills through Congress. We put 
our contribution in this form, so that all who invest 
a dollar in this cause will receive a fair direct bene¬ 
fit, aside from the indirect benefit resulting from suc¬ 
cessful legislation against oleo. A dollar spent in 
this way has a double capacity for earning. The oleo 
men often sneer at the dairymen, and say that they 
will not spend a cent to protect their own business. 
Don’t worry about that. We have handled slow milk¬ 
ers before now—and obtained all the milk, too. 
* 
Last year Prof. Robertson, the Canadian Commis¬ 
sioner of Agriculture and Dairying, personally offered 
$100, divided into 24 prizes, to Doys and girls, for 100 
heads of wheat and oats bearing the greatest number 
of seeds. This competition proved very popular; 
many of the contestants showed much intelligence and 
skill in selecting, packing and arranging the grain, 
and it is safe to say that Canadian boys and girls 
showed an unusual interest in the grain crop last Fall. 
Now Prof. Robertson announces that a generous 
friend, interested in the welfare of the agricultural 
community, has made it possible to offer cash prizes 
amounting, in all, to $10,000, during the next three 
years, for a competition in the selection of seed 
grains in all the Canadian Provinces. Like the former 
contest, the competitors are to be boys ana girls. We 
wish that some one would inaugurate a similar con¬ 
test in each of our grain-growing States; it would 
not only encourage a careful selection of seed grain, 
but would prove a stimulus to one of the best crops 
the farmer raises—the crop of girls and boys. 
* 
A singular bill has been introduced at Albany. Its 
purpose is to license prizefights, or sparring exhibi¬ 
tions. Any party who conducts such a prizefight must 
secure a license from the State Comptroller, which 
costs $50 a year. He must also file a bond of $5,000 
to guarantee payment of all fees. A tax of 10 per 
cent on the gross receipts of each fight is to be paid 
at the time of the exhibition. An agent of the Comp¬ 
troller is to be on hand at each fight to make sure of 
his money. The moneys collected are to be distrib¬ 
uted by the Commissioner of Agriculture among the 
agricultural societies, the same as are the fees now 
received from racing associations. It is true that 
agriculture has received some hard blows of late, and 
possibly the hard knocks given in some of the com¬ 
ing prizefights may in this way serve as a balm to 
these bruises. But what would happen if such a man 
as Hamilton Busbey were appointed to collect the 
money, and then failed to do so? There would prob¬ 
ably be nothing to do but to turn one of the prize¬ 
fighters loose on him and obtain satisfaction in that 
way. 
* 
We have received several long letters from farmers 
who say that it is wrong to put a tax on oleo. A 
Kentucky farmer writes that he considers oleo a 
great help to the southern farmer. Why? Because it 
is composed chiefly of suet, lard and cotton oil, all of 
which the southern farmer produces. The use of oleo, 
he claims, makes a great market for these products. 
These men are doubtless honest in their belief, but a 
little reflection ought to show them how it is that 
oleo has little if anything to do with the price of¬ 
fered for their products. The purchases of live stock 
and cotton seed are practically monopolized. Oleo is 
a by-product, and the whole scheme of its manufac¬ 
ture and sale an attempt to palm off a cheap colored 
fat at butter prices. The amount of suet and lard 
used in this way is but a drop in the bucket compared 
with the year’s output from American farms. It has 
probably never made a cent’s worth of difference in 
the price offered the farmer for a hog, a steer, or a 
bushel of cotton seed. The manufacturer simply 
pockets the difference in price between grease and 
oleo. Aside from all this is the swindle and fraud of 
the business. There is a principle involved which 
may, sooner or later, affect the sale of dozens of farm 
products. Farmers must remember that when money 
is made out of the sale of a manufactured or mixed 
food, the mixer rather than the farmer secures the 
lion’s share. It has been demonstrated that the pres¬ 
ent laws are not strong enough to compel the oleo 
makers to be honest. Those who object to the bills 
now before Congress should tell us what plan of 
regulation would be more effective or more just 
* 
Mr. T. T. Lyon, the veteran pomologist, died at 
South Haven, Mich., last week, at the ripe age of 87 
years. He was born in New York State in 1813, and 
it may be said that the greater part of Ms long and 
honorable life was given to the service of his fellow 
men. The R. N.-Y. does not like to leave the good 
words that may be said of a public man until after 
the earth closes over him, and it gave us pleasure 
several years ago to tell the story of Mr. Lyon’s gen¬ 
tle and helpful life. Whenever such a man passes 
away, we are led to think of the unequal manner in 
which the world divides its honors. We yield to no 
one in our admiration of the character and public 
service of a man like Admiral Dewey. Yet, it must 
be said that men like Lyon or Bull, who live and die 
in comparative obscurity, contribute more to the real 
prosperity and comfort of their fellow men than the 
men of war who write their country’s history in blood 
and fire. As these veterans of a peaceful struggle 
with Nature’s forces pass away into the forgotten 
land, we are reminded of the 10 lepers who came to 
be healed. Only one remained to worship—the other 
nine were too busy to remember their benefit. No 
wonder the great Master of mankind was led to ask— 
“Where are the nine?” Happily, Mr. Lyon’s last days 
were made comfortable by loving friends, but we 
must not forget those like him who have been permit¬ 
ted to die in the poorhouse. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
THE INCAPABLE. 
“In God’s own image”—on the world’s highway. 
He stands—incapable; a human drone, 
Where only shadows of great actions play 
Too feeble-hearted to demand his own. 
God lent him strength of muscle and of mind, 
The power to do a man’s work, and to tear 
The chains away from poverty, and bind 
The coward unbelief within its lair. 
And yet he stands—a loafer, while the throng, 
Of helpful, busy workers pass him by, 
He hears the happy note of labor’s song. 
His only answer is a sullen sigh. 
Who was it took the sand from out his will— 
The strong, hard sand, and put soft putty there? 
Who bred the laziness that could but kill 
The courage that should frame the .brave “I dare!” 
His parents—they who thought to buy with gold 
What God has said can only come through work, 
And self-denial—for the world can hold 
No honest habitation for the shirk. 
Poor, useless loafer on the world’s highway, 
As youth goes crowding past you—stand and tell 
How foolish love turned God’s work into play; 
They made your path too soft—Incapable! 
The I does weed out the we in some homes. 
Who’s in favor of fumigating the tramp tree agent? 
Nothing harrows the feelings like a “sprung” tooth. 
The Guernsey cow is a hide-bound volume on butter 
colors. 
Put a “flea” in a man’s ear and see it become a lion 
in his way. 
Those Mississippi sheep referred to on page 132 certainly 
produce free wool. 
Bound in calf—the heart of the farmer who has bought 
a baby dairy bull. 
Happy that man and blessed his relations who realizes 
his great limitations. 
Some folks, to hear the jingle of a dollar, will rent their 
necks to wear the Devil’s collar. 
To bring a moss-backed meadow back to time give it a 
thorough coat of air-slaked lime. 
You may graft scions into your God-given rights which 
will grow into wrongs for others. 
We say once more that when you graft a man to a 
chair you have a worthless sit rust fruit. 
There is no place on earth for him to grow, who can¬ 
not bring himself to say “I do not know.” 
Correct you are. A small birch in the hands of a 
child’s trainer may be w r orth more to him than a royal 
oak in his ancestors. 
Geo. T. Powell thinks the San Jos6 scale discussion 
will lead to the planting of more dwarf trees. Such trees 
are handier to get at. 
One Representative at Washington wants a $2,000,000 
appropriation for free rural mail delivery. He would 
make a good President! 
It makes one serious to think that the money repre¬ 
sented by each one of the proposed new battleships would 
build more than 1,000 miles of good stone roads, free of all 
local taxation. 
Note what Mr. Burpee says on page 122, about cauli¬ 
flower seeds grown in genial climates. Too much pros¬ 
perity seems to stunt their power of head development- 
much like some humans. 
Two hundred and fifty violently-insane American sol¬ 
diers have already been sent home from Manila, and it is 
said that over 200 more are ready for shipment. “Expan¬ 
sion comes high”—but must we have it? 
