676 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 6 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home* *. 
Established 1850 . 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, j 
H. E. Van Deman, > Associates. 
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 
8 s. 6d., or 8J4 marks, or 1054 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 w hat 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, OCTOBER 6, 1900. 
The shortage of good apples this year will call at¬ 
tention to some little-known sections of New York 
State. For example, in the southern tier of counties, 
Sullivan, and on west, there are many good apples 
this year. Buyers seldom go there, because apple 
growing is a side issue in farming, and the buyers 
like to go where it is the chief business. This year it 
will pay them to get off their regular routes and hunt 
up new fields. 
* 
We often receive letters from readers containing a 
clipping from some other paper, asking whether the 
statements contained in it are true. Some of the 
‘•big stories” told about agriculture may well stagger 
belief, yet the world is full of strange things, and 
most of us become familiar with less than five per 
cent of the actual life and habits of humanity. The 
R. N.-Y. tries to tell the truth, and is willing to cor¬ 
rect an error. 
* 
We shall have to give up. It seems to be settled 
that milk cans, when set at the right angle, can so 
focus the sun’s rays as to start a fire. We feel sorry 
that our old friend the milk can has been proven 
guilty. Now, then, some milkman will reason that 
since milk cans cause fire, while water puts the fire 
out, therefore he must use more water, and he will 
forget to pour out the water before he pours in his 
milk! The milk dealers are said to make quick use 
of scientific discoveries. No doubt they will try this 
at once. 
* 
A New Jersey farmer sold a horse—taking in pay¬ 
ment a promissory note for $50 payable “100 years 
from date.” He did not notice the time of payment, 
but when the note was sent to a bank for discount 
he found that he must wait a century for his money. 
He brought suit against the man who gave the note, 
and the local judge dismissed the case. The man 
who gave the note said he was willing to pay the 
note when it came due, but that no law could make 
him pay it before. If the man who sold the horse 
had sued to have the note reformed on the ground 
of mutual mistake or fraud he might have done bet¬ 
ter. This thing shows again how careless some peo¬ 
ple are about signing or accepting paper which may 
mean much to them. 
* 
We have letters from western parties who wish to 
buy 30,000 barrels of New York apples if they can be 
obtained at the prices mentioned in The R. N.-Y. 
several weeks ago. This shows that the western crop 
is short. Western dealers are rushing to this State, 
hoping to obtain early bargains. Efforts were made 
to frighten growers with reports of tremendous crops, 
so as to make them sell their fruit at the first fair 
•filer. Some fruit growers did this, but the wind¬ 
storm of September 11-12 blew fruit from the trees 
and nerve into the growers. It is sure now that the 
general crop is short. Prices have risen 30 to 50 
cents a barrel since the windstorm, and are likely to 
go higher for the best fruit. The situation has 
changed in favor of the grower, and he should make 
the most of it. 
* 
The Illinois Pure Food law was regarded as a valu¬ 
able act of legislation, which insured security against 
adulteration in that State. This law, however, re¬ 
ceived what is regarded as its death Dlow September 
19, when Judge Smith, in the Chicago Criminal Court, 
ruled that no conviction can be made unless it is 
shown that the storekeeper had guilty knowledge of 
the selling of impure food. Following this ruling in 
the first of the cases to come to trial, the State re¬ 
fused to prosecute in several similar cases in which 
indictments had been secured. Representatives of 
the State Pure Food Commission admit that punish¬ 
ment can be given in but few cases, because it is al¬ 
most impossible to show a guilty knowledge on the 
part of me storekeeper. Friends of pure-food legis¬ 
lation wiii be anxious to see some amendment of the 
Illinois law, which will insure its enforcement. 
* 
The strike in the coal regions cuts the farmer in 
two ways. Those who live near the mines suffer a 
direct loss of trade. Here is a letter from one of our 
readers in Pennsylvania: 
The great mine strike is on in dead earnest, and the 
bottom has dropped completely out of the produce mar¬ 
ket with the exception of potatoes. There is no market 
for apples or truck. The miners are coming into the 
country looking for work until the strike is settled. 
People often wonder why the market for food 
shrinks when men are out of work or spend their 
wages for liquor. Workmen and their families must 
eat, but experience shows that whenever the cash in¬ 
come of the workman shrinks his trade in the farm¬ 
er’s goods fails. The produce that would be used in 
the mining towns must be sent to other markets. 
This demoralizes prices. The lack of coal will cause 
factories to shut down, and thus throw others out 
of employment, thus still further reducing the demand 
for farm products. Thus, as a business matter, aside 
from any other consideration, the farmer is vitally 
interested in prompt arbitration of the troubles be¬ 
tween mine owner and miner. 
• 
More than two years ago The R. N.-Y. pointed out 
the importance of controlling the delivery of milk 
in this city. At that time the milk producers were 
organizing. They hoped to find a man with money 
enough to control this trade. They tried this again 
and again to find either that the money was not 
forthcoming or that the monied men wanted rather 
more than the whole earth. We have said from the 
first that the milk producers themselves should con¬ 
trol the delivery as well as the production. Instead 
of depending on some Wall street man to take hold 
of it as a speculation, let them get together and fur¬ 
nish their own money. This can be done, and we 
are glad to see that after trying their best to com¬ 
bine with city men the Association now intends to 
try the other plan. They are on the right road. Prob¬ 
ably it was necessary to try the other paths first. 
• 
Many city florists now do a large business in board¬ 
ing house plants. This sounds odd to the plant lover 
who tenderly cares for a few geraniums, Begoniaq, 
etc., which spend their Summers in the garden out¬ 
side, but it is a very welcome convenience to the city 
dweller who has no garden and literally no outside for 
her plants. Of course most of these botanical board¬ 
ers are palms, ferns, rubbers and other handsome 
foliage plants, for which provision must be made 
while the owners are away during the Summer. One 
city florist who makes a specialty of this trade, 
charges 60 cents a month for boarding a plant, no 
matter what its size. His intelligent care effects a 
wonderful improvement in the plant’s condition, and 
he usually restores it to its owner looking the better 
for its sojourn in the plant sanitarium. Of course 
a florist needs plenty of room to do this, and he must 
carry out the business systematically. 
• 
There are numerous rumors of wars in the milk 
trade. Fall feed is short, and the hay and fodder 
crops so light that in many sections farmers cannot 
sell milk at the prices now offered without actual 
loss. It is said that ihe h ive States Association ex¬ 
pects to start to r .tailing its own product in this city 
early in Winter, but no special details of the plans 
are given out yet. The annual meetings of the var¬ 
ious route unions will be held October 2, and the gen¬ 
eral meeting of the Association October 16, probably 
at Binghamton. Definite announcements will be 
made later. There should be a large attendance at 
all of these meetings. Members ought to know what 
is being done, and should co-operate in plans that 
offer a fair solution of this troublesome question. 
Now is the time to stick to the organization and lift 
as hard as possible. After a little success is gained 
there will be plenty ready to join. Those who stick 
through thick and thin deserve credit. The officers 
urge all members not to make new contracts with 
outsiders, as they expect to have something definite 
to offer at the annual meeting. At Brewster, N. Y., 
some patrons of the condensery refused to make con¬ 
tracts for the Winter at the prices offered, but quite 
a percentage yielded afterwards. It is understood, 
however, that the condensery will have less milk than 
usual. Shipping stations have been erected in that 
vicinity, and the milk will be diverted to them. Fur¬ 
ther notes on the milk business in Putnam County 
will be given in The R. N.-Y. next week. 
* 
The International Wood Carvers’ Association has 
decided to petition Congress to pass a bill enabling 
the Government to furnish 5,000,000 acres of land for 
the use of people who have been crowded out of work 
by the use of labor-saving machinery. The bill pro¬ 
posed would call for the division of the land into 
small farms by the Department of Agriculture. It is 
said that one reason for the project is the tendency 
of American workmen to run to mechanical trades 
rather than to agriculture. This is another instance 
of the revival of interest in country life—the wish to 
get back to the *and—which we now notice in so 
many directions. It cannot fail gradually to influ¬ 
ence our National life. The tendency of small hold¬ 
ers to drift back to the land should offset in some 
degrees the absorption of land into large tracts un¬ 
der the dominance of wealthy corporations. 
• 
Hon. A. S. Tompkins, of Nyack, N. Y., is a candi¬ 
date for re-election to Congress. He states positively 
that he will vote for the Grout oleo bill next Decem¬ 
ber. Good! Dairymen in Orange, Rockland and Sul¬ 
livan counties should see that he gets a rousing ma¬ 
jority. Mr. Tompkins says that many of his con¬ 
stituents are writing him to learn where he stands 
on the oleo question. Of course they are—that is 
their duty and privilege. Hundreds of farmers are 
also writing to S. E. Payne and J. W. Wadsworth 
asking them the same question. They receive mighty 
little satisfaction. These men think that they are 
perfectly safe for re-election and therefore a little 
‘T0-cent matter” like this oleo tax should not disturb 
their giant intellects. On election day these states¬ 
men will find that their seats in Congress are built 
on the votes of many 10-cent men. We hope that 
every dairyman in their districts will vote against 
Payne and Wadsworth. If they tell you that the 
“money question” is not important agree with them, 
for this oleo tax means more money for you than 
anything else they could give you. Vote for fair 
trade and farmer’s rights. 
• 
BREVITIES. 
My neighbor Brown he had to go away 
On jury duty, an’ I ’greed to go 
An’ visit with his wimmin folks an’ stay 
To kinder keep ’em company—you know 
What contrary critters most of wimmin be. 
They wouldn’t talk of nothin’ else but Brown; 
At least his grown-up daughter won’t, an’ she 
Jest cracked him up above all else in town. 
She had him pictured for the greatest man 
That ever tried to draw the breath of life; 
He surely had her fooled—of course I can 
Tell things on Brown—I set an’ watched his wife. 
She ain’t no fool—she sorter balled her eye, 
’Round at her daughter as she talked along, 
Her mouth half smiled, then give a little sigh 
I knew her thoughts was workin’ mighty strong! 
That shows, thinks I, what I have always said, 
A man can fool his daughter like a pin, 
But take a wife whose love has come to head, 
She knows him too blamed well to be took in. 
Tied water—a dammed-up stream. 
The game rooster is a duel purpose fowl. 
Better keep the windfall apples at home. 
Most people are rounded out by square meals. 
It requires a good deal of nerve force to cow a bulldog. 
Several things live on or in their pen—one is the paper 
farmer. 
Young man, you have it in your power to be a help or 
a big nuisance! 
In our experience rape does not succeed well in the 
shade of a thick orchard. 
Lo the poor scientist, whose tutored mind is bound 
bacteria and bugs to find. 
No matter how scarce and high quinine may be, it is 
always a drug on the market. 
What’s the use In getting angry? One only has the 
trouble of getting over it again. 
How can the spores of the Asparagus rust dodge such 
a machine as that pictured on the first page? 
When a fellow has a theory which will not stand a 
fact, he’d better drop his theory—oh, that’s the way to 
act! 
The Prohibitionists claim that while one swallow does 
not make a Summer, a succession of them will make a 
fall. 
Why is a tuberculous kid unlike the Emperor Napo¬ 
leon’s beard? One Is a goat coughy and the other is a 
goatee. 
Now, when the evaporators should handle the vast piles 
of windfall apples, up goes the price of coal and out of 
sight goes the supply. The strike strikes everybody. 
Say what you will, it’s hard consolation when you find 
the crows shelling and eating the corn to have the scien¬ 
tific men tell you that a crow’s stomach contains a high 
per cent of worms. 
A Western apple buyer comes to a New York fruit 
grower and tells him that there is a big crop in the West. 
At the same time the fruit grower has a letter from the 
Western firm which this buyer represents stating that 
the West is very short! 
