74o 
November 1 
T 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
DR. WALTER VAN FLEET, j! Associates . 
MRS. E. T. KOYLE, I 
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 S l / 2 marks, or !(% francs. 
“ A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is 
backed by a responsible person. But to make doubl> 
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 
evnosed 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 bv the courts. Notice of the complaint roust 
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, NOVEMBER 1, 1902. 
tO Weeks for tO Gents. 
We must have more names to keep this new press 
busy. It takes 7,000 names to keep it going one hour 
a week. Now is the time to interest your neighbors 
in the paper. To give everyone a chance to get ac¬ 
quainted with it, we will send the paper now 10 weeks 
for 10 cents. Perhaps you can get up a club. If so, 
write for terms and cash prizes. 
* 
Another chapter has been written in the history of 
the suit brought by the American Farm Company 
against The R. N.-Y. J. W. Woodruff now sues for 
$10,000, claiming that the synopsis of our answer (see 
page 621) damaged him to that amount! 
* 
Farmers in Oregon and other sections on the Pacific 
coast have often complained of their inability to ob¬ 
tain good silage. We believe that the experiments 
with steaming silage, mentioned on page 747, will go 
far to solve the problem. We may perhaps learn from 
these experiments how to utilize clover hay, Alfalfa 
and cow-pea vines in the silo. 
* 
A number of cases are reported where money has 
been sent openly through the mails. A one-dollar bill 
with a label bearing the address pasted on its back, 
without any wrapper carried safely. So did a roll of 
bills with only a string and small tag tied around 
them! Wo do not recommend this method of sending 
money; still if any reader wants to try it with a dol¬ 
lar bill he might send it to us with the name of a 
new subscriber. It will help feed that new press! 
* 
That odor of burned hoofs which one gets in pass¬ 
ing a blacksmith shop is an offence to the nostrils, 
and the cause of it should be an offence to anyone 
who has respect for the horse. This burning of the 
hoofs every time the animal is shod is a lazy or in¬ 
competent man’s makeshift for fitting the shoes, and 
the practice is on a par with the use of embalming 
fluid in milk to avoid thorough washing of the cans. 
Now and then a blacksmith may be found with enough 
common sense and mechanical genius to fit a shoe 
properly without burning the hoof. We would go sev¬ 
eral miles out of our way to have work done by him. 
* 
Whether to head the young trees high or low is 
an anxious question with many beginners in fruit cul¬ 
ture. In earlier times when orchard products had 
only a local value and tree fruits were planted largely 
as a farm convenience, it seemed sensible practice to 
head the trees up so high that regular crop cultiva¬ 
tion could be carried on with the least possible hin¬ 
drance, as it was not imagined that trees required the 
full resources of the soil regularly to produce good 
fruit. Modern methods of packing, transportation and 
storage, and an increased home and foreign demand, 
have convinced growers that it is poor economy to 
withhold any condition that makes for full crops of 
perfect quality where fruit production is the principal 
object Commercial orchardists now give the entire 
resources of the soil to the trees as they near bearing 
age, only taking off a few unimportant hoed crops 
during the first years after planting, mainly for pur¬ 
poses of thorough cultivation; thus low-headed trees 
do not interfere with essential operations at the pro¬ 
ducing state, but greatly facilitate pruning, spraying, 
thinning and picking. The trunk is protected from 
sunscald and other effects of overheating by the 
HE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
shade, and the wind has less leverage than when 
trimmed up high. The fruits on low-headed trees to 
a great extent may be gathered from the ground, and 
when blown off by violent winds are much less in¬ 
jured. The shaded soil at the base remains in a moist 
and mellow condition much longer than when fully 
exposed to the sun and wind. It would seem good 
practice to keep the heads low where fruit is the 
money crop, but this necessitates the planting of one- 
year trees if they are to be purchased from most nur¬ 
series. Nurserymen do not favor low heads on the 
larger sizes of trees, as they are difficult to pack in 
moderate compass. Much of the work in growing two 
and three-year trees consists in rubbing and cutting 
off all buds and sprouts below the four or five-foot 
head, so as to present a clean and trim appearance 
when ready for sale. Trees so treated seldom branch 
out in a satisfactory manner when cut back. If you 
wish an orchard of low-headed trees plant very young 
ones, cut back to the desired height, or have your 
nurseryman grow some special stock for you. 
* 
When it was announced that a sociologist would be 
one of the persons appointed by the President on the 
Arbitration Commission to consider the anthracite 
troubles, a good many people wondered what partic¬ 
ular variety of scientist this sociologist might be. We 
were all prepared for some scholarly and academic 
person who spends his time in deep speculations con¬ 
cerning the theory of social and industrial relations. 
The President, however, puts practice before theory, 
for he decides that a workingman is better able to 
judge the needs of other workingmen than the college 
professor who theorizes about them, and designates 
a railroad conductor as a practical sociologist. None 
of us is ready to disagree with this definition. It is 
merely official recognition of an everyday truth. If 
a man possesses real practical knowledge—the ability 
to do things accurately and well—he is in a position 
to demand recognition, whether he raises apples, lays 
drain pipes or manages railroads. 
* 
The California Fruit Grower mentions a law case 
which ought to interest many fruit growers. As our 
readers know, Smyrna figs are now grown in Califor¬ 
nia by the aid of a little imported insect which ferti¬ 
lizes the flowers. These California figs are different 
from the true Smyrna, and in order to distinguish 
them the name “Calimyrna” was selected and copy¬ 
righted by a grower who has spent $25,000 in growing 
and advertising the figs. A fruit dealer imported figs, 
packed them in pound packages, and marked them 
“Calif-Smyrna,” the object evidently being to make 
the people think that these figs were the genuine Cali¬ 
fornia-grown article. The fig grower has brought suit 
to restrain the dealer from selling the imported figs 
thus marked. He ought to win his suit without Rou¬ 
ble. He offers Smyrna figs grown in California; the 
dealer offers figs packed in the State! This attempt 
to parade an article, good enough in itself but of an 
ordinary character, in the guise of another article 
with a distinct and peculiar reputation, is an old 
trick, and should be sternly punished. The only sal¬ 
vation of those who seek to produce the finer articles 
of food is thorough protection from those who seek to 
counterfeit their products with inferior or bogus 
goods! 
* 
We have sent out many samples of the boxes in 
which Pacific coast apples are shipped to this market. 
These empty packages were obtained from a commis¬ 
sion man who good-naturedly helped us show our 
readers what the apple box looks like. We have 
printed pictures of the box, but the actual package it¬ 
self, knocked apart for shipment, is the best guide for 
those who want to manufacture it. This work cost 
us not a little time and trouble, and the sample boxes 
were always sent free. Our feelings may be imagined 
at the following note from a reader: 
I thought as you were sending out samples that you 
must he agent for some supply dealer. 
It requires much philosophy to see the hopeful side 
of that reasoning. If there is one single principle of 
journalism that we fully believe in it is the conviction 
that an editor should never, under any circumstances, 
abuse the confidence of his readers. If we were to 
take advantage of the present interest in boxing- 
apples to act as the agent of a box factory, we could 
have no fair excuse for refusing the same service for 
anyone who could or would offer the price! Once 
bought and sold in this way The R. N.-Y.’s opinion 
would justly carry no weight with honest people. We 
would deserve the sneering remark which we have 
heard made about certain papers: “How much did 
he get for that?” Such a remark shall never be 
truthfully said about any opinion or statement for 
which The R. N.-Y. is responsible. You may agree 
with our expressed opinions or oppose them as you 
like. You may consider them of great or little value 
as you please, but be sure of one thing; they are never 
steered into print with a dollar for a rudder! 
* 
We want a full and complete discussion of the ques¬ 
tion printed on page 741 concerning divided shipments 
of farm produce. There is something to be said on 
either side, but our correspondents generally agree 
that the best plan is to find some capable men in 
whom the shipper can have confidence, and let him 
handle all the goods. We might fill a whole issue of 
The R. N.-Y. with the experience of those who have 
dodged from one commission man to another and 
split up their shipments into mere splinters, only to 
find it a losing game. We must all remember that 
the commission man has not only faults, but troubles 
of his own! 
* 
A reader tells of an experience with a certain “X- 
ray Picture Co.” This concern called for a dollar and 
offered to pay $20 per thousand for copying letters. 
A person who ought to have known better sent the 
dollar. After much urging the company sent the 
“materials,” consisting of 25 sheets of paper and the 
letter which they wanted copied. It contained at 
least 2,000 words! Thus the “copyist” would be 
obliged to write 100,000 words to earn a dollar—and 
then not get it. After all we have said about these 
ridiculous schemes we have no sympathy whatever 
with those who lose their money in this way. Our 
only regret is that others must suffer with them! 
* 
The apple box proposition has many sides to it. 
About a year ago we wrote some 25 leading fruit deal¬ 
ers in various cities, asking how the box would go in 
their markets. All but one or tv^o condemned it. We 
have just written many of the same men again, and 
now all but a half dozen state that the box, as an 
apple package, has come to stay. Only the finest fruit 
should be boxed, but this smaller package is slowly 
growing in favor. There is no doubt about it. Some 
people, however, usually go at a new thing in just the 
wrong way. Apples have come here in old egg crates 
and in rough boxes rudely made of dirty and weather- 
marked old boards picked up around the barnyard. 
To put good fruit into such packages is to discredit it 
at once. The object of box packing is to provide a 
clean and neat retail package fit for the final con¬ 
sumer, so that the grower can share some of the pro¬ 
fits which go to those who pack and sort from the 
barrel. Far better keep on shipping your fruit in bar¬ 
rels unless you are prepared to put only the finest in¬ 
to the neatest packages. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
Don’t dig your grave with your dignity. 
Too much dignity is as comical as too little. 
Who finishes the job? The man behind the begun! 
Is Bordeaux Mixture fully satisfactory as a fungicide? 
No! 
“Polled Albino’’ cattle is the latest breed we have 
heard of. 
Wonderful— how they are planting timber for fence 
posts in the West. 
Another argument for the Kieffer pear on page 735. 
It’s too much for the dogs! 
Note what Prof. Phelps says about the advantages of 
a round-topped turnip on first page. 
One of our esteemed clerical friends Is the Rev. Mr. 
Duck. In this case the duck is a bird of pray. 
The man with “farming on the brain” should pray that 
he may get part of it at least out of his brain and upon 
the soil. 
The scarcity of fuel opens another field of usefulness 
for the Ben Davis apple. Shall we sell them by the cord 
or the ton? 
Peach trees with yellows are worth money this Fall; 
they can be tux-ned into firewood, and that is the only 
legitimate use for them. 
Will readers who board horses through the Winter 
tell us what they find the most satisfactory way of 
handling and feeding them? 
If you sympathize with the workingmen in their efforts 
to obtain an eight-hour day, how many nours do you 
consider a fair day’s work for your wife? 
Will the scientific men admit that some less harmful 
insecticide than Paris-green is needed for use on pota¬ 
toes? Tney do not seem to want to admit it! 
Why should any man send a good laying hen to market 
at meat prices? Think of that and then realize how long 
it will take to make poultry pay when such stock is 
bought to start with. 
That coal experience on page 724 was duplicated by a 
friend who ordered a carload of coke from Pittsburg. 
The order was accepted, and then the acceptance was 
withdrawn. The shivering consumer had to buy wood— 
at $12 a cord! 
Australian papers illustrate Campane fowls, as prize 
winners at the Adelaide poultry show. They are large 
and showy birds, their appearance, as pictured, suggest¬ 
ing Orpingtons. Does anyone here breed these fowls, 
and what are their special characteristics? 
, 
