November 29 
8.4 
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. Collingwoou, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, | . , 
Mrs. K. T. Hoyle, (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 8V 2 marks, or lOVfc 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 29, 1902. 
10 Weeks for 10 Cents . 
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 not dishonor agriculture by questioning its 
right to a front seat among the occupations of man. 
Let us not dishonor the front seat by our actions 
among men. -Let us not dishonor ourselves by per¬ 
mitting unworthy people to occupy the seats that be¬ 
long to us! 
* 
0 T 'K scientific men must not grow weary of wel 
doing. They have developed fungicides, insecticide 
and a good many other sides that look well and d( 
good work. The best is good enough for the farmer 
and if there is anything better than our presen 
known remedies we want it! 
» 
That benevolent old fellow mentioned on page 
799 made sure of his $5 at any rate. That is a new 
game, and, if we will put ourselves in the places of 
the young people who lost their money, we can easily 
understand how, like a new broom, it swept clean. 
One thing that these rogues have is always genuine— 
that is a knowledge of human nature. If some of the 
good folks who are trying to reform society had more 
of that same practical knowledge, they would make 
better speed! 
* 
The chronic scold may make people feel uncom 
fortable, but that is hardly the state in which men go 
forth to do noble deeds for family or country. It is a 
mistake to fritter away one’s strength in petty nag¬ 
ging or violent howling about insignificant things 
Some people rush in to argue on matters about which 
they know nothing. It seems to be anything for the 
sake of expressing an opinion—which ought to come 
by freight if at all. These remarks apply to papers as 
well as to persons. 
4s 
It seems that the “oleo game” is played even on the 
trade in Belgian hares. Jack rabbits or common pets 
are labeled “Belgian” and palmed off as the real ar¬ 
ticle. The “oleo game” consists in taking some cheap 
and inferior article, dressing it in borrowed clothing 
or color, and palming it off as a superior article at a 
superior price. There is so much money in thus in¬ 
flating the cheap article that the rogues who play the 
game can afford to hire expensive men to stretch the 
law around their crooked work. 
* 
We have had one side of the Belgian hare business 
—now we have another. It seems to be demonstrated 
that a farmer can profitably keep a few hares to sup¬ 
ply meat for his own table—provided his family like 
this sort of meat. When it comes to selling the hares 
in the general market the small breeder has a poor 
showing. Everybody seems’ to agree to that. Now 
Mr. Hanson claims that by cooperating so as to secure 
a guaranteed product and steady supply the business 
has been made profitable. What he says seems sen¬ 
sible. “Getting together” helps farmers in other lines 
of business—why not with Belgian har;s? 
Tiie Pacific Rural Press exposes a scheme for 
swindling eastern people. Some rascals have secured 
options on California orange groves and will try to 
sell stock on the strength of them. They reason that 
most people will not recognize the difference between 
a deed and an option and thus pay for stock which 
has nothing back of it. Can it be possible that men 
would invest in California orange trees with only a, 
promise back of them? Yes, some of fhem are the 
very men who would not let the boy invest in apple 
trees at home—with all the promise the future has in 
store for good apples. 
* 
The post check, for sending small sums of money 
through the mails, is endorsed by many business men, 
and especially by publishers, but Postmaster General 
Payne thinks it is too early in the discussion of the 
device to ask Congress to take it up. This check is 
in effect a dollar bill with a blank for the signature 
of the receiver, and only the payee would be permit¬ 
ted to sign it. There is some opposition to the plan 
from the Money Order Bureau, because it w r ould com¬ 
pete with money orders for small sums. It seems, 
however, to be a needed convenience, like postal sav¬ 
ings banks and parcels post. These are three good 
things to work for, and farmers will feel their benefits 
more quickly than any other class. 
• 
A tremor struck the potato market when the first 
foreign tubers arrived at New r York recently. Prices 
weakened, and anything over $2 was hardly quotable. 
Last year was an eye-opener for many who had not 
before considered heavy receipts of European pota¬ 
toes as remotely possible. It seemed as though a pro¬ 
duct so bulky and heavy, four-fifths water, and sub¬ 
ject to a duty of 25 cents per bushel at that, would be 
effectually barred out except in case of sweeping crop 
failures here. Yet they did come in cargoes of 50,000 
to 75,000 bushels. Many were of excellent quality and 
sold readily. Just what is the lowest figure that wil 
call out heavy shipments of potatoes from Europe 
will, of course, depend upon the crop conditions and 
consequent market demand here, but, generally 
speaking, $2 per 180 pounds for high quality, and 
$1.50 for lower grades, would appear about the limit. 
a 
It is a sad event in a farmer’s life when he feels 
that the time has come for him to sell or rent the 
farm and live in town. Where there are loving and 
dutiful sons and daughters this step is not always 
necessary, and the old folks may confidently expect to 
end their days on the old farm. There are childless 
people or those whose children have gone far away, 
and to these the evening of life has another meaning. 
The time will come when the hard work must cease—• 
when weary Nature demands the comforts which are 
denied to many farmhouses. It seems to us that a 
prosperous farmer should stay on his farm as long as 
he can with a fair degree of comfort to himself and 
his wife. The active man who has worked most of 
his life hopefully in the open air does not often un¬ 
derstand what it means to enter the contracted life of 
city or town. No one knows how such a man pines 
for his free acres and the old familiar things, many 
of which have grown along with him. We would by 
all means stay on the farm as long as possible. The 
house may be refitted so as to introduce many town 
conveniences. Farm plans may perhaps be changed 
so as to make less work. A home may be provided for 
some worthy young couple who will give at least some 
of the affection and care which our own children 
would. These things are certainly worth trying that 
we may enjoy the farm life as long as possible. 
* 
The R. N.-Y. is opposed on principle to long ar¬ 
ticles. We break our rule for once and print the 
whole of the interview with President Schurman in 
one issue because we want our readers to give it a 
careful and thorough study. This question of agri¬ 
cultural education is a burning one. Now, as never 
before, our best farmers are waking up to the fact 
that New York papers to be Dehind some of the 
Western States in imparting instruction in agricul¬ 
tural science and practice. This should not be and 
must not be. Let us first find the reason for it and 
then apply the remedy. In this interview President 
Schurman gives, for the first time, we think, a clear, 
public statement of his own desires and plans. He 
expresses a willingness to answer any further ques¬ 
tions and desires to know the wishes of interested 
farmers. We believe that President Schurman and 
the Cornell trustees now fully realize the importance 
and the necessity of pushing the College of Agricul¬ 
ture to the front. The President has just returned 
from a study of western agricultural colleges. They 
cannot do this unless the farmers themselves take a 
hand in the matter, decide what they want and then 
see to it that their wishes are carried out. If we are 
to have a great agricultural college in New York, with 
branches running out in direct contact with the farm 
homes, the farmers themselves must be the leading 
spirits in its organization. We do not want such a 
system of education organized for them by outsiders, 
but we want the plain men and women of the coun¬ 
try whose lives are to be spent on the farm, and whose 
children are to be the farmers of the future, to have 
much to say about it. This, as we understand it, is 
President Schurman’s idea. As the head of New 
York’s agricultural college he wishes to know just 
what the people want, so that Cornell may, if pos¬ 
sible, give it. As in every other public matter The 
R. N.-Y. has no ax to grind and no private purpose 
to serve. We shall be proud to serve the farmers of 
the State. First of all therefore, what is your wish, 
gentlemen? 
* 
Ox page 756 we made some statements about the 
discriminations against western grain growers. We 
have here a letter from a Connecticut reader: 
I read with interest the article from the Missouri corre¬ 
spondent about the corn trust and your comments on 
same. I would like to know more about the matter. How 
can the Missouri man ship to France without the co¬ 
operative railroad having a hand in the affair, any better 
than he could ship east? 
A partial answer to this question is found in the 
following letter from a farmer in the Middle West: 
On page 756 you touch a very important question. No 
man in the Middle West at least who is not in the ring 
can ship his grain and get its full value, and farmers 
are yearly robbed of millions of dollars by the elevator 
men, who are also buyers, the commission men and the 
railroads. As I understand it, the two latter discrimi¬ 
nate against the farmer shipper until he is forced to sell 
to the regular dealers, who arrange it among themselves 
so that there is practically no competition, each buyer 
getting all the grain in his own district. The live stock 
business is not so bad, and the grower may ship and do 
fairly well. 
If farmers in the West could ship and sell at the 
same rates enjoyed by grain dealers they could save at 
least five cents a bushel on their grain. The farmer 
never enjoys the secret “drawbacks” and rebates 
which often go to the commission men, and there is 
a scarcity of cars at very inconvenient times for the 
farmer! We consulted a number of eastern grain 
dealers, but all refused to deal direct with the farm¬ 
ers. Some of them would gladly have done so, but 
they did not dare antagonize the grain trust. They 
realize that they must deal with the combination or 
be subject to discriminations and annoyances that 
would in time drive them out of business. A ship¬ 
ment can be made direct to Europe from Kansas or 
Missouri without passing through the hands of any 
American dealer who is either in the ring or in fear 
of it. The situation is a shameful one. No wonder 
men of moderate means who are at the mercy of such 
middlemen have lost hope. Only the stern goad of 
necessity will drive a man to irrigate the sou with 
his sweat when the cream of the crop is to go to the 
middlemen. As a partial solution of this problem 
we suggest that eastern farmers who need grain club 
together and buy direct from western growers. Above 
all things keep talking about it. 
in 
BREVITIES. 
Is Ben Davis a "has ben?” 
Where have all the bicycles gone to? 
The most effective atom is keep at ’em! 
Asparagus rust is now reported in California. 
More profit in the low-cost egg than in the high-priced 
one. 
Clothe truth in printer’s ink if you want to see her 
maligned. 
The majority seems to be against the “scratching 
shed” for poultry. 
May the addition of experience induce subtraction of 
self-esteem. 
Now, then, what proportion of the past week has been 
spent for yourself? 
Fungus on the apple makes anything but a funny feel¬ 
ing in the apple buyer’s heart. 
Come, gentlemen, why not go nearer the root of things 
and tell us more of the tree’s underground fixtures? 
A patent medicine trust is now proposed. Do its pro¬ 
moters believe that the patient public will swallow it? 
Among the other explosives efangerous to house and 
home let us not forget the one often carried in the mouth! 
What is a “scratching shed,” anyway? A sheltered 
enclosure, not as warm as. a roosting place in which the 
hens may scratch and play during cold weather when 
an outside range is impossible. 
Two New York “sportsmen” who went shooting over 
in New Jersey recently have decided that the robin is 
really valuable. They paid a fine of $60 for shooting three 
of these birds. The strenuous life comes high. 
One of the great Texas lumber companies, controlling 
over 1,500,000 acres, has asked the Department of Agri¬ 
culture to send experts on forestry to look over its lands 
and advise the management of its timber. This is a 
practical recognition of scientific work which every 
owner of forest or wood lot should be interested in. 
