T 54 
March 1 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home*. 
Established 1800 . 
Herbert W. Colling wood, Editor. 
IIR. WALTER Van Fleet, I . , ^ 
Mrs. E. T. Hoyle, £ Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to tss. 6cL, or uy 2 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 trifling 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, MARCH 1, 1902. 
A wonderful machine for making fruit baskets is 
now being exhibited in various parts of the country. 
It works with almost human ingenuity, and with 
greater accuracy than many human fingers. It gives 
about as good an imitation of the work of real flesh, 
blood and nerve as the famous type-setting machine, 
both being perfected by the same inventor. There 
seems no good reason why this basket-making ma¬ 
chine should not stand the full test of practical opera¬ 
tion. If it does it will surely benefit fruit growers by 
supplying cheaper packages. 
• 
Among other records lost in the Paterson, N. J., 
fire were those showing the location of city drains 
and sewers. This is a severe loss, because no one 
can remember just where these underground pipes 
are located. In making repairs or laying new pipes 
it will be necessary to dig largely at random, and 
do much useless work. There are many farms with 
underdrains of stone or tile which have never been 
mapped. The owner does not know where his drains 
are, and repair or addition to them means double the 
work that would be needed if they could be exactly 
located. Map the drains. 
• 
Yes, it is quite amusing to see some of the wise 
men coming forth with mouths full of words in praise 
of cow peas! For years they sneered at the few 
‘‘cow-pea cranks,” and predicted all sorts of failure 
and trouble. Now they find that thousands have 
ignored their predictions, tried the cow pea, and 
found it a sure help on light soils. With a wisdom 
which commands admiration, these critics forget all 
they said, and become ardent cow-pea advocates. 
This must be both amusing and gratifying to Prof. 
W. F. Massey, who may justly be called the pioneer 
in advocating cow peas for the North. 
• 
The past year was an unusually disastrous one for 
insurance men. At a recent meeting held in this city, 
in which most of the large companies east of the 
Rocky Mountains were represented, it was agreed to 
make an advance of 25 per cent and upwards on haz¬ 
ardous risks, such as frame store buildings, and mer¬ 
cantile stocks in buildings partly occupied as dwel¬ 
lings. During 1901, 25 insurance companies went out 
of business or withdrew from large sections. One 
after another the large insurance companies are re¬ 
fusing to take risks on farm property. This will 
drive farmers more and more into cooperative com¬ 
panies, which are proving safe and popular. 
* 
The brief account given last week of some of the 
features of the dreaded but all too common disease 
pneumonia will doubtless be helpful to many readers. 
It is a malady to be avoided if possible to do so by 
the exercise of reasonable caution. Do not loiter in 
drafts or chilly winds when moist with perspiration 
or thinly clothed, and, in fact, keep out of cold air 
currents when possible unless engaged in active ex¬ 
ercise. Clothe yourself comfortably, but avoid over¬ 
weighting the body with such heavy underclothing 
as may feel uncomfortable in moderate warmth. 
Better add the extra covering when going out in the 
cold, and remove it at once on entering a warm room. 
Avoid all stimulants, especially alcoholic beverages in 
any form, as they are particularly treacherous in cold 
or changeable weather. Pneumonia is most fatal to 
those addicted to alcohol. Keep your feet dry, and 
above all breathe through the nose when outdoors in 
chilly weather. There is a wonderful provision in the 
nasal passages for warming external air on its pas¬ 
sage to the lungs, and for arresting minute disease 
germs of all kinds. If vigorous germs do not get into 
the lungs when the circulation is locally depressed 
there will be no pneumonia. 
* 
We must raise more of our food at home and pay 
out less cash! That applies not to all, but to many 
farmers. It has come to be a habit to patronize the 
butcher, grocer and baker, until a good share of the 
food on some farms is grown, baked or canned else¬ 
where. Cash is hard to earn at present prices of farm 
produce, and when we pay it out in this way we are 
forced to pay big profits to the handlers. We are 
sometimes told that it costs more in the end to grow 
food on the farm, but that Is not always so, because 
the extra labor has no such cash value as the money 
we pay out of our pocket. With many of us the time 
has come when we must reduce cash expenses as 
far as possible, and utilize farm labor, and, if pos¬ 
sible, unsalable products, in providing food to eat and 
sell. Some of us are trying to do special-crop farm¬ 
ing on farms that ought to be used for a great va¬ 
riety of crops. 
* 
One of our readers says he has been in the market 
gardening business for nearly 20 years, and shipping 
produce to commission men. He has lost a lot of 
money. Among other things, he says: 
One firm sent a steel engraved billhead; looked like a 
responsible firm, but when I drew on them for ship¬ 
ment made to them there was no such firm in your 
city. 
We cannot understand how a man with this long 
experience could be caught by this old game. There 
are commission men here who have been in the busi¬ 
ness for years, and have property and credit, yet this 
gardener passed them all, and shipped to a stranger, 
who has nothing but “a steel-engraved billhead!” 
This firm probably offered more than the usual mar¬ 
ket rates, which is an old game, exploded a dozen 
times by The R. N.-Y. 
* 
Every year we receive many letters from people 
who have been defrauded by commission rogues. Most 
of the complaints are of failure to make returns for 
small shipments. The amount is hardly large enough 
to pay a man to come here and collect it, and so the 
commission man holds back and fails to settle. Peo¬ 
ple sometimes ask whether there is not a society 
which makes a business of collecting such small 
debts. No, but there ought to be, and it should be 
conducted by the farmers themselves. This would 
be good work for the New York State Fruit Growers’ 
Association. They could have an agent who under¬ 
stands the trade and is capable of giving advice about 
shipments. Let him give warning about the rogues 
and get after the delinquents! This would be legiti¬ 
mate and helpful business for the Association. Why 
not give this a trial? 
* 
Take the average ‘‘resolution” passed by a meet¬ 
ing of farmers or others called together for a short 
session! What does it usually amount to as an ex¬ 
pression of opinion? Very little! As a rule a few 
shrewd, interested men, with strong opinions, get to¬ 
gether in committee and endorse or reject such reso¬ 
lutions as are offered. Time is short, anyway, and 
the members of the convention accept the opinion of 
the commiittee and vote “aye,” often not fully under¬ 
standing what it is that they thus endorse. Once in 
a while some obstinate man makes a fight on the 
floor against a “resolution,” and if he has the facts 
in hand and can explain them, he usually wins. “1 
could get up a resolution in polite and roundabout 
language to hang a man, have it endorsed by a com¬ 
mittee, and actually get votes for it,” said one speaker 
at a recent meeting—and he was pretty nearly right. 
The average “resolution” usually means only the 
opinion of a few interested parties, while it is often 
used as though it expressed the convictions of a 
large class. 
We give space to anotner article expressing the 
western view of National irrigation. We are perfectly 
ready to give all sides a hearing. It must be quite 
evident to our western friends that if they expect to 
people the arid lands rapidly and thickly, it will be 
done at the expense of some other section. If these 
people go from the East or Central West, will not 
that change mean a loss of property and value to 
these sections? Will it not mean a loss to the South 
through a loss in immigration? The western peo¬ 
ple have rights which all Americans are bound to 
respect. If, as our friend says on the next page, it 
were simply a question of providing an immense 
sanitarium for afflicted people, there would be noth¬ 
ing more to say, but this does not tally with the 
dreams of wealth and power indulged in by those 
who picture the future of arid America. Unquestion¬ 
ably the future watering of these dry plains is in¬ 
evitable, but it must be done gradually and conserva¬ 
tively, so as not to disturb the property and rights 
of those who occupy farms that have fed six or more 
generations. Surely farms that have been over a cen¬ 
tury in cultivation have stronger claims upon society 
than mere raw lands! 
* 
More than 25 years ago Bret Harte wrote the fol¬ 
lowing jingle: 
Said William Henry Seward, 
As he cast his eye to leeward, 
“Most important to our commerce 
Is the Island of St. Thomas.” 
This is recalled by the fact that the Senate has just 
ratified the treaty with Denmark, which enables us 
to buy St. Thomas. Seward was a keen, far-sighted 
statesman, who lived in advance of his age. During 
his life Americans were not ready for “expansion,” 
and thus he failed in his efforts to purchase the 
island. At that time there was a long and heated 
debate over the proposition to plant the American 
flag across the water. Now, the purchase of an island 
or two is so small a matter that few seem to care 
where St. Thomas is. We refer to this to show how 
completely expressed American sentiment has 
changed during the past quarter of a century. We 
say “expressed” sentiment, for as we go about among 
tne common working people we become more and 
more convinced that at heart they do not hold the 
opinions which are so loudly expressed by the poli¬ 
ticians and so-called “leaders.” 
• 
An Ohio reader lays down his version of the law 
as follows: 
Agricultural papers, I understand, are primarily a 
business investment—secondly, are they not for the bene¬ 
fit of subscribers? 
We do not pretend to answer for any paper but. 
The R. N.-Y., but we think our friend has it about 
right. Our experience is that the more we try to 
benefit subscribers the better the business investment 
becomes. We think it a fair proposition that the 
paper which derives most of its support from sub¬ 
scribers is likely to be more reliable than the one 
which cuts down its subscription price below cost, 
and thus lives on its advertisers! We frequently re¬ 
ceive letters like the following: 
I have for a number of years read The R. N.-Y. with 
interest and pleasure, but when a paper devotes whole 
pages to answer a query for one's benefit, it simply shows 
the great interest our editor has in his subscribers, and 
we rarely realize the great gain we receive from such 
sources. You have given me the desired information that 
I needed; information I had been trying to get by writ¬ 
ing to all I knew, but not receiving it. 
This question was about a mattter that we knew 
would interest hundreds of farmers, so we called for 
information. From all sides there came a flood of 
practical experience, far better, in our judgment, than 
any purely scientific opinion. Of course, such things 
help both readers and paper, and they are possible 
only when the editor’s first thought is for his sub¬ 
scribers. We have never believed in holding read¬ 
ers off at arm’s length. In many things we would 
rather learn of them than try to teach them. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
Help the busy bee. 
Mr. Mapes talks hen on page 142. 
Mr. Busy Bee uses a fine tooth on his comb. 
Plan to work the home market hard this year. 
The best use for will power is to manufacture won't 
power. 
What per cent of your grist will your miller’s con¬ 
science absorb? 
Under the ice—under the snow—the wheat’s all right, 
the rye will grow. 
Don’t spend too much time envying the boss—he has 
troubles of his own. 
No, young man, no one ever permanently cured the 
blight on a crop of “wild oats.” 
Now, boys, there’s a suggestion for you under “Rural- 
isms”—start celery in the cellar. 
Shake many a so-called expert and you’ll find hid up 
his sleeve a great big ax to grind. 
It’s hard to get an opinion of a new fruit without 
running up against a nurseryman’s label! 
Brick and stone are good conductors for natural feel- 
ing—they conduct it all out of the child brought up in 
the city. 
Only a few years ago nearly all coarse articles sold 
at grocery stores were wrapped in brown straw paper. 
This paper making was a valuable industry to farmers 
in sections where rye and oats grow well. One county 
of New York State had 25 or 30 paper mills, and as 
high as $20 per ton was sometimes paid for good rye 
straw. Now paper bags made of wood pulp have to a 
large extent taken the place of straw paper for these 
purposes. The daily output of paper bags is said to be 
about 21,000,000, and large tracts of woodland are being 
purchased by these wood-pulp companies. 
