452 
June 28 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
K National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homu, 
Established 1850. 
Herbert W. Collinqwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, I , 
Mrs. K. T. HOVLE, ( Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to 8s. Gd., or ay* 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 less 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 x-esponsible 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, exprest 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 1902. 
English farmers and gardeners are making use of 
the automobile for carrying produce to market. We 
hear of one big “auto” that carries a load of five tons, 
and easily covers 40 miles a day! Some of our farm¬ 
ers who find their perishable produce ripening faster 
than their horses can haul it away well know what 
that means. English farmers are not usually ahead 
of their American cousins! 
• 
On page 448 a reader asks what will protect the nose 
from dust when working near a thrashing machine. 
Since the blower and wind stacker came into general 
use there has been little trouble from dust. It is now 
blown out of the way or collected. We have found it 
very helpful to smear the insides of the nostrils 
thickly with vaseline. It is remarkable what a relief 
this simple remedy affords. It helps in all dusty 
places and will also often prevent a “cold” in the 
head. 
• 
The stories of the prices obtained for strawberries 
grown at Hilton, N. J., are not newspaper “fakes.” 
The berries really command the market even while 
other fruit is begging for buyers. There must be 
some reason for this. What is it? The Hilton grow¬ 
ers know how to produce fine fruit. They plant va¬ 
rieties just suited to their soil, and they spare no 
pains to take care of the crop. They pick and pack 
as such fruit ought to be handled. We hope to study 
and describe their methods soon—though they will 
not be suited to all. 
* 
Thf. following note hits close to the bull’s eye: 
I take your paper because It gives me new energy to 
read what other farmers are doing each week. An hour 
spent In reading Its columns Is, I know, the best thing 
that I can do; I can go to work then thinking that I am 
not the lowest creature on the globe, as some people think 
an old farmer is. 
Everybody knows what we think about that The 
farm offers the noblest chance for a man to acquire 
true character, dignity and worth. Your true “old 
farmer” should be the very salt of the earth, because 
he is closest to nature. 
• 
The so-called “beet sugar” Senators seem to have 
prevented any present reduction in the tariff levied 
on Cuban sugar. Some of the city papers are abusing 
them severely, yet their attitude seems to be consis¬ 
tent at least. For a good many years this country 
has levied duties on imported goods for the acknowl¬ 
edged purpose of giving artificial aid to American In¬ 
dustries. Manufacturers of many kinds of goods have 
received great help in this way. The direct benefit to 
farmers from such a tariff has been small. It would 
be hard to name a true farm industry of any great 
importance that has been really built up by such pro¬ 
tection. The farmers have contributed for years to 
this National policy; in fact, it has been maintained 
largely by their votes. Now when, perhaps for the 
first time, a tariff on sugar will help build up and 
maintain a new business for the American farmer, 
he is asked to give it up! Others, who have grown 
rich beyond all measure by the little contributions 
which the tariff has taken from the pockets of farm¬ 
ers are very indignant at the position taken by these 
“beet sugar” Senators! We are not now arguing for 
or against the justice of tariff reduction. If the policy 
or theory of protection is sound, surely the farmers 
of the country have a right to their share of its direct 
benefits. For many years the farmer has been given 
to understand that he should be satisfied with such 
indirect benefits as may trickle down to him through 
other industries. The time has come when agriculture 
as the leading American industry should no longer be 
satisfied to sit at this second table. It is more evi¬ 
dent to us every day that the passage of the anti-oleo 
bill meant far more than a victory over a fraudulent 
business. It has shown farmers something of their 
strength when united for a fair and just demand for 
their rights. 
» 
A Wisconsin farmer recently bought a set of light¬ 
ning rods from traveling agents, the equipment in¬ 
cluding a painted rooster which was guaranteed by 
the dealers to turn red six hours before a storm. The 
price agreed upon was $20, but the guaranteed rooster 
did not turn red, even when the farmer’s signed agree¬ 
ment turned up as a note for $300. He finally com¬ 
promised with the holders oi the note for $150, and 
has obtained warrants against the agents with whom 
he made the deal. It does not seem excusable that at 
the present day, anyone should be deceived by such a 
time-worn and aged swindle; the only novelty about 
it is the blushing rooster that did not blush. 
« 
There has been a good deal said lately about the 
right of the farmer to protect his property when 
threatened by wild game. Here is a statement from 
Vermont that is at least suggestive: 
One of our best lawyers owns a farm. The deer de¬ 
stroyed his crops and he instructed his man to shoot any 
deer destroying crops. He did so, and the lawyer sent 
word to the Fish and Game League that there was a 
dead deer on his place, and for them to come and take it 
away. They did so, and that ended it. One should not 
shoot a deer in a pasture or woods, but in cultivated 
ground, and must be able to show crops destroyed. One 
must not touch the deer for food or his hide. The offi¬ 
cers of the Fish and Game League will try to scare one, 
but a legislative enactment cannot overcome the consti¬ 
tutional right of one to protect his own. 
It doesn’t pay to be scared too easily. When some 
big lawyer puts up an argument to show that a farm¬ 
er has no right to defend his own property it is pretty 
safe to put it down as a “bluff”! 
• 
We are often asked by farmers if it is lawful in this 
State for them to dishorn cattle for their neighbors 
or others. Some farmers have bought clippers or 
saws, and could earn a little money by working for 
others. The State Veterinarian makes the following 
statement in reply to our questions: 
No person can dishorn cattle or practice veterinary 
surgery or its branches in this State except a registered 
veterinarian. He must be a graduate from a veterinary 
college and comply with requirements of law governing 
the practice of veterinary medicine. 
We understand that the object of the law is to pre¬ 
vent cruel or improper treatment of live stock. To 
that extent it is well, yet there is a shade of injustice 
in it. Many a careful farmer is as well qualified to 
take the horns off the cattle as the average veterinar¬ 
ian. In fact, we would rather have an experienced 
dairyman dishorn our cows than some of the gradu¬ 
ates in veterinary science we have run across! 
* 
The New York Journal of Commerce sees great in¬ 
justice in the new oleomargarine law as a whole, and 
particularly the recent ruling of the Commissioner 
of Internal Revenue that all oleo colored in imitation 
of butter must pay the 10-cent tax, even though pure 
butter be used as the coloring matter. Under the 
heading of “Oleomargarine Absurdities,” it says: 
The lawmakers have been careful to leave the farmer 
free to use annatto or other harmless coloring matter for 
the purpose of deceiving his customers and making his 
butter appear to be a better article than it really Is. But 
the maker of that form of butter known as oleomargarine 
is not permitted to use this same coloring matter, even 
if he practices no deceit in doing so, except upon pay¬ 
ment of a tax which is practically prohibitive. It ap¬ 
pears now from the Commissioner’s ruling that the oleo¬ 
margarine manufacturer is equally prohibited from using 
as part of his product the very butter which the farmer 
is encouraged to sell for consumption as food. In short, 
butter from the dairy or the farm is “pure food’’ not¬ 
withstanding a liberal admixture of an artificial coloring 
matter, while the use of a small amount of the butter 
containing that coloring matter is sufficient to condemn 
the oleomargarine in which it is found. 
“That form of butter known as oleomargarine” is 
amusing. Why not say: That form of pepper known 
as buckwheat hulls; that form of pure brown sugar 
known as glucose; that form of genuine long-wool 
goods known as shoddy; or that form of coffee known 
as beans or peas? Oleo is not butter, though mixed 
with 10 times its bulk of pure butter. Butter is col¬ 
ored to make it more salable, but it is butter and is 
sold as butter. Cotton cloth and paper are printed 
with various figures because people want calico and 
wall paper; and shoes are no less shoes because they 
are black or tan. But who ever heard of one’s want¬ 
ing to have colored oleo palmed off on him for butter 
at double its value? Any blow that the oleo industry 
has received has been struck by the oleo people them¬ 
selves. They have persisted in taking advantage of 
the yellow cloak to sell their stuff as butter. Every¬ 
one knows this. If they would sell it for what it is 
no one could object to its having all the colors of the 
solar spectrum, with pictures of Uncle Sam and the 
Goddess of Liberty stamped on every package. 
* 
Since the coal famine resulting from the strike New 
York has been forced to burn soft coal extensively, 
and the heavy mantle of smoke overhanging the city 
changes its appearance materially. We have been 
wont to boast of our clear atmosphere, as compared 
with the smoky towns of the Middle West, but that 
source of pride is now denied us, and every citizen 
becomes a smoke consumer. From a scientific point 
of view, this smoke is to be condemned as an evidence 
of waste, as well as a menace to public health and 
comfort. Excess of smoke means imperfect combus¬ 
tion and consequent loss in heat or power. One glass 
manufacturer tells us that a furnace burning eight 
tons of soft coal a day, and permitting free escape of 
smoke, reduced the amount of fuel used to five tons 
a day, when equipped with a smoke-consumiug de¬ 
vice. In spite of the economy, however, manufac¬ 
turers adopt such devices very slowly. 
« 
Just after the oleo ill was passed there was some 
fear among butter-makers that the oleo men would 
be able to get around the law by using butter contain¬ 
ing artificial coloring matter. It will be remembered 
that J. W. Wadsworth, the New York Congressman, 
tried to saddle the bill with an amendment providing 
that “colored butter shall not be construed as colora¬ 
tion.” Had this become law, the oleo people could 
have taken red butter and used it to color their mix¬ 
ture—thus evading the 10-cent tax. The Treasury 
Department has settled the matter definitely in the 
following statement: 
For example, if butter that has been artificially colored 
is used as a component part of the finished product oleo¬ 
margarine (and that finished product looks like butter of 
any shade of yellow), as the oleomargarine is not free 
from artificial coloration, the tax of lu cents per pound 
will be assessed and collected. 
That seems to settle it so far as colored butter is 
concerned, and we think honest people will agree that 
it is fair to all. 
« 
On page 448 J. H. Hale’s illustration of the drinking 
man who keeps on doing good work six days a week 
does not seem to us as clear as Hale’s points usually 
are. The neglect of the “fence-corner” peach tree is 
not at all like the over-stimulation of the man. If a 
tree is at all like a man, it is quite possible to kill it 
or shorten its life by kindness! We do not agree with 
the theory that no good will be served by trying to 
learn why the “fence-corner” tree is hardy. Can any 
one claim that his own way must be best for all soils 
and conditions? The practices which seem best for 
us to-day were once regarded as rank nonsense by the 
great majority of working farmers. The improve¬ 
ment was in most cases suggested in the first place by 
some observation of the way in which Nature does 
her work. No man has ever originated a new method 
of culture. He has only assisted Nature to carry out 
some definite plan. Where are we to hope for im¬ 
provement except in studying the causes which un¬ 
derlie some of Nature’s most pronounced effects? 
May not a peach king learn from a “fence-corner 
tree? 
* 
BREVITIES. 
Does Alfalfa demand a better soil than Red clover? 
Can you tell what it costs to produce a quart of milk? 
We want all possible information about feeding fish 
waste to hogs. 
Now, gentlemen, remember that you can’t teach natural 
science with unnatural words. 
Some men have a word as strong as their bond—others 
have a bond no stronger than their word. 
The hay crop will be short. In some localities where 
rain is abundant the meadows were dried out last year. 
A carload of steel’s averaging about 1,300 pounds was 
recently sold at Kansas City, Mo., for $7.80 per 100. This 
is said to be the highest price ever paid for beef cattle 
In that market. 
The London Lancet accuses milkmen of coloring milk 
with dymethylaniline azobenzenesulphonic acid, to give 
it richness of color. Would it be possible for any bac¬ 
terial germs to survive treatment by such a verbal sky¬ 
scraper? 
An Orange Co., N. Y., hired man was accused of steal¬ 
ing a gold necklace which a young woman lost while 
riding a load of hay. He was discharged. Later a cow 
on the farm was killed and the necklace found in her 
stomach! 
Cement, lime and similar alkaline substances are like 
ly to make the hands very sore before one realizes what 
tha trouble is. A convenient way to avoid this is to have 
neax-by a pail with a little sour milk In which to put the 
hands a half a dozen times a day. With this precaution 
we have been able to handle large quantities of concrete 
used in making a grout wall, and keep the hands in so 
good condition that milking was no hardship. 
