788 
November 22 
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. 
Hu. Walter Van Fleet, I A<!<i0 ,, Iat ps 
MRS. E. T. Royle, ( Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.01, 
equal to 8s. 6d., or 8V 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, NOVEMBER 22, 1902. 
lO Weeks for f 0 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. 
• 
Let us understand clearly that agriculture demands 
a special form of education. The education for the 
town is not the education for the country. The busi¬ 
ness of the farmer is more complicated than that of 
any other citizen, and from common school to college 
we must have teachers and text books which fit into 
farm life. 
* 
No one can mistake The R. N.-Y.’s opinion regard¬ 
ing the Ben Davis apple and the Kieffer pear. We 
think we know them, and feel sure of our ground, but 
if any honest man knows them better we cheerfully 
give him fair space to tell his story. Let us have no 
bigoted prejudice or special pleading in farm or hor¬ 
ticultural discussions. 
* 
There are many newspaper men who suffer for lack 
of fair and honest criticism. There are plenty of peo¬ 
ple who rush at them with violent or bigoted personal 
criticism, and still others who give them undue praise 
—“taffy”—as sickly as the censure is offensive. With 
a man of ordinary sensibilities an attack so violent 
that it becomes unjust will only stiffen his prejudices, 
while too much praise may destroy his power of fair 
analysis. The fair critic who can consider all sides 
and speak the right word in season is the editor’s best 
friend. 
♦ 
Sometimes a majority of the farmers in a locality 
or section organize to try to better their condition. 
It is evident that if all would work together the ob¬ 
ject, or at least the greater part of it, would be 
gained. A minority of farmers refuse to join, and in 
various ways do what they can to obstruct the others. 
In spite of them the majority win and compel those 
who deal with them to give better service or better 
price. The men who refuse to join in the fight re¬ 
ceive all the benefits, but will not pay for them in 
either cash or service. What do such men think of 
themselves anyway? 
* 
An interesting question is discussed on first page of 
last week’s issue, concerning the prevalent idea that 
pumpkin seeds, even in moderate quantity, are injur¬ 
ious to farm animals. The usual practice is to re¬ 
move the seeds before feeding—a most disagreeable 
task in raw weather, but Mr. Jamison is confident 
this is a needless waste of energy, as he has never 
noticed any ill effects from allowing animals freely 
to eat all seeds included in their daily pumpkin ration. 
This is a matter easily settled by direct experiment, 
and we commend it to some of our college stations as 
a proper subject of investigation. Few farmers care 
to risk the health of valuable cattle or hogs to test 
matters of this kind, but would be glad to have reli¬ 
able information on the subject. Pumpkin seeds ha\o 
long been credited with medicinal powers in the 
human system, and were formerly used in domestic 
practice as a kidney remedy. At present they are oc¬ 
casionally used ground up with water into an emul¬ 
sion as a remedy for tapeworm, for which they are 
very efficient. As two ounces of the fresh seeds and 
considerable water are used a bulky and disagreeable 
mess results. The medicinal principle is said to be 
contained in the greenish skin or envelope found just 
within the husk, and not in the kernel or edible por¬ 
tion, but as farm animals eat the entire seed they 
would not escape possible ill effects if susceptible to 
its influence. The action of vegetable poisons is not 
always similar in animals and humans. Rabbits will 
fatten without the slightest harm on fresn belladonna 
or Deadly nightshade leaves, eating enough at one 
meal to kill a large child, and every farmer’s boy has 
doubtless seen horses and cows lunching unharmed on 
Poison sumach or ivy, so excessively irritating to 
most individuals. The list of similar exceptions is 
long, and it may well be the pumpkin seed, not very 
strenuous in its action on humans, is practically 
harmless to domestic animals. 
• 
Michigan lost a remarkable man in the recent death 
of Robert F. Kedzie—for many years chemist at the 
Michigan Agricultural College. He did more for his 
State than the average citizen will ever realize. This 
strong, forceful character did not dabble or play with 
science, but made it a practical help in the homely 
things of life. Of sterling, rugged honesty, he could 
not be bought, hut ever used the mighty weapon which 
a mastery of his science gave him for the benefit of 
the common people. He was one of the old guard a 
pioneer who helped lay the foundation of education in 
agricultural science. The younger generation of 
teachers may elaborate the methods which these older 
men organized, but few of them will ever stamp upon 
their students the character and emphasis which 
“Doc” Kedsie, as we used to call him, was capable of 
doing. Su.h men die, but the life work and influence 
which the, r leave behind endure for all time. The 
fall of a great human oak is a mournful spectacle, yet 
how it should startle the listless ones who are content 
to dawdle through life so that all their opportunities 
die with them! 
The recent conference of plant breeders held in New 
York may serve to remind the public of those patient 
workers who have done so much for our material 
prosperity in improving economic plants. This is, 
above all, a pursuit entered into “for the joy of the 
working,” for very few hybridizers ever reap import¬ 
ant financial reward, and the success achieved seems 
to an outsider very small compared with the patience, 
knowledge and manual work involved. In efforts to 
secure improved forms of the Gladiolus, extending 
over 16 years, a friend reports raising 150,000 seed¬ 
lings, of which only two seemed to him worthy of 
naming and introduction. Very few plant breeders 
are known to the outside public, for the alchemy that 
transmutes species does not appeal to the popular 
imagination. Yet the work of the plant breeder may 
do as much for material prosperity as the invention 
of a new industrial process. The prosperity of Ameri¬ 
can grape growing and allied industries is largely 
founded upon the work of Ephraim W. Bull, who 
originated the Concord grape, and di^ a few years 
ago in poverty. T. H. Hoskins, of Vermont, and Peter 
M. Gideon, of Minnesota, have added to the wealth of 
the cold North by originating and introducing iron¬ 
clad apples, but their material reward was small. 
Certainly all plant breeders deserve ample recognition 
among the world’s workers, from the first cave-dwell¬ 
ing woman who applied the law of natural selection 
to the untamed fruits and herbs of her primitive bill 
of fare to the last scientific plant breeder who will 
revolutionize the horticulture of to-morrow. 
• 
Those of us who remember the fierce opposition to 
rural free mail delivery but a few years ago are now 
obliged to rub their eyes, in order to keep up with 
the wonderful growth of this service. The General 
Superintendent says that within the next three yeais 
the entire country will be covered with 40,000 rural 
carriers. At present 11,650 routes are in operation. 
The official report says: 
The sooner the service is completed, the more quickly 
will the full effect of its influence on the postal revenue 
be felt. Hereafter the extension of the service should be 
made at the rate of 12,000 routes a year until it becomes 
universal. To do this the Department will require such 
largely increased appropriations that the annual postal 
deficits for the ensuing two or three years will probably 
reach $8,000,000 or $10,000,000, if not more, but once thd 
service is completed and thoroughly organized, the pat¬ 
ronage from 20,000,000 of our people who have thus far 
had little opportunity to enjoy the full benefits of the 
mail service will increase to such a marked degree that 
the additional revenue derived will soon reduce the pres¬ 
ent figures, if not entirely wipe them out. 
That is what we have always claimed. The farm¬ 
ers only await a fair chance to avail themselves of the 
full mail privileges. They will, in time, wipe out the 
deficiency in the postal department. From the very 
nature of their business and ways of living it is evi¬ 
dent that 10,000,000 farmers will make a greater use 
of the mails than the same number of average towns 
people. It is to be expected that in reorganizing this 
service there will be some just causes for complaint. 
They will be adjusted later. Free rural service is a 
step toward a parcels post, and that means Govern¬ 
ment control of other public functions! 
* 
Two years ago The R. N.-Y. stood nearly alone in 
advocating selling eastern apples in boxes. The 
Pacific coast growers had built up a trade in these 
packages, and were thus able to ship their apples 
3,000 miles and sell at a good figure. We saw no rea- 
spn why the eastern grower should not have a share 
of this trade. We met much opposition at first, but 
that was to be expected. All of a sudden there was a 
rush for the box package, and this year thousands 
will he handled. The progressive Niagara County 
Farmers’ Club at its next meeting at Somerset, N. Y., 
will have an apple packing contest for boys and girls. 
Boxes will be furnished by the Society and the rules 
of the New York State Fruit Growers’ Association 
will cover the grading. These rules are: 
A grade of apples to be known as selects shall contain 
perfect or nearly perfect fruit, including the stem; they 
shall be hand-picked, of normal form and weight, normal 
color, free from the action of worms and defacement of 
surface by disease or other cause. The fruit shall be 
uniform in size in each package and the grading shall 
be practically uniform through each package. 
This contest in packing is an excellent thing for, it 
boxes are to be used at all, nothing but the finest ot 
fruit should ever go into them. The box is not for 
culls, but for the best fruit that can grow on a tree. 
• 
On the next page is an account of the first effort 
we have heard of to organize farmers in line witi the 
so-called labor unions. We have never believed that 
the time is ripe for such organization, except in 
localities. If Montana farmers succeed in keeping 
farm products from entering the State they will to 
that extent injure the business of farmers in other 
States. No doubt the recognized labor unions would 
be glad to join with farmers. One man who favor3 
such plan writes: 
The actual laboring class needs a conservative element, 
such as would be obtained by an alliance with the farm¬ 
ers to secure not too rapid changes. 
Both “labor” and “capital” understand that the 
farmer who owns and works his farm represents the 
only healthy conservatism left in the country. The 
very prejudices of the northern farmer and his dislike 
of violent changes are the only things which have 
prevented a complete upsetting of society. Without 
the conservative force of the farmer this country 
never could have been “developed.” But for him the 
most radical and dangerous experiments with gov¬ 
ernment would have been attempted. The time has 
not yet come for a great general organization of 
farmers. They must first learn to combine as neigh¬ 
bors in localities and small districts. 
BREVITIES. 
Now for the parcels post! 
Read the articles on peddling. 
Demand is the sauce of supply. 
Make Winter short for the sheep. 
The price of silage is given on first page. 
Better jump on theories than to jump at them! 
Why not try the blackboard scheme of advertising? 
Who has ever tamed a partridge or a wild huckleberry 
plant? 
Is housework a soft job compared with farm work? 
Try it and see. 
“Money makes the mare go,’’ but constant going 
wears her out. 
You may “talk for publication” or just to dry out your 
mind. Don’t mix the two sorts, please. 
What sort of an education does the farmer need? The 
sort that will keep his feet on the soil and still connect 
them with his head and his hands. 
We want a better fungicide than the Bordeaux Mix¬ 
ture! A reader wants to amend that statement by say¬ 
ing that we want better men on the Bordeaux pump and 
nozzle. 
The farmer of the old school thinks he has no need of 
new schooling. He is no more out of the way than % 
new-school farmer who thinks he has no need of an old 
scholar. 
There is, apparently, no doubt about the truth of the 
report that the oleo men have obtained some of the 
shrewdest lawyers in the country to attempt to break the 
new law! 
When shipping plants into States having strict fumi¬ 
gation laws, florists should always mark the packages 
“Greenhouse stock exempt from fumigation,” to avoid 
difficulty at points of entry. 
English farm workmen give arsenic and other di ugs io 
the horses under their charge—to improve the appear¬ 
ance of the hair. This went so far that a law was 
finally passed making such dosing a crime. 
