484 
July 12 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE li Util NESS FARMER'S PAPER . 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1800 . 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, l . , . 
Mrs. E. T. Ho vlk, f 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 8Y 2 marks, or 10y 2 francs. 
“A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is 
backed by a responsible person. Hut 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, JULY 12, 1902. 
The robes made from the hides of black Scotch cat¬ 
tle are very fine. Possibly these cattle will help an 
enterprising man make one of those abandoned New 
England farms pay. They are hardy and active, and 
will pretty nearly take care of themselves. There are 
not enough humans with Scotch blood to go around. 
If a farmer cannot get a Scotch wife he might try a 
Scotch cow. 
* 
Mr. Morse, who gave his opinions about robins 
and cherries in a recent issue, receives strong support 
on page 479. In our own locality robins are not nu¬ 
merous enough to damage crops seriously. We pay 
little attention to them, and have accepted the general 
statement that they do more good than harm. Surely, 
they do us little harm. We can understand that 
where they are more numerous they are likely to 
prove a nuisance. The man who knows that his cher¬ 
ries are stolen will not be greatly impressed when a 
scientist finds insects in a robin’s stomach! On small 
trees fine nets will keep the birds away, but in the 
rush of spraying, cultivating and picking few farmers 
could find time to put them on! 
* 
Ox page 479 a correspondent tells how boys were set 
at work on the farm. They were not shown how to 
do the work, but left to themselves. Then they were 
blamed when they lost interest in the job and left it. 
It seems strange that a farmer cannot always put 
himself in the boy’s place. There Is no good reason 
why a small boy should take a man’s full interest in 
labor. Why should he? He gets little in return for 
it, and how can one be expected to realize the full 
necessity of working except by experience and mature 
thought? Do we then propose to let the boy give his 
time entirely to play? Not by any means, though 
honest play is an essential part of any boy’s training. 
We wouldn’t give much for a man who never knew 
how to play. The boy should work, but it should be 
made a fair part of his education, and he should be 
taught to work in the best manner. Surely the best 
way to make a boy into a confirmed slouch is to start 
him at some job and let him do it in his own way, or 
else put all the mean and hateful jobs upon him. Stop 
that at once unless you have set out deliberately to 
drive the boy away from the farm! 
• 
The Missouri State Horticultural Society has re¬ 
solved after a lengthy “whereas” to advise all fruit 
planters not to bother with new varieties until they 
have been solemnly tested and approved by the pom- 
ologist of some State or nation. The idea is to pre¬ 
vent the purchase by planters to their loss and dis¬ 
couragement of doubtful new, renamed, misnamed or 
untried fruits and plants, often represented to have 
special merits, contrary to the real facts, until thor¬ 
ough trials have been made by the experiment sta¬ 
tions, as disinterested parties. This is excellent 
theory, but the hustling gardener and fruit-grower, 
as well as the up-to-date amateur, will scarcely con¬ 
sent to wait for official indorsements before testing 
such varieties as may appear superior in some respect 
to those he already grows. Official trials of new or 
little known economic plants made at public expense 
are very well as far as they go, and are undoubtedly 
useful in eliminating certain gross frauds in the dis¬ 
semination of so-called novelties, but they will scarce¬ 
ly replace local tests made by wideawake planters. As 
varieties become more specialized they appear less 
adapted to a wide range of conditions, and a given 
sort may be roundly condemned as the result of ex- 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKE 
periment station trials, and yet be admirably adapted 
to the soil, climate, culture or market of many growers 
scattered over the State, and on the other hand the 
strongest official indorsement, based on tests conduct¬ 
ed under favorable conditions, often brings disappoint¬ 
ment to those who purchase largely on the strength of 
such recommendations, 'ihe safest plan is to invest 
sparingly in such novelties as appear desirable from 
ail available information. If apparently suited to the 
buyer’s conditions after a careful trial the stock may 
be quickly increased by propagation or purchase. 
Thus a good thing may be secured without undue ex¬ 
pense, or loss of time in waiting for distant station 
reports. 
The prize offer for the best essays on “Why 1 Take 
The R. N.-Y.” will close July 15. We have received 
a number of excellent articles, yet there is still a fair 
chance to win one of the prizes, though the successful 
article must be a strong one. Some of those now on 
hand are clear cut and well written. It has been a 
great pleasure to read them. We stated that “taffy” 
was not desired, and we considered the true meaning 
of that word well before it was written. The great 
majority of writers have respected this desire, and 
the result is a wonderfully helpful collection of let¬ 
ters. Some of the writers say they do not care for 
the prize, but are glad of an opportunity to say what 
they honestly think of the paper. There is so much 
of genuine and well considered criticism in the ar¬ 
ticles that we expect to be able to strengthen several 
departments during the coming season. The ordinary 
criticism of a newspaper either gives extravagant 
praise or ill-considered abuse, neither of which can 
be said to be really helpful to a conservative editor. 
We feel under obligation to many readers who have 
pointed out, in a fair and honest way, some of the 
ways in which The R. N.-Y. can be brought closer to 
the people. 
Of the many almost hopeless diseases to which hu¬ 
man flesh is subject, cancer is perhaps most dreaded. 
While consumption or tuberculosis of the lungs is 
very much more common, and on the whole more 
fatal, the elements of horror and despondency do not 
enter so largely as in cancer with its usual accom- 
p .niments of severe and often unsuccessful surgical 
operations. Cancer in its various forms seems to be 
on the increase, and keen interest is felt in the medi¬ 
cal profession to ascertain the cause and find some 
kind of reliable treatment. All efforts to connect the 
origin of cancers with the irritation caused by specific 
germs has failed, and the subject is as obscure as 
ever, but the behavior of some forms of external can¬ 
cer to electric currents, intense light and the wonder¬ 
ful new Roentgen or X-rays seems to indicate that 
some very minute parasite may really be the exciting 
cause. A very distressing skin affection known as 
lupus, which spreads over the face, rapidly destroy¬ 
ing the tissues in the manner of some cancers, is now 
very successfully treated by concentrated light thrown 
on the affected parts. Lupus is not a true cancer, 
though closely allied, and reports of cures lead unin¬ 
formed persons to think that cancer may be hopefully 
treated in the same manner. While there is some 
ground for anticipating electricity and light may do 
much in the future for cancer sufferers, very little has 
been definitely accomplished up to this time. Medical 
and surgical science can do much for the relief of 
cancer if treatment is begun early, and occasionally 
a brilliant cure appears to be effected. When a can¬ 
cer is suspected no time should be lost in securing 
the best possible professional advice, but no reliance 
should be placed on untested or sensational fads in 
treatment. 
m 
Several times during each year it seems necessary 
to make some pointed remarks about skunk farming! 
We regret this, since there are many more edifying 
topics which need discussion. About 12 years ago, at 
a time when we thought more of a “novelty” than we 
now do, The R. N.-Y. printed a full description of a 
skunk farm in western New York. There was a pic¬ 
ture of the skunks running about inside the fence, and 
lively visions of a fortune made from hide and oil. 
The whole thing seemed so easy and profitable that 
we confess that we were at the point of advising read¬ 
ers to try that line of farming. Happily, before we 
did so, Nature and the neighbors ended the enterprise. 
A fatal disease broke out among the skunks, and the 
few that were left so stamped their evil reputation 
upon the owner that the neighbors proclaimed him a 
nuisance and drove him out of business. That in 
brief has been the history of every skunk farm we 
have ever heard of. We did our best to sterilize that 
article, but its evil spirit is still marching on. Day 
after day we receive letters sent from all over the 
country asking for personal advice about skunk farm¬ 
ing, where to buy the skunks, and how to feed and 
care for them. We seem to be regarded as high au- 
R. 
thority in this branch of scientific agriculture. We 
ought to be, for we have spent more time trying to 
keep people away from it than any other 10 citizens 
of the Republic. Our reward? Why, we have learned 
to fight very shy of novelties or quick ways of getting 
rich at farming. Now let us say to all that skunk 
farming is utterly impossible. Your skunks will sure¬ 
ly die In confinement, and your neighbors will dye you 
with a reputation which all the dollars in the neigh¬ 
borhood cannot rub out. 
• 
We are not sure what spirit prompted the following 
question, but we are glad of the chance to answer it 
publicly: 
You have had a good deal to say about oleo Congress¬ 
men and the duty of farmers in relation to them. Now I 
challenge you to tell just what you wouid do if you lived 
in the Thirtieth New York Congressional District, now 
represented by J. W. Wadsworth! readek. 
No challenge is needed to draw out this opinion, if 
we lived in that district we should first of all attempt 
to make an honest living for our family. Judging 
from present experience this would not leave much 
time for talking politics or pulling political wires. As 
a farmer we should consider it a duty to do all we 
could to defeat Mr. Wadsworth. If we voted the 
Democratic ticket we would use what influence we 
possessed to have the party nominate some strong 
man—if possible a farmer of known reputation and 
skill. If naturally a Republican we would do the best 
we could to have some other man than Mr. Wadsworth 
nominated. If he received the nomination we would 
cut him at the polls, openly advocate his defeat, and 
do our best to get votes against him. 
Now why? 
We should give two chief reasons. Not a word 
would be said against Mr. Wadsworth’s personal char¬ 
acter or ability. We know little about either. His 
record on the anti-oleo bill stamps him distinctly as 
no real friend of the farmer. We consider that he was 
on the wrong side at every critical point in the politi¬ 
cal battle against the oleo fraud, if it were possible 
for him to say that he did not understand the feeling 
of farmers on this question, there might be some ex¬ 
cuse for him. We feel sure that the farmers’ position 
was made clear to him, and it would appear that he 
openly defied them. We should consider this indicates 
that he feels so sure of his election that he will do 
whatever he pleases. Any man who gets that idea in 
his head should be pulled out of public office at once! 
To send him as a representative is to violate the first 
principles of a republican form of government! 
Again, it is our conviction that Mr. Wadsworth’s de¬ 
feat or his election by a very narrow margin would 
clear the political view of agriculture in New York 
State, as few other things would. It is the boast of 
those who run the political machines that the farmer 
will always vole straight. Their theory is that the 
farmer may growl about a candidate up to the gate 
leading to the polls, but that he will not growl with 
the ballot! Acting on this shrewd and, we regret to 
say, true assumption, things are done in politics 
which every farmer knows are wrong, and against the 
best interests of his business. This state of affairs 
will continue until the plain farmers show that they 
can and will put agriculture ahead of party. By op¬ 
posing Mr. Wadsworth on these grounds and putting 
them above all personal or party arguments we be¬ 
lieve that the farmers of Monroe, Orleans, Genesee, 
Livingston and Wyoming counties can, in this elec¬ 
tion, do the most effective work for agriculture that 
the last 20 years has offered! They did nobly in tell¬ 
ing Congressmen what they wanted. Now they have 
a chance to clinch the nails by voting. 
BREVITIES. 
The advice some folks give is more wide than wise. 
Mapes suggests a good experiment with late-hatching 
hens. 
Corn brings more in the market than wheat! Think 
of it! 
Are there any objections to the Summer silo? If so, 
what are they? 
A tested recipe for canning strawberries is given by 
Mr. Mapes on page 478. 
Who can give us any information about calves or 
young stock killed by dogs? 
We can generally tell when a letter is written on a 
rainy day with the hay down. 
It’s “country jake” and “awkward thing” when snow 
is on the ground, but “dear old Uncle Farmer” when 
vacation time comes ’round. 
Some potato growers thought they had killed every 
Potato beetle, only to find a new swarm suddenly appear¬ 
ing. We have never had a harder fight with these insects. 
A new cattle food called molascuit is being made In the 
West Indies. It consists of 80 to 85 per cent of molasses 
and 15 to 20 per cent of the finest part of sugar-cane fiber. 
We hear little now about the "destruction” of the oleo 
business by the passage of the Grout bill. Nonsense! All 
that could be injured was the fraudulent part of the 
business. Who wants to bolster up a fraud? 
