56 
January 25 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BTJS1NESS FARMER'S PARER. 
K National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1800. 
Herbert W. Colling tvooi>. Editor. 
I)K. WALTER VAN FLEET, l AsBO( ,|. ta , 
Mrs. E. T. Boyle, £ Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $11.04, 
equal to Ss. Gd., or marks, or 10y 2 francs. 
“ A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is 
backed by a responsible person. But to make doubly 
sure we will make good any loss to paid subscribers 
sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler advertising 
in our columns, and any such swindler will be publicly 
exposed. We protect subscribers against rogues, but we 
do not guarantee to adjust trilling differences between 
subscribers and honest responsible advertisers. Neither 
will we be responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts 
sanctioned by the courts. Notice of the complaint must 
be sent us within one month of the time of the trans¬ 
action, and you must have mentioned The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
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, JANUARY 25, 1902. 
The Milk Exchange actually reduced the price of 
milk one-fourth cent a quart at their meeting last 
week. This action was a surprise even to many deal¬ 
ers. In view of the price of feed and the supply of 
milk, this seems to he the biggest piece of hogging 
the Milk Exchange has ever practiced, and that is say¬ 
ing a good deal. 
We are receiving some excellent reports of ex¬ 
perience with commission men. They come from all 
over, and show the proportion of the selling price 
which must go to those who merely handle the fruit. 
Readers will be astonished to see how large this pro¬ 
portion is in some cases. We intend to dig into this 
thing as deep as the pick will go. 
• 
Our reports show that canning factories are having 
trouble in securing contracts from growers this year. 
Tomato growers especially want more money than 
the canners seem ready to pay. It seems to us that 
the prices for canned goods fully justify a liberal in¬ 
crease in price. The grower should not be exorbitant 
in his demands, but he has a right to live, and should 
have his share of what the consumer pays for the 
goods! 
* 
On page 35 is mentioned a mule that knew enough 
to balance his own ration. Those who use mules are 
often surprised at the intelligence they show, par¬ 
ticularly in handling heavy loads down hill. While 
horses must be handled carefully to prevent the load 
from getting the best of them, many mules appear 
to know how to hold back just enough to control the 
load, and can be driven down steep hills with a 
loose rein. 
* 
The farmers of Niagara Co., N. Y., are not satis¬ 
fied to organize one of the best county farmers’ clubs 
in the country. Now they are organizing clubs in 
each township. Several have already been formed. 
These local clubs, composed of neighbors and friends, 
can be made very useful. They will strengthen the 
influence of the large county club, and carry the work 
down closer to the people. From every point of view 
this club organization is a grand thing. Every other 
county should follow 'Niagara and then organize a 
State association. 
* 
The present President will not own a horse with a 
docked tail, considering this a brutal and senseless 
practice, but the Government still continues the cus¬ 
tom of branding all horses accepted as its property, 
though the animals must suffer agony when the hot 
iron is applied to the flesh. We are so accustomed 
to the branded horses of the western plains that we 
take the pain inflicted as a matter of course, like the 
miseries of cold and starvation among range cattle. 
Some, if not all, of the foreign governments brand 
their army horses upon the hoof, giving a lasting 
mark at the cost of little pain. Why do we not do 
the same? 
* 
An English farmer was annoyed by pigeons which 
belonged to his neighbor feeding on his land. He 
made complaint and notified the owner in writing 
that if the pigeons continued to trespass he would 
shoot them. He shot one, worth about 60 cents, and 
was arrested for so doing. The lower court convicted 
him, but he appealed to a higher, and won his case. 
The judge said that the farmer had a right to pro¬ 
tect his crops, and after fair warning killing the birds 
was not a criminal offence. In a civil case the liabil¬ 
ity will be limited to the value of the pigeon or hen, 
and the farmer can bring a counter suit to recover 
damages for property destroyed. 
* 
The story of that class in “Farm Practice” at the 
Rhode Island College shows how men are turning to 
the farm. We And that a fair proportion of the stu¬ 
dents in these short courses come from town and city. 
The father or grandfather of these boys came from 
the farm, and the old farm instinct or love for coun¬ 
try life crops out in the younger generation. These 
boys hope some day to go to the country, buy cheap 
land, improve it and thus develop both home and a 
fair investment. We 'believe it is a helpful thing for 
agriculture that this change from town to country 
should be helped along. 
* 
A telephone system over the Alps has just been 
completed. This is justly regarded as a great feat 
of engineering and electrical skill. France and Italy 
may now talk across the snow and ice. A century ago 
Napoleon marched his army over mese icy slopes and, 
long before him, Hannibal showed the way. The tele¬ 
phone represents one of the agencies that bring the 
people of the world closer together. This closer con¬ 
tact can only show Frenchman, German, Italian, Rus¬ 
sian, Spaniard and Englishman that common people 
everywhere have needs and desires in common. They 
will learn that war is the worst thing to further these 
common interests. True progress means peace. 
* 
The R. N.-Y. heartily favors the efforts being made 
to provide better school facilities for rural districts. 
Every farmer knows how his school taxes often out¬ 
weigh any two other items. His children are often 
denied the opportunities for education which are 
placed within reach of the children of town people 
who pay nothing but a poll or dog tax. As between 
the rural school and the town high school we believe 
the former is far more useful and necessary; yet the 
high school is petted and fostered, often at the ex¬ 
pense of the others. It is high time that this matter 
was stirred up. We are glad that Governor Odell has 
called attention to the unfair distribution of school 
money. Keep up the demand for better rural schools. 
• 
When cornered in an argument, most people 
change the subject if possible, and that is what the 
oleo men are continually trying to do. They cannot 
deny that their stuff is sold for butter at a great 
profit. At a recent hearing in Washington a chemist 
testified that oleo is a healthful product, and on ac¬ 
count of the heat used in the process of manufacture, 
dangerous germs are less likely to be found in it 
than in butter. Even tnough this were true, there 
is no reason why oleo should be sold for butter. A 
counterfeit bill may be well printed on good paper, 
yet few will take it in preference to the genuine ar¬ 
ticle. There can be no logical objection to people 
buttering their bread with grease if they wish to; 
but when one man sells another grease at double its 
value, and calls it butter, he is trespassing on that 
man’s rights in a way that ought not to be tolerated. 
The one question is, shall the oleo men be allowed 
to sell their stuff for butter? If so then the way is 
open to clear sailing for all other frauds. 
* 
Several years ago Congress appropriated a con¬ 
siderable sum of money to be expended by the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture in rain-making experiments, 
chiefly to induce precipitation during droughts by 
concussion from explosives set off on the ground and 
in balloons. The experiments, while partially suc¬ 
cessful, were greeted with such derision by the city 
papers that they were not renewed. While not yet a 
success in producing rainfall in arid districts, the 
principle of concussion has been most usefully ap¬ 
plied in Switzerland, as well as northern Italy and 
Hungary in breaking up hailstorms, which are nor¬ 
mally very destructive in central Europe. There are 
now over 10,000 shooting stations, from which the 
approaching storm clouds are cannonaded. The 
shooting stations consist of small houses containing 
a small mortar or short cannon with a bore less than 
two inches in diameter, pointing to the zenith. A 
conical funnel from eight to 12 feet long extends 
from the mortar through the roof, and conducts the 
charge to the atmosphere outside. Fifty charges are 
stored in a room adjoining the gun, and when the 
signal is given they are fired at the rate of one per 
minute while they last, or until the danger is over. 
The stations are from 1,200 to 1,800 feet apart and 
there is usually a larger gun in each district in the 
charge of an experienced person who is competent to 
predict the storm and give the signal for a general 
bombardment along its probable track. When a shot 
is fired a ring of smoke and vapor rises from the 
funnel, gradually increasing until it reaches nine to 
12 feet in diameter, and the effect is greatly to dis¬ 
turb the natural and dangerous formation of the 
clouds. So effective has this practice become that cer¬ 
tain districts formerly devastated each season have 
not suffered from hail at all for the last five years, 
the whole period the guns have been used. It is 
claimed that the cost of bombarding away the hail¬ 
storms is scarcely one-tenth the cost of the previous 
hail insurance. Hailstorms are scarcely as numerous 
or destructive in most parts of this country, but the 
annual loss to crops and glass structures is yet very 
large. It is evident we have here a legitimate use 
for a portion of our abounding Treasury surplus in 
protecting the area already in cultivation rather than 
in expending great amounts on schemes for desert 
irrigation. The above facts are taken from a Swiss 
government report, and may be regarded as genuine. 
* 
Another nail has been driven into the coffin of 
the oleo fraud. The pure food laws of the State of 
Ohio prohibit the sale of colored oleo. They also 
prohibit the sale of imitation butter except under its 
true name. 'Suit was brought against the Capitol 
City Dairy Company, which was charged with vio¬ 
lating these food laws. Proof was offered that this 
company used coloring matter, and that it violated 
the laws, in other ways. The company claimed that 
the oleo laws were unconstitutional, and that they 
“interfered with the natural right to conduct a legi¬ 
timate business.” The Ohio Supreme Court decided 
against the company, and now the United States Su¬ 
preme Court has upheld this decision. This wili 
greatly help the cause of honest butter. One so- 
called argument of the oleo men has been the asser¬ 
tion that the Tawney bill is, intended to ruin a legi¬ 
timate industry. The answer to this is that the col¬ 
oring of oleo so that it will resemble butter is not 
a legitimate business and this decision of the Su¬ 
preme Court fully sustains this answer. 
* 
Tile New York State Fruit Growers Association 
made a remarkable growth during the first year of 
its life. It is now the most vigorous organization of 
its kind east of the Mississippi River. There are 
great business opportunities before it provided its 
affairs are conducted wisely. In order to be of any 
real use to the average fruit grower it must fairly 
represent the great body of farmers. Once let the 
people get the idea that it is to be a cut-and-dried 
political machine and its usefulness is ended. We 
were sorry to see the society at its last meeting get 
back into the old political rut of nominating its offi¬ 
cers through a “committee.” We have no fault to 
find with the men who were selected—they are as 
good men as could be found in the State. We know 
also that this committee nomination hurries 'business 
and often ensures good officials. It is, however, a 
favorite game of politicians, and is often used to over¬ 
ride the will of the majority. We oppose it in a co¬ 
operative society like the Fruit Growers, where suc¬ 
cess will be impossible without confidence—and fair 
dealing. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
The hen is no fool. 
The unhappy are the idle. 
Give your nerves a good rest. 
Can a nurseryman make a “novelty” root in colored 
ink? 
Where does the introducer’s best specimen always 
grow? At home! 
Wonderful how farmers everywhere are using cement 
in place of lumber. 
The children regard a farm without fruit as a finger¬ 
board pointing to the city! 
There Is a whole volume of practical information un¬ 
der Ruralisms this week. 
Certainly, there are points in this great country 
where the Canada field pea beats the cow pea! 
That mule mention by Mr. Black on page 35 ought to 
be able to give an opinion on the bran question. 
How can I well serve my country? By teaching my 
family to eat apples and realize that a high-flavored 
Baldwin is better than any orange! 
Thus far we have received more criticism than praise 
of the plan of carrying children to the centralized school. 
Is this because human nature is more inclined to find 
fault than to praise? 
Nebraska is considering the repeal of the wolf bounty 
law. Wolf scalps are worth $1 from the State and an 
additional $3 from the county, and thrifty settlers have 
embarked upon a flourishing infant industry by raising 
wolves to supply these $4 scalps. 
A traveling lecturer upon liquid air claimed this was 
a panacea for all blood diseases. A South Dakota man 
permitted him to freeze a boil upon his wrist with liquid 
air, gangrene set in, and the patient barely recovered 
with his life. It is not wise to experiment too recklessly 
with the wonders of modern science. 
