58o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 25 
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, 12.04, equal to 
8s. 6d., or 8*4 marks, or 10*4 francs. 
ADVERTISING RATES. 
Thirty cents per agate line (14 1 nes 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 , AUGUST 25, 1900. 
Free rural mail delivery service has been estab¬ 
lished in the vicinity of Denver, and the Government 
agent in charge says that it is increasing the value 
of land along its route $5 an acre. It also increases 
the use of the mails, and is said to aid in keeping 
young men at home. In Washington County, Pa., 
it is said that an automobile will be used in the 
rural mail service. 
Mr. Van Deman throws hard words at the nur¬ 
sery frauds (see page 581), but these words are not 
half hard enough. There are still plenty of far¬ 
mers who “buy of the best talker.” An agent makes 
a tongue graft on their cupidity, and they pay him 
well for the job. What is to be done about it? We 
can only keep pounding away, though the agent can 
invent new stories faster than we can expose the 
old ones. 
• 
With good weather there is every indication that 
the N. Y. State Fair will be a great success this year. 
The railroads have given very liberal rates—as will be 
seen from the table on page 585. There will be many 
new attractions, and it is expected that the grounds 
will be thronged. Tiie R. N.-Y. will, of course, be 
represented as usual. We shall have a large and 
comfortable tent and we hope our friends will make 
their headquarters with us. Make it the place for 
meeting old friends and for resting quietly during the 
heat of the day. 
• 
It is said that an Iowa farmer, who had 800 bush¬ 
els of wheat in a bin, decided to sell over a month 
ago, but on going to the bin he found that a sitting 
hen had established herself on the grain. The merci¬ 
ful man is merciful to his hen, so this Iowan decided 
to let tu'- wheat remain until biddy brought off her 
chicks. In the meantime the price of wheat ad¬ 
vanced, and as the result of allowing the hen to con¬ 
tinue her family cares, the owner gained, it Is said, 
over $100. This is another proof that the great 
American hen is the farmer’s best friend. That hen 
ought to die a natural death! 
* 
The same old soap-and-carpet fakir is again re¬ 
ported in some rural districts in New York State. 
He drives througn the country and sells soap at $5 
a box, this sum including 40 yards of fine carpet, 
selected from samples he has in his wagon. He takes 
the $5, leaves the soap (which is worth about 50 
cents) and promises to be around again with the car¬ 
pet within a week. He then departs, to return no 
more; the $15 carpet is a rainbow vision which never 
materializes, and the deluded victim finds that he 
has spent $5 on one box of cheap soap and a large 
block of experience. This fraud has been referred 
to before in The R. N.-Y., but there appears to be 
an annual crop of victims. 
* 
Whenever the farmers who are producing a cer¬ 
tain article attempt to organize and thus secure their 
rights, there is a great howl about a “trust.” The 
milk producers who send milk to New York tried to 
obtain a living price from the middlemen, and these 
gentry at once tried to scare the consumers. The 
California prune growers found that they were being 
paid five cents a pound for dried fruit which brought 
15 cents in the eastern market. They have therefore 
formed an association and this is what they say: 
» 
It is not the purpose of the Association to compel high 
prices, but merely to render the grower a fair compensa¬ 
tion for the labor involved in production, eliminate all 
unnecessary expense between the producer and con¬ 
sumer, and encourage consumption by delivering the 
fruit to the consumer at as low a price as is consistent 
with the price of production. The Association thus be¬ 
comes valuable alike to the producer and consumer. 
That is just the position taken by the milk pro¬ 
ducers. They want a fair s) are of the middleman’s 
profit and nothing more. If the consumer in the city 
would only stop to think for a moment, he would see 
that his interests are with the producer rather than 
with the handlers. Suppose the great commercial 
trusts made such a promise as the above and then 
lived up to it. Do you think there would be such 
an outcry against them? Not a bit of it. 
• 
There are doubtless farmers in New Jersey who say 
that the Experiment Station in that State is of no 
value to them. Some of these same men feel tne 
pinch this dry Summer, and cannot provide food for 
their stock without taking the hay which is needed 
for Winter feeding or for sale. Have such men any 
business to find fault with the Station? We do not 
think so, for Prof. Voorhees has shown and is show¬ 
ing every day just how to keep the wolf from the 
cow’s door! He has introduced Alfalfa, Crimson 
clover, and half a dozen other watchdogs, and shown 
just how to breed and train them. If a dairyman 
will not at least try some of these crops, has he any 
business to find fault with the Station and its work? 
* 
It is time to think about the institutes. But t^ey 
are more than 100 days off, you will say. So is the 
corn crop when you plant the seed, yet that does 
not make you neglect planting. Do you want an 
institute in your town? If so write to F. E. Dawley, 
Fayetteville, N. Y., and tell him so. Make the insti¬ 
tute better than ever this year. The way to do this 
is to make the discussions more practical. Farmers 
sometimes say that the speakers do not tell them 
what they want to know. Why not? Often because 
the farmers do not make their wants known. 
Right now, when bug and weed and blight are at 
their best, is the time to prepare texts for the insti¬ 
tute. Get specimens of these things, and save them. 
Save bundles of grain—extra good or very bad—and 
bring them with notes giving the story of the success 
or failure. That is one way to help the institute— 
and yourself. 
* 
There is no doubt about the great damage done 
by the Hessian fly. In some sections wheat growing 
has been given up on account of this pest. What 
can be done about it? It is comparatively easy to fight 
the Potato beetle, but this fly is a far more dangerous 
customer. The experiment stations are doing their 
best and we are glad to see that many farmers are 
glad to cooperate with them. One of our readers in 
Indiana writes: 
The farmers are profiting by the suggestions of the 
experiment stations, and do not ridicule them as much 
as formerly. Generally I think that the farmers should 
have all the information possible as to the characteristics 
and life history of the fly; so that anything that can be 
done to lessen the ravages of this pest may meet with 
concerted action. 
Mr. Slingerland gives us the facts this week so that 
all can understand them. Of course there are still 
farmers who see no sense in studying the life history 
of an insect. Tell us lioio to kill it l they say. But 
how can that be told without first knowing the whole 
story of the insect’s life? 
* 
The Atchison Globe has these wise remarks to 
make about western farmers: 
Farmers are becoming more sensible about politics. 
There was a time when a young lawyer from town could 
drive out into the country, and induce a lot of men to 
listen to his practice. Then the young lawyer would 
drive back to town, and boast how he had moved the 
men to cheer at his references to the old flag, and how 
he had moved them to tears by referring to the silent 
city of the dead where the old soldiers were sleeping. 
But the farmers are becoming wiser. They are begin¬ 
ning to realize that the young lawyers who address them 
are prospective candidates, and that they are practicing 
oratory, in the hope of becoming noted. The farmers 
have been fooled so much that they are becoming wise, 
and confidence men say that of recent years, bankers 
are easier than farmers. 
We judge tbat that is true of the better class of far¬ 
mers everywhere. They are tired of listening to the 
same old stories. The time has come when they feel 
disposed to look out for their own rights. This is 
so in New York State, especially with dairymen. For 
example, all milk producers now realize that the 
fraudulent sale of oleo is a direct injury to their busi¬ 
ness. For years the milkman and the cheeseman failed 
to realize this, but now they know it. There is no other 
question which is so directly important to them 
as the killing of this illegal trade. That is why they 
favor the Grout bill now before Congress. That is 
why they oppose candidates who will not fight against 
the oleo frauds, or who are merely indifferent. To 
be explicit, that is why the dairymen of New York 
will oppose Sereno E. Payne as a candidate for Gov¬ 
ernor. They will go about the matter in a quiet dig¬ 
nified manner, but their work will be effective. The 
politician will learn this year that a new issue has 
come into politics. The farmers have pulled the 
chestnuts out of the fire so long that the operation 
itself has become a chestnut! Now they will make 
the politicians "fry the fat” out of oleo! 
• 
“The R. N.-Y. often refers to the ‘plain farmers.’ 
Who are they? Where do they live and what makes 
them plain?” An old friend asks these questions, 
and they are worth answers. We think it was 
Lincoln who started the phrase “the plain people.” 
He meant those who are simple, natural and homely, 
without pretentions and free from show or affectation. 
The “plain farmers” we have in mind are honest men. 
slow thinkers, crude, simple aru strong, with posi¬ 
tive opinions and forcible ways of expressing their 
likes and dislikes. Such men love their homes and 
farms, and make sacrifices for the future of their 
children. They are in their quiet and homely way, 
sincere patriots, and true lovers of their country. 
They are to be found in all parts of the country. 
What makes the “plain farmer” plain? He has not 
absorbed “new ideas” quite as fast as some of his city 
cousins think he should have done. In many cases 
he has absorbed the truth of the "new ideas” per¬ 
fectly, but has discarded the pretence and show which 
he knows would be as much out of place with him as 
would ruffles on his working shirt. He is “plain” 
because he is natural and honest, not as smart or as 
critical as some people think he ought to be, perhaps, 
but with firm convictions of right and a solid bump 
of common sense. We regard this man as being 
on the whole, the safest guardian of American citizen¬ 
ship. The strongest and most brilliant minds in the 
world might well take pride in honestly trying to 
make the great problems of life plain to the “plain 
farmers.” 
* 
BREVITIES. 
So this Is Get There—all my life I’ve toiled 
And struggled up the hard and winding road 
To reach this place-my brightest years were spoiled 
By the hard chafing of my heavy load. 
And now there's nothing here but sluggish rest; 
A hateful, mean, ignoble laziness, 
No whip to sting one on to do his best; 
This glory-crowned stagnation cannot bless 
A life of eager strife—I cannot lay 
The weapons of life’s battle down—yet here, 
Lies all that filled my dreams In youth’s fair day; 
How mean it seems now fate has brought it near. 
Yes, this is Get There—this is where men find 
After long, weary years of toil and care 
That they have left true happiness behind 
In the hard burdens that they would not share. 
Only ambition’s ghost can greet you here— 
Its soul lies down the road—could you but dare 
To drop the wealth and honors you hold dear 
And toil once more within the sun’s hot glare 
A common man again, but with God’s power 
Sent in exchange for what you cast away 
At Get There, you would live to bless the hour 
That sent you back along the dusty way! 
The piggy sorts the old cow’s orts. 
It’s often hard to give a soft answer. 
Rise to the occasion—and then sit down on it. 
Put all our oughts together and we will not have O. 
No single farmer can fight the Hessian fly alone with 
success. 
One way to fight the fly is to put the wheat in with 
extra care. 
A cross on the backs of some folks produces nothing 
but cross words. 
Yes, my friend, evil thoughts resting in your heart are 
in a Cain-seated chair. 
A stick of birch will make stronger child character 
than a stick of candy. 
A crop of cain changes to sore gum when we are 
obliged to chew over its results. 
In testing a sample of cream by the Babcock test, 
weight is better than measure. 
“I am over 75 years old, and do not think it is time for 
me to stop work,” writes an Ohio reader. 
An exchange remarks that the chief benefit of excur¬ 
sions is that they make one so glad to get home. 
In some sections the Hessian fly is changing wheat to 
rye—that is, wheat growing will be given up and rye 
substituted. 
Suppose we cut corn at the glazing stage and let it 
stand in the shock two weeks, and then cut it into the 
silo. Will we have better silage? 
The clerks in the seed distribution section of the United 
States Department of Agriculture are amused at the 
curious misunderstanding of a western farmer. He sent 
to the Department for a certain variety of seeds to try 
on his farm. They were mailed in one of the official en¬ 
velopes bearing the usual notice: ‘‘Penalty for Private 
Use, $300.” On reading this he was greatly alarmed, 
thinking that the penalty referred to the use of the 
seeds; and he returned them immediately, stating that 
he was innocent of any wrong intention, and that, as the 
seeds were sent back at once, he hoped to be excused 
from the payment of the fine. 
