34o 
May lo 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Hr. Walter Van Fleet, I . „ , . 
Mrs. K. T. Boyle, ^ Associates. 
John J. Hii.lon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to Ss. tld., or 8% marks, or 10% 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, MA/ 10, 1902. 
It looks like a big crop of apples this year. In that 
case there is all the more reason why such organiza¬ 
tions as the New York Fruit Growers’ Association 
should be strengthened. Anybody can sell apples 
when there are few to sell. The job is to sell them 
when they are plentiful. The Fruit Growers can help 
farmers this year by finding new markets and keeping 
the poor fruit at home. 
* 
One of our readers in Auckland, New Zealand 
(page 341), wants a disease that will kill off his black¬ 
berries! Most growers in this country grieve because 
disease ruins their crop, but here is a man who is 
likely to he ruined by healthy plants. The stronger 
they are the worse off he is. There are certainly 
strange doings on the other side of the world! Will 
some of our wise men pause in their battle for the 
weak to put up a fight for the strong? 
* 
Every now and then some smart man arises to say: 
“Why do you keep talking about these rogues and 
frauds? Their games are too thin. Anybody with 
sense can see through them. They are harmless!” 
Harmless, are they? Take that seed company from 
Buffalo as a sample. Two smart rogues, representing 
it, went into Greene Co., N. Y., and actually induced 
farmers to subscribe for $10,000 worth of stock in a 
scheme that is as wild as the far-famed “man of 
Borneo.” Some of the agricultural papers were ad¬ 
vertising this concern at the time. The R. N.-Y. 
learned what was going on and exposed the scheme. 
The result was that the farmers combined, hired a 
good lawyer, and notified the concern that they would 
withdraw. We are informed that had it not been for 
our warning notes the rogues would have bagged 
their plunder! These farmers did not even subscribe 
to The R. N.-Y., though they received full benefit 
from its work. We claim that when a rogue victim¬ 
izes any part of the farmers in a community he in¬ 
jures all. His dark deeds should be sprayed with 
daylight. 
* 
In a bulletin issued for stockmen and farmers it is 
stated that: “The Sarcoptes dig subepidermic gal¬ 
leries and live on the plasma cells of the malpighian 
layer. They multiply in these galleries and occasion 
a very intense dermatitis.” It is a relief to learn 
from the context that the above is not a tragedy in 
disguise, but merely a description of the work of an 
insect causing a species of itch. We do not wish to 
criticise the use of scientific language. What is it for 
if not to use? Surely anyone who can toss words of 
this caliber about like toy rubber balls has reason for 
self congratulation. But why permit makers of books 
or bulletins to have a monopoly of this business of 
keeping the alphabet from getting rusty? The farm¬ 
er, instead of saying to his hired man: “John, yoke 
the oxen and plow in the potato field until noon; then 
give them a good feed, and come right in to dinner,” 
might hold forth something like this: “John, depart 
from this domicile; adjust the emblem of servitude 
on the necks of those bovine quadrupeds; proceed to 
that portion of the terrestrial periphery which we 
have selected for the production of the esculent fari¬ 
naceous Solanum tuberosum; and manipulate the 
typical implement of agricultural science until the 
period of duration marked by the solar meridian. 
Then return; give the bovines a bountiful supply of 
pabulum, and without procrastination reenter this 
habitation and partake of your prandial sustenance.” 
What’s new about the fountain pen scheme? Well, 
the Government has held up the mails of all the con¬ 
cerns that were pushing the “endless chain” letter¬ 
writing game. It is said that an old postal rule used 
formerly to control the Louisiana State Lottery has 
been put to use in this case. Anyway, the game 
seems to be at an end, and we are glad of it. We 
warned our readers early, and those who kept on 
writing the letters and who now will lose their 
“wages” deserve no sympathy. We regret that so 
many people consider only the financial side of such 
a thing—the few dollars they will lose or gain. The 
worst feature of any such business is moral damage, 
which is done when people are satisfied to give their 
full written endorsement of a thing without knowing 
just what it is. We warn our readers again that the 
same game will be played with the attempted sale 
of “headache powders!” 
* 
An Illinois farmer was recently approached by a 
bill poster, who offered him some circus tickets in 
exchange for the privilege of posting bills on his 
barn. The farmer refused the offer, but during the 
night the baffled bill man returned, and covered the 
barn with a weird combination of pictures, wherein 
the attractions of the circus disported themselves 
riotously. Such proceedings have been known before, 
but in this case the owner of the barn demands dam¬ 
ages, and threatens legal proceedings if his demand 
is not complied with. The use of farm buildings for 
display advertising used to be quite common, but 
modern farmers do not take kindly to this disfigure¬ 
ment of their property, and they resent such trespass 
very strongly. The only advertising displayed on 
farm property should be that of the owner. If it pays 
a circus man to announce his show on the side of the 
barn, it should also pay the owner to give his name 
and class of products on a neat sign, if he is pre¬ 
pared to furnish fruit, vegetables, poultry or dairy 
products he wants people to know it. 
* 
The last Congress, after a hard struggle, passed a 
law prohibiting the “Army canteen” or military rum- 
shop. There were many Congressmen who did not 
want to vote for this bill, but they dared not vote 
against it. Why? Because thousands of petitions 
and letters poured in upon them from earnest men 
and women who demanded their support. There was 
a popular uprising, chiefly among country people— 
and that settled it! When the present Congress met 
there was a good deal of loud talk about the repeal 
of this anti-canteen law. We hear nothing of it now. 
and the law will stand. Why? Because Congress¬ 
men realize that those who demanded it are steadfast 
and earnest. To meddle with it now would be like 
stirring up a political hornet’s nest. There are those 
who bemoan such a situation, and regret that Con¬ 
gress can be forced by popular feeling to pass such a 
measure. We do not feel that way about it. It seems 
to us one of the most hopeful signs of the times when 
the plain common people, with honest and sincere 
motives, can force the politicians to do their bidding! 
This is all the more gratifying when some moral 
principle is involved. 
* 
When one article may be exchanged for another it 
is said to have value. It is called wealth. There are 
three elements in the creation of wealth—natural 
gifts, labor and capital. Coal in the mine is Nature’s 
gift, taking it out of the earth is labor, the food and 
tools used by the workmen capital. The capitalist 
and laborer are sometimes identical. What the farm¬ 
er saves for future production is capital. Planting, 
which he does with his own hands, is labor. He is 
an example of a perfect combination of labor and 
capital. If he has full access to Nature’s gifts, his 
opportunities are ideal. In most modern enterprises 
capital and labor are represented by separate indi¬ 
viduals or combinations of individuals. Neither of 
them separately nor all of them combined can pro¬ 
duce wealth without the free gifts of Nature. Coal 
was placed in the earth by a wise Providence for man’s 
use and comfort. This was not a gift to the rich or 
the poor; the high or the lowly; to the laborer or the 
capitalist; to any class, but to all mankind. If it 
were now as it was originally, accessible to all, there 
could be no “coal barons”—each person could help 
himself. If a number of men decided to devote their 
whole time to removing it to the surface of the earth 
they could readily exchange it for other forms of 
wealth created by other men who were devoting their 
whole time to other industries. Why is this not 
done? Simply because men have abused the bounti¬ 
ful gifts of Nature. They have allowed a few individ¬ 
uals to appropriate to themselves exclusively the 
right to handle these natural products that were in¬ 
tended for all the people. They have not only robbed 
the laborer of his rightful share of Nature’s gifts, but 
they have forbidden him to touch it except at their 
pleasure. At present this is permitted with the passive 
consent of the laborer, and the thousands of people 
who burn coal and pay tribute to the “coal barons.” 
It is permitted like other wrongs of the same nature, 
because it is part of a system built up under the form 
of law. We are prone to do reverence to men because 
they have appropriated these natural gifts and be¬ 
come rich at the expense of those who are denied 
access to them. The light and heat from the sun are 
Nature’s free gifts to man, reserved to him in most 
places—not in all—because no way has been found to 
monopolize them. Suppose this light and heat could 
be controlled and parceled out to a few individuals, 
would not such favored people become immensely 
rich? We may see later how these abused privileges 
particularly affect the farmer. 
* 
A brief statement of the insurance business to be 
done by the Massachusetts State Grange is found on 
page 334. As many farmers know, it is getting harder 
than ever to obtain safe insurance on farm property. 
While a farmhouse with a good water supply is really 
a safer risk than many houses in the little towns, 
there seems to be a general desire on the part of the 
larger companies to withdraw from all such risks. 
That being the case there is nothing left for the farm¬ 
ers but to form mutual companies. There are a num¬ 
ber of such organizations which have thus far proven 
safe and reliable. In Massachusetts the State Grange 
found an old and responsible company that was will¬ 
ing to retire. The Grange stepped in and assumed 
its responsibilities, and is now able to offer its patrons 
safe insurance. It was not to be expected that the 
old policies would be given up at once, but as they 
mature, new policies in the Grange company will be 
substituted for them. The chances are that a strong 
organization like the Grange can do this work better 
than a company formed for no other object than in¬ 
surance. It seems to us legitimate and helpful work 
for the Grange to do. 
* 
The anti-oleo bill has now gone to the President. 
It is expected that he will promptly sign it, and thus 
end a long and bitter contest. The oleo men are 
making a desperate struggle to induce city people to 
ask the President not to sign, but he well knows that 
no man can climb the White House steps after smear¬ 
ing them with oleo. The pen with which he signs it 
may well be presented to Mr. Charles Y. Knight. 
Some people are troubling themselves quite a little 
over this proposition: 
An interesting question will arise tinder the bill which 
will have to be determined by the Internal Revenue 
Commissioner. Only artificially colored oleomargarine is 
subjected to the high tax of 10 cents per pound. If col¬ 
ored with butter it will only pay a tax of a quarter cent. 
If June butter is used to color the oleomargarine it will 
generally be of sufficiently high color to enable the oleo¬ 
margarine with which it is mixed to pass as butter. But 
if butter which has itself been colored artificially is used 
to color the oleomargarine, there will be a delicate prob¬ 
lem for the officers of the Government to decide. 
We feel confident that the able lawyers who cham¬ 
pioned this bill in both Senate and House knew what 
they were doing. The law will prohibit the use of 
artificial coloring matter, and it should make no dif¬ 
ference whether it comes from a bottle or in a lump 
of butter! 
♦ 
BREVITIES. 
Shun both moth trap and mouth trap. 
Advice to J. W. Wadsworth’s constituents—hoop, not 
“whoop” him up! 
Mr. Mapes's story of a day’s work with the hens will 
be finished next week. 
Beware of the man who knows “just what you want” 
and is ready to give positive advice. 
It seems good evidence of a beef trust when a man 
invests in a beef bull at the head of a dairy herd. 
Geared windmills for turning machinery seem to be 
going out of use—standing aside for gasoline engines. 
Will the Long Island man who reported experience 
witJi corn from the Philippine Islands send us his ad¬ 
dress? 
Prof. Lindsley ranks the Soy bean above the cow 
pea for New England. For lighter soils, at least, we 
prefer the cow pea. 
We do not advise sowing cow peas in the corn at the 
North. It is a good practice for the South, where the 
seasons are longer and the corn matures earlier. 
We begin this week a series of articles on farming in 
the Red River Valley. They do business on a large scale 
out there—no stone walls bounding a three-acre field! 
We may copy or imitate some of their methods! 
Our tariff imposes a duty on imported waters, but ad¬ 
mits ice free. A Canadian firm, which found the tariff 
on table waters prohibitive, is said to be freezing its pro¬ 
duct and thus shipping it in without paying duty. 
Chicago is estimated to eat 300,000 ham sandwiches a 
day, and the price has just been marked up from five to 
10 cents, in consequence of the advance in the price of 
meat. Hot roast beef sandwiches have advanced from 
10 to 15 cents. New York quick-lunch restaurants show 
a similar advance in beef prices. 
