644 
September 20 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARM Eli'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homea. 
Established 1850. 
safety of the Sultan lies in keeping the common peo¬ 
ple ignorant of their power. In this country our only 
National safety lies in keeping the common people 
informed and contented. 
Herbert w. Collingwood, Editor. 
I)B. Walter Van Fleet, I . 
Mrs. K. T. Rovle, (-Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to 8s. 6d., or ny 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, SEPTEMBER 20, 1902. 
The report of Labor Commissioner Wright is prob¬ 
ably the fairest statement of the differences which 
caused the coal strike that the general public has re¬ 
ceived. It is a careful review of the situation, and his 
conclusion evidently is that the coal miners have 
rights which the operators ought to respect. No one 
can read this report and agree with the mine owners 
that they have “nothing to arbitrate.” 
• 
The census figures show that the average dollar 
invested in manufacturing produced goods worth 
$1.30 in 1899. The average dollar invested in farm¬ 
ing produced a crop worth 25 cents! The great ques¬ 
tion is why two dollars of equal value should vary 
so much in their producing capacity! There is one 
sure thing about it—the farm dollar does more than 
produce a cash value. It helps produce a home value, 
which the other dollar does not. 
When the time comes tor erecting a monument to 
the pioneers in orchard spraying Mrs. Mary Deering, 
of Orleans Co., N. Y., must not be forgotten. This 
lady bought a full outfit over 10 years ago, and gaYe 
an object lesson to many of her neighbors. Spray¬ 
ing is now about as common as plowing on many 
farms, yet 12 years ago the pioneers were trying to 
steer through the rocks. It is high time now to begin 
to give the pioneers full credit, and we shall see that 
Mrs. Deering has her share. 
* 
We have given the friends of the robin a fair 
chance to prove that he is a farm helper. Have they 
done it? Thus far the weight of evidence is largely 
against the bird. A scientific man may cut up the 
stomachs of several robins and name the insects he 
finds there, but this does not greatly impress the 
farmer, who sees his fruit disappear. Our own opin¬ 
ion is that the robin is one of our most useless birds. 
As a matter of business—all sentiment aside—we be¬ 
lieve fruit farmers would be better off if the robin 
were driven away. 
* 
The coal strike may prove an educator in more 
ways than one. It has already done more than any¬ 
thing else since the Civil War to show the people 
that human rights are in danger. If kept up much 
longer it will force northern people to experiment 
with petroleum as fuel. We do not begin to realize 
how this new fuel is being used in Texas and other 
Southern States. Railroad engines, steamships, great 
factories and private dwellings have been fitted with 
burners which are cheaper, cleaner and less cumber¬ 
some than coal stoves or furnaces. We shall have 
them in the North yet The fight in the coal dis¬ 
tricts simply brings them nearer! 
• 
As usual, the best exhibit at the New York State 
Fair was the people from the farms. The R. N.-Y. 
tent was thronged with old friends and new ones. 
They were strong, hearty people who greeted you like 
“home folks,” and made one feel that their friendship 
is natural and sincere. They were all hopeful anu 
ready to face the honest responsibilities which con¬ 
front them. Some call the past season the best they 
have had, but others realize that the wet season has 
been against them. There is little complaining or 
fault finding from these hard-working and worthy 
people. They are faithfully working out their share 
of the nation’s history in the best work shop—the 
farm home. It was a great pleasure to meet such peo¬ 
ple and see what they look like. 
* 
Last week we mentioned a so-called oil company 
which is trying to sell shares of its stock at $6 per 
share. The scheme is much the same as that fol¬ 
lowed in disposing of the fountain pens; viz., you 
are to pay money for the stock and then write letters 
to your friends. We have obtained further informa¬ 
tion which convinces us that all such schemes should 
be avoided. If this company really had any oil prop¬ 
erty that was worth anything, they could get the 
money needed to develop it right at home. It would 
not be necessary for them to resort to a plan which 
the postal authorities have declared illegal. This is 
the same old game of trying to float worthless stock 
at a high figure on the strength of big promises and 
plausible statements. The more worthless the stock 
the larger is the promoter’s story. Let them all alone! 
• 
As usual at this season the papers are full of stories 
about great cooperative plans. The farmers of whole 
States or sections are reported to be joining hands 
and forming mighty combinations. We seldom re¬ 
port such things, for they seem to us mere visionary 
schemes—too large to live. Farmers have not yet 
learned how to band together in large masses for 
mutual protection and business. They are learning, 
but first of all must come the small, compact club or 
cooperative plan. This will teach confidence and 
show the possibilities of a larger business. The 
farmer’s corporation must begin at home. That’s a 
good place for any worthy enterprise to start. We 
have no confidence in the plan of trying to bind to¬ 
gether thousands of men—strangers, who are un¬ 
trained in the art of “getting together.” Let us get 
our training at cooperating at home! 
• 
There has been much discussion about the prices 
charged for American machinery when sold in Eu¬ 
rope. We promised to investigate by going to our 
own foreign readers. The first letter in reply to 
questions comes from England, and is printed on 
page 639. Others from France and Belgium will fol¬ 
low. We can, apparently, settle any important ques¬ 
tion inside The R. N.-Y. family. One may start west 
through Hawaii, Japan, China, Turkey, Russia, Aus¬ 
tria, Germany, France and England and find in each 
country regular subscribers to Tiie R. N.-Y. 
• 
It is said that the telephone has not been permitted 
in Turkey because the Sultan feared it. It is possible 
to keep the telegraph largely under government con¬ 
trol, but this would not be possible with the tele¬ 
phone. Once give people the chance to speak freely 
over the wire and they are brought together for 
mutual strength. Individuals do not know their 
power until they can reach across the distance and 
touch each other. The telephone wires which have 
been stretched over the country from one farmhouse 
to another have done far more for the farmer than 
those who put them up imagined they could do. Civili¬ 
zation seemed to be running from the farm to the 
city—now the wire holds it fast With a telephone 
in his house the farmer feels that he is tied to the 
best there is in market or society. In Turkey the 
Every now and then complaint comes of a farmer 
who advertises grain or potatoes for seed. Samples 
are sent us—the grain foul with weed seed and the 
potatoes plastered with scab. Of course the com¬ 
plainant may pick out the worst specimens he may 
find in order to make his case stronger, but some of 
the samples are disgraceful. Upon investigation we 
find other customers of the person who sells the 
goods well satisfied with their treatment. When the 
truth is finally sifted out it generally proves to be 
about as follows: The farmer had more orders than 
he could supply from his own stock and rather than 
reject customers bought of neighbors or even stran¬ 
gers what he supposed was pure seed. This was 
bagged and shipped, often by hired men, without re¬ 
cleaning or personal inspection, and most of the trou¬ 
ble can be traced to these purchased lots. Now, we 
claim that no man has any moral right to sell such 
stuff unless he expressly states that he did not grow 
it and has not inspected it. He has no business to 
give the impression that he produced the article and 
knows what it is, when in fact, he knows nothing 
about it. When people pay more than the market 
price for seed, trees or breeding stock, they have a 
right to expect that it will contain superior proper¬ 
ties worth reproducing. They look to the man who 
receives the extra price to guarantee this superiority. 
The same is true of jobbing nurserymen. They will 
sometimes buy trees and turn them over to customers 
without even opening the packages to see that they 
are true or even alive. We have bought plants that 
had been through three hands unopened— one ad¬ 
dress scratched off to make room for another. The 
true name was mixed in the shuffle, and the plants 
proved a bitter disappointment. The trouble is that 
some people who do this try to convey the idea in 
their catalogues that they grow these trees at home. 
* 
In many localities the dog problem is a serious one. 
Even though the animals do not kill sheep or bite 
humans, they make havoc with poultry, and, espe¬ 
cially in small towns, become an exasperating pest in 
gardens, flower beds and lawns. Fox terriers seem 
to have the faculty of destroying more property in 
this line than almost any other breed. Grounds 
where moles are working suffer most The terrier 
seldom catches one unaided, but in his efforts to dig 
them out he can make a dooryard look as though a 
yoke of runaway oxen had been dragging a plow 
about it, and a yearling steer will do but little more 
damage in walking through an onion or flower bed 
than one of the Great Dane dogs often found roam¬ 
ing about It would seem as reasonable for a farmer 
to turn his pigs and other live stock loose and let 
them roam over his neighbor’s property, as for a dog 
owner to permit his animal to have the run of the 
neighborhood. Those who have dogs that are not 
satisfied to stay at home should chain them up or 
get rid of them. 
* 
We have referred, on several occasions, to the dis¬ 
appointment in store for those who listen to the tales 
of great European fortunes awaiting claimants and, 
upon the strength of no other evidence than similar¬ 
ity of name, spend money and mental effort in the 
attempt to secure this rainbow gold. There are many 
unscrupulous men who make a business of preparing 
such claims; their letters have a confidential air cal¬ 
culated to deceive the very elect, as they tell of great 
Dutch estates, or vast fortunes lying in the Bank of 
England, all ready to be handed over to the lucky 
claimant. The American Embassy in London has 
been so deluged with letters from such supposititious 
heirs that it has issued the following memorandum 
on the subject: 
In consequence of the many American letters received 
with regard to sending money to establish claims to 
property in England, and especially in regard to the so- 
called “Drake estate,” credulous people will avoid dis¬ 
appointment and save money by having nothing what¬ 
ever to do with persons advertising as agents of un¬ 
claimed estates, and as having in their possession the 
family names of persons entitled thereto, nor with sen¬ 
sational telegrams regarding English estates or money 
in the Bank of England awaiting claimants, as such 
publications are apt to be all fraudulent. 
The saddest feature of these frauds is that the peo¬ 
ple who hopefully give their money to the “agents” 
or “attorneys” who offer to investigate such claims 
are usually workers of limited means, who stint 
themselves—even go into debt—to fatten a fraud. 
How do the agents get the names in the first place? 
Ask the well-meaning people who have been writing 
those fountain-pen letters! 
BREVITIES. 
What one thing can you do well? 
Too much farm help is a hindrance. 
Yes, the other fellow has troubles also. 
The big corn crop ought to haul down the price of 
grain. 
Mr. Van Deman lays out another nursery rogue- 
page 638. 
Farmers can form no “trust” until they can trust 
each other. 
The information given this week and last ought to 
cover silo filling. 
It is good to learn how many farmers are bringing up 
orphan children. 
The California peach is a case of “handsome is that 
handsome don’t.” 
Our Minnesota correspondent “writes back” at Dr. 
Smead this week. 
John Smith says he fed a calf on oatmeal gruel and 
that it grew well. 
A reader writes that The R. N.-Y. is printed for the 
pleasure, profit and protection of his family. 
When it comes to settling a bird’s standing, should 
not farmers have more influence than Audubon societies? 
We are sure that the English sparrows hunt for Cab¬ 
bage worms. We have seen them creeping into the cab¬ 
bage and hunting for their prey. 
After much experiment the Missouri Station people 
conclude that the best farm wagon should have both 
axles of equal length, broad tires and wheels 30 to 36 
inches high in front and 40 to 44 inches behind. 
On the next page we are told that Mr. Vergon, of Ohio, 
really originated the mulch method of cultivating trees 
which Mr. Hitchlngs has described. This must be a case 
of “great minds,” for we are sure that Mr. Hitchlngs 
studied out his method himself. 
