628 
September 15 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TUB BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country nnd Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, 1 
H. E. Van Deman, >■ Associates. 
Mrs. E. T. Royle, J 
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^ marks, or 10>4 francs. 
ADVERTISING RATES. 
Thirty cents per agate line (141 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 Prick 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 Strett, New York. 
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1900. 
Both Maine and New Hampshire pay a bounty for 
the killing of bears, and the manner in which the 
bounty is paid is highly beneficial to hunters in both 
States. Maine pays a bounty when the hunter hands 
in the animal’s nose, while New Hampshire demands 
bruin’s ears. Consequently, enterprising hunters who 
live near the borders of the two States collect boun¬ 
ties on the ears in one place and on the nose in the 
other. 
* 
We regret to be obliged to chronicle the death of 
Mr. W. S. Moore, of Mount Upton, N. Y. Mr. Moore 
died on August 28, after a brief illness. He was, 
without doubt, one of the most successful subscrip¬ 
tion agents in the country. During his long ac¬ 
quaintance with the paper, he must have obtained 
over 10,000 subscriptions for The R. N.-Y. He was 
a quiet, unassuming man of sturdy character and 
high principles. He will be missed, especially by the 
“old guard” of institute and fair workers. 
* 
\ What are apple buyers offering for your crop? 
The R. N.-Y. wishes to obtain all possible informa¬ 
tion about this matter. It will pay growers to get 
together in the columns of The R. N.-Y., and help to 
steady prices. Prices often vary in different locali¬ 
ties because farmers of one section do not know what 
is offered in another. The Government report and 
the figures given by the Apple Shippers’ Association 
are not favorable to growers. Our opinion is that 
the crop, while very good in some localities, is not as 
a whole as large as the dealers would have us be¬ 
lieve. 
* 
Two brothers in Orange County, N. Y., have made 
themselves ridiculous by going to law over our good 
friend the honey-bee. One brother kept bees and 
the other grew peaches. The peach man claimed that 
his brother’s bees ruined his fruit. He marked bees 
and traced them back to his brother’s hives, and then 
brought suit for damages. The case was tried before 
a justice of the peace, and hinged on the question as 
to whether a bee can really injure a sound peach. 
After much discussion, the justice decided against the 
bees, and fined the beekeeper $25. We do not believe 
that this case will ever stand the test of an appeal to 
a higher court. We feel sure that expert testimony 
will prove that bees cannot injure sound peaches. 
This point ought to be pressed. Every beekeeper is 
interested in it. Our friend the honey-bee is too use¬ 
ful a citizen to have the name of peach robber legally 
branded on him. 
* 
Hebe is a case which illustrates the need of frac¬ 
tional currency or some form of postal check. A 
farmer of our acquaintance received a private check 
for $3 in payment of a bill. This check was worth its 
face value at a bank in New York City. It was sim¬ 
ply an order on that bank directing the cashier to 
pay $3 to the party named in the check, or his repre¬ 
sentative. It was good at only one place. All who 
advanced money on it assumed a risk until it was 
made sure that the person who signed it actually had 
$3 in that bank. It would cost 25 cents, or eight per 
cent of the face value of the check, to have it cashed 
near home. The banks now demand a bonus or addi¬ 
tional fee for handling these private checks, and in. 
some cases on small checks the rates are extortionate. 
All this could be remedied by a system of postal 
checks issued by the Government and passed front 
hand to hand. They would cost the sender only two 
cents—the present cost of stamping a personal check. 
No one can blame a local storekeeper or banker for 
fighting shy of some personal checks, but no one 
would refuse to accept a paper backed by the Gov¬ 
ernment. There is every sound reason in favor of 
such a scheme. A farmer might demand payment in 
such checks, and thus escape many a dishonest rogue 
whose personal check would not be worth the paper 
it was written on. We need this far more than we do 
some things promised in the party platforms. Let’s 
demand it. 
* 
The death of Sir J. B. Lawes removes a striking 
figure from the ranks of agricultural scientists. He 
was a pioneer in the work of questioning the soil. 
His elaborate and painstaking work laid the founda¬ 
tion for the vast system of agricultural experiments 
in America, Germany and France. But for the pioneer 
work done by Lawes and Gilbert, it is probable that 
this helpful agricultural force would have been de¬ 
layed for half a century. As this strong man passes 
away we may pause to consider what the last cen¬ 
tury has done for agriculture. When Lawes and Gil¬ 
bert began their work there was only here and there 
a man who could be called a master of the crude ag¬ 
ricultural science of that day. We have now a trained 
army of specialists and the science itself has been 
wonderfully enlarged and organized. The soil, the 
plant and the animal have been questioned and forced 
to give up their secrets. The requirements of the soil, 
the habits and needs of plant, insect and animal have 
been studied and recorded until the farmer begins to 
rival the manufacturer in the employment of exact 
methods. Sir J. B. Lawes started the mighty force 
of experimenting which has led the farmer out of 
the darkness of ignorance and guesswork. All honor 
to him. Happily he received material honors and re¬ 
wards before he ^passed away. 
* 
Now and then we hear of farmers who solve the 
middleman question by making it a family affair. 
Sometimes Father gets along in years and finds it 
hard to do field work. The boys are active and 
strong—well able to produce the crop. Father moves 
to town, and does the selling. He opens a little office 
or store, picks up his customers, and is always on 
hand to attend to things. This plan often works well; 
we know of several cases where it is successful. 
Sometimes one of the boys shows more aptitude for 
trade than for farming. He goes to town and sells 
produce for the neighbors, and does it well. We once 
heard of a man who failed as a farmer. He lost a 
valuable farm which his father left him. Then he 
went to town and sold produce on commission, and 
made a great success. We see no occasion for sneering 
at that man because he left the farm. He was worth 
more to his family and his friends when he took up 
the business for which he was best fitted. Often¬ 
times some member of a family or a community will 
benefit all by taking the job of selling—leaving the 
rest to produce. 
• * * 
The discussion between the nurseryman and his 
disappointed customer, on page 623, will appeal to 
many readers of The R. N.-Y. There are probably 
hundreds of them who have had a somewhat similar 
experience. It is an old story how one buys a tree 
or vine and waits patiently for it to fruit, only to 
find some poor, worthless seedling. It is not so much 
the actual cost of the original tree, for that may be, 
a matter of a few cents. It is the loss of time and 
the loss of confidence in human honesty that counts. 
Take the nurseryman’s statement in this case. What 
he says of the liability to make mistakes is without 
question true. Any man who has ever watched the 
operations in a nursery well knows that the master 
cannot possibly examine every tree as it is packed. 
It is true, however, that some nurseries are more 
likely to make mistakes than others. Some are more 
careful than others—either having a better system, 
or else depending less on stock which they do not 
grow. We have bought stock which evidently came 
through several hands, the marks on the cases hav¬ 
ing been changed, without examination of the stock. 
Of course the man who does this cannot possibly give 
any guarantee. We do not think that he has any 
moral right to sell such purchased stock without 
notifying his customer that he did not grow it, and 
can only take the word of others that it is true to 
name. Of course this would not be necessary in case 
. the stock were unpacked and identified at the nur¬ 
sery. There are degrees of carelessness in selecting 
and packing trees and plants. In some cases it is sim¬ 
ply criminal. After a man has spent years in caring 
for his trees, only to find that they are rogues, it 
seems to us poor compensation to offer simply to re¬ 
place the trees. This would appear ridiculous with 
any other class of goods. There are plenty of honest, 
conservative men in the nursery business. They 
ought to devise some fair method of settling such 
cases as the one recorded on page 623. 
The farmers of New York have made it impossible 
for S. E. Payne or J. W. Wadsworth to tack “Gov¬ 
ernor” in front of their names. But for the emphatic 
words written and spoken by farmers, one of these 
men would probably have been nominated. So far 
good—but the work is not yet completed. These men 
are candidates for Congress. In our judgment it is 
the duty of dairymen to labor to defeat them, or to 
reduce their majority to the lowest possible limit. If 
they go back to Congress with their usual majority, 
the oleo people will be justified in saying, “I told 
you so—the farmers do not care anything about this 
Grout bill. See how they vote for two men who are 
opposed to it!” This argument would have weight 
with some Congressmen, but if, on the other hand, 
the returns show that Payne and Wadsworth have 
been cut at the polls, the fighters on the side of hon¬ 
est butter will be nerved to harder work. We urge 
this opposition entirely on the ground that these men 
have shown that they are not to be trusted by 
friends of honest butter. They may be able and use¬ 
ful men in dealing with what they are pleased to call 
“larger matters” of legislation, but in our judgment 
the question of prohibiting the fraudulent sale of oleo 
is to-day the most direct question that confronts the 
man with the cow. Our advice is, therefore, to drive 
this question home. Do it this year! 
* 
BREVITIES. 
Here is a story which perhaps is old, 
But still has point enough to be retold. 
A maiden lady, prim and sharp of tongue, 
Bearing her load of cares, no longer young, 
Went to a party where some rustic blade 
Thought it fine sport to “jolly an old maid.” 
“Tell me,” he said, “why a smart girl like you 
Never got married”—she just looked him through 
Over her glasses and made this reply: 
“What do I need a man for, sir, when I 
Have a tame parrot that can curse and swear 
As hard as any man, and eat his share? 
I have a monkey, too—he surely can 
Chew his tobacco just like any man; 
As for the rest of married women’s rights, 
I have a cat that always stays out nights.” 
Salted experience beats fresh hope. 
Don’t be a hard drinker of soft drinks. 
Bills should be printed on dun-colored paper. 
A family without a peacemaker is unfortunate. 
Some people clothe their desires in a very thin belief. 
“Opium Dopes” is the new and correct name for 
cigarettes. 
Foot up the blessings on hand and you will find your¬ 
self ahead. 
We are eating the earliest cow peas as many people 
eat string beans. 
Some people are not fond of arithmetic, but most of us 
worked faithfully at subtraction of clothing during 
August. 
How fortunate that “talk is cheap,” otherwise some 
now doing business on a tremendous capital would be 
bankrupt. 
The substance of Prof. Plumb’s conclusions is that the 
American hog makes a fine ham but a poor side for the 
English market. 
Some people, by taking hold of a job in a back-handed 
and upside-down way, manage to get considerable extra 
work out of themselves. 
Good judges say that the live stock exhibited at the 
New York State Fair was worth over $800,000— the horses 
alone having a value of half a million. 
Moles have burrowed all over the corn and potato 
fields this year—in many cases going right through the 
hills. We cannot see that they have touched a single 
seed. 
Half the growls at the extravagance and foolish ac¬ 
tions of others come from those who feel snappish be¬ 
cause they have not the money or opportunity to be just 
so extravagant themselves. 
According to the census, the most densely-populated 
block in the United States, if not in the world, is in New 
York, on the upper east side, this block containing 3,978 
inhabitants, mostly negroes. 
Among the animals prohibited from entering the United 
States, under the Lacey act, is the flying fox or fruit bat, 
which causes great damage to fruit crops in some parts 
of the world, notably Australia. 
There has been some complaint about delays in de¬ 
livering mail matter. One trouble seems to be that the 
political party managers are mailing tons of letters and 
circulars. It is a shame that this stuff is handled first 
of all. 
Where did the grass, Timothy, obtain its name? The 
first common name comes from Timothy Hanson, of 
Maryland, who introduced the grass from England 
about 1720. The next name comes from a man by the 
name of Herd, who found it growing in New Hampshire 
and began its cultivation. 
A curious slip of the tongue recently occurred in a 
prayer meeting in this city. The speaker meant to quote 
the passage of Scripture which says that the way is so 
plain that the wayfaring man though a fool need not 
err therein; but his tongue got twisted, and he said 
seafaring instead of wayfaring. Fortunately there were 
no sailors present. 
