1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
85/ 
Two Weeks Left 
foi’ those cash premiums which go out 
January 15. We have never had a pre¬ 
mium contest before when so little' inter¬ 
est was taken by club-raisers in the 
money offered. There aTe 50 cash pre¬ 
miums. The first $100; second, $75 ; 
third, $50, and soon down. To-day these 
three premiums would go to club-raisers 
who had sent ridiculously small clubs. 
The bulk of the work has been from a 
number of agents who have sent in all 
no more than five names. Here are the 
$2 premium winners for last week : 
Dee. 10. R. C. Trowbridge, New York. 
Dec. 11. F. E. Van Eps, New York. 
Dec. 12. Ronson German, Michigan. 
Dec. 13. Jay E. Allis, New York. 
Dec. 14. F. E. Van Eps, New York. 
Dec. 15. 13. C. Foster, New York. 
There is no time to lose now, and no 
one need hesitate. Anyone who puts in 
a day or a week raising a club, is sure of 
a good premium. The money will come 
in well January 15. The time will soon 
be up. Do something now—right away. 
We will send supplies and samples if you 
ask for them ; a postal card will do. Let 
us have it quick. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
NEW YORK. 
MARKET BRIEFS. 
Picked Up Here and There. 
A WINTER CROP, which, like the witch- 
hazel bush, is usually in full bloom at the 
holiday season, consists of the fake com 
mission merchants so often spoken of in 
this paper. You produce the goods, ship 
to them, and they do the rest. A reader 
sends us a circular from a Mr. Hayt, print¬ 
ed with type so large that spectacles are 
unnecessary, and asks: "Is this the same old 
Hayt that has been spoken of in The R. 
N.-Y.?” Our understanding is that he is 
a son of the man who, as our readers will 
remember, was shown up and denounced 
at considerable length several years ago; 
and from the fact that Mr. H., junior, 
quotes prices somewhat above the market, 
and offers to buy goods outright, handle 
on commission, or, in fact, do most any¬ 
thing in order to get the stuff, we judge 
that he is a chip of the old block. 
SURPRISING CHEEK is shown by one 
produce commission man here, who has on 
his envelope, letter heads and shipping 
tags, in big red letters, these words: "The 
Best Commission House in New York.” If 
failing periodically, receiving shipments 
without making proper returns, being de¬ 
nounced by name in the press, and known 
throughout the butter trade of the city as 
a gilt-edged dead beat, entitle him to such 
a claim, then he is all right. In a letter to 
a reader this man says that he can get 25 
cents per pound for dairy butter. This was 
at a time when the highest price for dairy 
was 24 cents, and ordinary dairies ran 
from 18 to 22 cents. It is not reasonable to 
suppose that for a staple like butter, on 
which the price for the city is made daily 
in the Mercantile Exchange, this man can 
compete with all the rest of the trade, and 
get two or three cents more for an unlimit¬ 
ed quantity. 
LOOK UP REFERENCES.—He referred, 
not to any commercial agency, express 
company or well-known bank, but to a 
financial concern near the head of Wall 
Street. As we have received several cir¬ 
culars sent out by commission men making 
extravagant claims, bearing the same 
marks of fraud, and all referring to the 
same banking firm, it looked suspicious 
that they were in the game, and getting a 
share of the profits of this dishonest busi¬ 
ness. I expected to find them in some little 
8x10 office, as is often the case with such 
wholesale bunco schemes; but was sur¬ 
prised to find that they were quite an ex¬ 
tensive concern of guarantors and dealers 
in investments and insurance. I asked for 
whatever statement they cared to make re¬ 
garding the party above mentioned who 
had given them as reference. The head of 
the firm, to whom I was sent, appeared 
embarrassed at the request. He looked at 
the letter. On the left of the sheet in red 
letters was the statement that the writer 
referred to this financial house. Here is 
what the head man said with considerable 
hesitation: “Well, we would advise you to 
go slow with him now,” emphasizing the 
now, “as we have had several complaints 
from people who have shipped him stuff 
and not received satisfactory settlement." 
He did not say he was sorry he had allowed 
their name to be used, but neither did he 
try to defend the fraudulent action, so 1 
was half inclined to think him innocent of 
really wrong intent. Whether really de¬ 
ceived or in the game, however, they were 
certainly at fault, but at the same time so 
thoroughly protected that the law could 
not touch them, and any attempts to hold 
them responsible would be a waste of time. 
These investment and guarantee houses 
have so many strings to their fiddle that, 
if one snaps, they can keep their tune go¬ 
ing all right with the others. I had to wait 
a few minutes before being attended to at 
this place, and in the meantime an amus¬ 
ing thing happened. The man ahead of 
me, who it turned out was a wrathful but¬ 
ter shipper who had been taken in by this 
scalawag, and was looking to the reference 
for satisfaction, went into the private of¬ 
fice, and in a moment one of the employees 
came out and began to talk to another in 
the middle office. They laughed, and being 
near me I overheard part that was said, 
which was that “The old man is having a 
hot time of it with that fellow." Whether 
guilty of intentional fraud or not, they are 
evidently getting some punishment. 
HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM. 
—A rock in the ocean is a dangerous thing 
to the ship that runs into it, but, if navi¬ 
gators steer clear, it may be there a mil¬ 
lion years without doing any damage. The 
worst punishment that anyone who has 
produce to sell can inflict on rascally deal¬ 
ers is to let them alone. They are not 
afraid of the law. In most cases they are 
so thoroughly protested that they cannot 
be touched in a criminal action, and as 
they have no property that can be got hold 
of, civil actions only take the time of the 
complainant and do not amount to any¬ 
thing. They seem to take on a new lease 
of life and put on another streak of fat 
with every exposure, and will continue to 
flourish so long as people will be deceived 
by promises that are contrary to com¬ 
mon sense. The offer of a few cents per 
pound or bushel above what anyone else 
is willing to pay, even though not backed 
up by any substantial assurance of settle¬ 
ment, is hard for most people to resist. 
But how is anyone in the country to know 
whether a concern is reliable or not? This 
has been much discussed without coming 
to any very satisfactory conclusion. There 
is one rule, however, that has been often 
repeated, and is pretty safe to follow, and 
that is to go slow in dealing with those 
who make extravagant claims, offer far 
better prices for staple goods, or in a gen¬ 
eral way give the impression that the whole 
universe revolves around their store. If 
people followed out this rule more closely, 
a good many of the frauds would be weed¬ 
ed out or frozen out. A little injustice 
might be done now and then to reliable 
parties whose business policy, while all 
straight, includes lots of bluff, but as a 
rule, the best houses are conservative in 
their letters and circulars, and careful 
about promising more than they can ful¬ 
fill. They know that they must be so in 
order to retain their reputation for square 
dealing. Othexs have no reputation. Like 
certain clothing men in this city, they ex¬ 
pect to deal with you only once, and pur¬ 
pose to beat you that time if possible. 
UP-HILL WORK—Instead of letting 
these scalawags alone, however, it is an 
astonishing thing that scores of people 
patronize them year after year, apparently 
in preference to honest dealers. The writer 
personally knows of cases where hay and 
apple buyers have gone thi’ough sections 
offering a premium on the market price. 
Sometimes they pay cash for a few lots on 
the start, just to bait the people on, but 
before they get through, many lose their 
whole crops. To have an experience of this 
kind after the bother of harvesting and 
marketing a crop, ought to shake their 
faith in strangers, but such wounds heal 
quickly, and next year they are ready for 
another dose, put up in a little different 
shape perhaps. An extensive apple dealer 
here said: “I tell you, it’s up-hill business. 
We used to buy the crop of a certain sec¬ 
tion every season. One year a fellow went 
along some time in advance, represented 
that he was buying for us, and beat the 
farmers badly. It took us some time to 
get over the harm that man did.” 
_ w. w. H. 
OHIO STATE H0RT. SOCIETY. 
PART I. 
The thirty-fourth annual meeting of the 
Ohio State Horticultural Society was 
held at Troy, Ohio, December 5-6-7. The 
fertile valley of the Miami River is one of 
the finest agricultural sections of the State. 
The tree and plant-growing business is also 
quite extensive, while fruit production is 
among the live industries of this prosper¬ 
ous region. The meeting, throughout, 
abounded in interesting and instructive 
papers and spicy discussion. More than 
ever apparent was the fact that, because 
of wide differences in soil, location, the 
man and the market, there can be no uni¬ 
versal, iron-clad rules that may be safely 
followed in the production and disposition 
of our fruits. Fruit Notes, for the current 
year, by Prof. W. J. Green, of the Ohio 
Experiment Station, has become one of the 
most interesting and popular features of 
our annual meetings. He stated, with 
much truth, that fruit-growing will eventu¬ 
ally fall into the hands of scientists and 
experts. This will come about not only 
from the fact that insects seem to be In¬ 
creasing out of proportion to the growth of 
the horticultural industi'y, but that the 
ever-increasing new enemies, including the 
San Jos6 scale, will be allowed, by the care¬ 
less grower, to have their own way, just 
as do our old foes, the curculio, Codling- 
worm, etc. His observation and experi¬ 
ence have pi’oved to his satisfaction that 
an apple orchard under thorough culture, 
not only endures our late, warm, dry Au¬ 
tumns much better than one in sod, but 
that ripening of the fruit is thus retarded 
to quite a degree, while the apples hang on 
to the tree with much greater tenacity. In 
view of the fact that continual culture is 
sometimes impi’acticable, especially upon 
steep hillsides, Prof. Green has become 
much interested in the management of a 
large orchard near Delaware, Ohio, in 
which the trees are persistently mulched 
with the grass that is mown from between 
the rows. This orchard is one of the most 
px-ofitable in its section, and so impi’essed 
is Pi-of. Green with the apparently practi¬ 
cal way of solving the cultural problem 
that he has concluded that it deserves a 
trial at the Experiment Station. Trees 
thus mulched showed no decided tendency 
to drop their fruit, and that which did drop 
was not seriously bruised, being nearly all 
salable. , 
Prof. Green declares that, in spite of all 
the hard kicks administered to the Ben 
Davis apple it is, to-day, the popular va¬ 
riety when it comes to the question of 
bushels and dollars. He thinks it advisable 
gracefully to accept old Uncle Ben along 
with the Concord grape and other acknowl¬ 
edged leaders of our different fruits. He 
spoke of the Missouri Pippin as a produc¬ 
tive and very precocious variety for a 
"filler," and said a fair size would be at¬ 
tained by thinning the fruit. It appears 
that this variety starts out early in life 
with a suicidal intent—firmly fixed in its 
purpose of bearing itself to death by the 
time it has reached its early "teens." It 
is certainly a very attractive, medium¬ 
sized, brilliantly-colored apple, and is said 
to be of good quality. Its special desira¬ 
bility, however, seems to be for temporary 
planting between trees of our standard va¬ 
rieties. Prof. Green spoke of the Mann ap¬ 
ple as manifesting a weakness of root at 
the Station. Bismarck has given him some 
tine specimens, but is not superior to the 
Wealthy, which is capable of filling every 
office of Bismarck. Robinson was spoken 
of as a good apple. 
A lively discussion was given to the sub¬ 
ject of Summer apples for profit. Some of 
the marketmen reported ready sales at 
high prices, with not nearly enough fruit 
to supply the demand. Others declared 
their inability to give away their early 
apples—so plentiful and cheap were they. 
It was claimed by some that our first early 
apples came in direct competition with the 
later small fruits, and did much to depre¬ 
ciate the demand for the latter. This ob¬ 
jection, however, was promptly met by a 
friend of the early apple, who said it was 
impossible to make the consumer eat a 
berry pie when he wanted an apple pie, 
and that by the careful production, pick¬ 
ing, packing and marketing of Summer 
apples there was more profit in them than 
in Winter varieties. 
F. H. BALLOU. 
From many diseases. Children 
who are well nourished success¬ 
fully resist disease to which an 
ill - nourished child succumbs. 
Your child has enough food. 
Does the food make flesh? If 
not there is something wrong 
with the stomach and other or¬ 
gans of digestion and nutrition. 
That wrong can be quickly 
righted by the use of 
• DR, PIERCE'S • 
FREE! 
GOLDEN MEDICAL DISCOVERY. 
In ninety-eight cases out o 
every hundred it completely cure; 
indigestion and other diseases o 
the digestive and nutritive sys 
tern in both young and old. Yoi 
can consult Dr. Pierce by lette 
free. Ad- wz* dress Dr. R. V 
Pierce, YJ Buffalo, N. Y. 
Dr. Pierce’s 
Medical Advis¬ 
er, pa^xer cov¬ 
ers, is sent on receipt 
of 21 cents to pay cost 
of mailing only. 
Addresi Dr. Pierce, as above. 
CORN SHELLERS. 
PThln 1-hole nheller has feed table, tan.crank 
I and pulley, can be run by hand or power. Shell* 
largest and smallest ears, 15 to 25 bu. an hr, 
4 C _ I las heavy balance wheel—makes It run easy. 
.50 Made of best material, guaranteed to please. 
= PRICE complete, $5.25; with crank only, 
for hand use, $1.60; hand shelter, 75c. 
Thl8 2-Hola ^^S s*S\ $|n25 
kpowpr and i tf | 
"nand shellerff^*^ 1 
with feed table, fan, cob carrier, crank 
and pulley #12 Without cob car¬ 
rier, $10.2i> Runs easy; shellH every ker 
relfromear; 35 bu. an hour. SELF FEED 
shelter—700 bu. per day—9 s'yles of shellers. 
A 1 O O Powers—tread and sweep, Gasoline 
ALSU, engines. Wind Mills, Feed Cookers,! 
Scales, Sawing Machines, Horse Blankets, 
Best 
Ever 
Made 
Hardware. We sell direct to you sit wholesale prices. Catalogue 
sent free. Prices on 10,000 articles. Everything needed on the farm. 
Marvin Smith Co. v 57-59 N. Jefferson St., Chicago. Ills. 
Clubbing List. 
We can save yon money on any paper or magazine. 
We give you a list below. If you do not find all you 
want here, send us a list, and we will quote you price 
by return mail. It will save you trouble to send ail 
your orders to us at onetime. The price opposite 
each paper is our price to you for it. Every order 
must,of course, include a subscription to The Rubai, 
New-YORKER at $1. To make up a list start with 
The It. N.-Y. at $1, then take as many of fhe others 
as you need at price opposite each. 
American Bee Journal, Chicago, Ill. 
American Poultry Journal. Chicago. Ill. 
American Sheep Breeder, Chicaeo, Ill. 
American Swineherd, Chicago. Ill. 
American Queen, New York. 
Arena, The. Boston, Mass. 
Atlantic Monthly, Boston, Mass. 
American Gardening, New York. 
Ave Marla, Notre Dame, Ind. 
A Few Hens, Boston, Mass. 
American Agriculturist, New York. 
American Boy, Detroit, Mich. 
Babyhood, New York. 
Blade, Toledo. O. 
Blooded Stock. Oxford, Pa. 
Bee, Toledo, O. 
Baptist Union, Chicago, Ill. 
Breeder’s Gazette, Chicago, III... 
Cincinnati Weekly Gazette, Cincinnati, O. 
Cosmopolitan Magazine, Irvington, N. Y. 
Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ivy (begin Jan. 1>... 
Cleveland Daily World, Cleveland, O. 
Century, New York. 
Christian Herald, New York.. 
Constitution, Atlanta, Ga. 
Commercial Tribune, Cincinnati, O. 
Cleveland Leader, Cleveland, O. 
Conkey’s Home Journal, Chicago, Ill. 
Courier, Buffalo, N. Y. 
Chronicle Telegraph, Pittsburg, Pa. 
Country Gentleman. Albany, N. Y. 
Coleman's Rural World, St. Louis, Mo. 
Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland, O. 
Couraut (Daily , Hartford, Conn. 
Courant. iSemi-Weekly), Hartford, Conn. 
Columbus Press Post, Columbus. O. 
Dispatch, Pittsburg, Pa. 
Drainage Journal, Indianapolis, Ind. 
Demorest’s, New York. 
Delineator, New York.. 
Designer, New York. 
Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, N. Y. 
Dairy and Creamery. Chicago, Ill. 
Enquirer, Cincinnati, O. 
Evangelist. New York. 
Everybody's Magazine, New York... 
Examiner, New York. 
Examiner iDaily) San Francisco, Cal. 
Examiner (Weekly) San Francisco, Cal. 
Every Where, New York... 
Fruit, Dunkirk, N. Y. 
Forum, New York. 
Free Press, Detroit, Mich. 
Frank Leslie's Monthly, New York. 
Farm Journal, Philadelphia, Pa. 
Farm Poultry, Boston. Mass. 
Family Herald and Weekly Star, Montreal, Can. 
Farm and Fireside, Springfield, O. 
Farm and Home, Springfield, Mass. 
Gleanings in Bee Culture, Medina, O.. 
Globe Democrat i Weekly), St. Louis, Mo. 
Golden Days, Philadelphia. Pa. 
Green’s Fruit Grower, Rochester, N. Y. 
Good Literature, New York. 
Garden and Farm, Springfield, O. 
Household, Boston, Mass. 
Horse Review, Chicago, Ill. 
Horse World, Buffalo, N. Y. 
Harper’s Bazar, New York. 
Harper’s Magazine, New York. 
Harper’s Weekly, New York. 
Housekeeper, Minneapolis, Minn. 
Housewife, New York. 
Hoard's Dairyman, Ft. Atkinson, Wis. 
Holstein-Friesian Register, Brattleboro, Vt. 
Home Journal, Boston. Mass. 
Independent, New York....... . 
Inter Ocean, Chicago. Ill. 
Inter-State Poultryman, Tiffin, O. 
Journal. Boston, Mass. 
Judge, New York. 
Jersey Bulletin, Indianapolis Ind. 
Journal. Indianapolis, Ind. 
Journal of Agriculture. St. Louis, Mo. 
Little FolkB, New York. 
Lipplncott’s Magazine, Philadelphia. Pa. 
Ledger Monthly, New York. 
Ladles’ Home Journal, Philadelphia. Pa. 
Living Church, Milwaukee. Wis.. 
Leslie’s Weekly, New York... 
McClure's Magazine, New York. 
Mayflower, New York.. 
Munsey’s Magazine. New York. 
Meehan’s Monthly. Philadelphia, Pa. 
North American Review, New York. 
News and Courier, Charleston, 8. C. 
National Stockman, Pittsburg, Pa. 
New England Homestead, Springfield. Mass. 
Ohio Poultry Journal, Dayton, O. 
Ohio Farmer, Cleveland, O. 
Outlook, The, New York. 
Poultry Keeper, Quincy. Ill. 
Press, Philadelphia, Pa. 
Public Opinion, New York . ..v. 
Poultry Monthly, Albany, N. Y. 
Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. 
Post Express, Rochester, N. Y. 
Puck, New York. 
Practical Farmer. Philadelphia. Pa. 
Review of Reviews, New York. 
Register, Wheeling. W. Va. 
Reliable Poultry Journal, Quincy, Ill. 
Republican, The Weekly). Springfield, Mass_ 
Scribner's Magazine, New York. 
Scientific American, New York. 
Star, Kansas City, Mo.’ 
Sentinel, Indianapolis, Ind.’ 
Swine Breeder’s Journal, Indianapolis, Ind. 
Sunday-School Times, Philadelphia, Pa. 
St. Nicholas, New York... 
Success, New York.’ 
Southern Cultivator, Atlanta, Ga. . 
Strawberry Culturist, Salisbury, Md.! ’ 
Table Talk, Philadelphia. Pa.’.... 
Tribune (Weekly). New York.[ 
Thrice-a-Week Tribune, New York. 
Times (Weekly , Cincinnati, O. 
Trained Motherhood, New York. ' 
Truth, New York... 
Turf, Field and Farm. New York . 
Union Gospel News. Cleveland. O. 
Wool Markets and Sheep, Chicago, Ill. 
Witness, New York. 
Woman’s Home Companion, Springfield, O. 
World, Tri-Weekly, New York. 
Youths' Companion.New, $1.25: renewal. 
Young People's Weekly, Chicago, Ill.. 
$0.90 
.20 
.80 
.80 
.45 
1 80 
3.25 
1.00 
1.70 
.30 
1.00 
.00 
.00 
.00 
.15 
.50 
.80 
1.10 
.80 
.85 
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1.30 
3.00 
1.10 
.05 
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1.50 
.50 
1.40 
0.50 
.85 
.85 
.55 
.55 
.95 
.95 
.85 
.55 
.25 
.55 
3.00 
.85 
1.80 
0.40 
1.20 
.35 
25 
2.00 
.00 
.85 
.20 
.05 
.80 
.25 
.40 
.50 
.80 
2.36 
.20 
.25 
.25 
.00 
1.00 
1.20 
3.30 
2.70 
3.30 
.40 
.25 
.05 
.85 
1.80 
1.90 
.75 
.25 
.95 
4.10 
1.10 
.00 
.80 
1.15 
1.75 
.80 
.80 
1.00 
3.10 
.90 
.25 
.'.Hi 
1.80 
4.10 
.00 
.90 
1.00 
.25 
.55 
1.80 
.20 
.00 
2.10 
.30 
.85 
.00 
4.10 
.85 
2.10 
.80 
.30 
.90 
2.85 
2.00 
.25 
.30 
.45 
.80 
2.00 
.70 
.00 
.20 
.85 
.25 
.75 
.30 
.00 
1.95 
2.10 
.30 
.30 
.85 
.70 
.05 
1.75 
.40 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER NEW YORK. 
