i66 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
March 4 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER, 
k. National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Hornet, 
Established 1850. 
Elbebt S. Carman, Editor-in-Chief. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Managing Editor. 
Frank H. Valentine, I . . . 
Mrs. E. T. Royle, f Assoclate Editor*. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY , MARCH 4, 1899. 
Special Catalogue Number Next Week. 
• • 
The New York papers made a ridiculous mistake 
the other day in a report from Albany. Senator 
Ambler has a bill to provide a commission to investi¬ 
gate adulterated foods. The city papers stated that 
butter contains paraffin, when what the Senator said 
was that this fat has been found in oleomargarine. 
One reason for his bill was the fact that this stomach - 
destroy in g stuff is used in bogus butter. It was a strange 
mistake, but no worse than these papers usually make 
when they leave a stone sidewalk for grass. 
“ I’ll have peace if I have to fight for it! ” 
That was a standing joke several years ago, and Amer¬ 
icans laughed at it, little thinking that the time would 
shortly come when Uncle Sam would find the joke a 
serious problem. In making peace with Spain, Uncle 
Sam has begun a fight with men who ask to be per¬ 
mitted only to govern themselves. It is safe to say 
that, if the Filipinos were fighting against any other 
nation on earth, they would receive the hearty ap¬ 
proval of all Americans whose opinions are worth 
considering. 
As we have stated more than once, there are two 
sides to the “ Good Roads ” question. Our friend tells 
us on page 156 of one case where road improvement 
came high. The cases are not uncommon where non¬ 
taxpaying voters have decided elections that saddled 
heavy taxes on farmers who could ill afford to pay 
them. Some of the hill towns in New England find 
that they can make cheaper connection with their 
markets with an electric road, than by using gravel 
or macadam. In some of these cases, it would cost more 
than the total valuation of these towns to build the 
ordinary stone and gravel roads. 
In reporting the Connecticut Pomological meeting, 
we made the statement that “ Maryland seems to be 
the worst section thus far for this insect ” (San Joe 6 
scale). We meant this as a quotation from a well- 
known horticultural authority, and should have added 
that nowhere else has the insect been fought so 
carefully. It is greatly to the credit of the Maryland 
fruit growers and nurserymen that they have com¬ 
bined against this deadly enemy so as to master it. 
In spite of the ravages of the scale in Maryland or¬ 
chards, the nurseries of that State are safe because 
the law compelling the fumigation of nursery stock is 
firmly enforced. Maryland is ahead in this matter, 
and the other States ought to fall into line at once I 
There was a lively discussion among the eastern 
New York horticulturists over the commission-house 
bill. A number of members opposed it, as they 
thought it class legislation. Others said that the 
commission men are as honest as any other class of 
people, and that the bill would entail great hardship 
upon them. Some growers stated that a farmer 
should know the character and reliability of his com¬ 
mission man, before he ships. Pres. Wood stated, on 
the other side, that legislation of this character is de¬ 
signed to help the helpless. The larger and more in¬ 
telligent growers did not, perhaps, need this protec¬ 
tion, but the smaller men back in the country, 
making small shipments and unable to follow them 
up by personal visits, needed something of this sort. 
The weak point of the bill seems to be that commission 
men will be able to evade it by selling to a third party 
or agent, and thus dodging an investigation. The prin¬ 
ciple of the bill is sound. If we give our money to a 
lawyer or agent to invest for us, we want to know 
where it goes and who has ft. Produce is as much 
property as money, and the commission man is a 
mere agent. Why have we not the right to know 
where it goes ? If this bill were passed and enforced 
properly, the result will, probably, be that most pro¬ 
duce will be sold at auction. 
In speaking of keeping sheep and cattle together in 
the same pasture, Prof. Roberts wisely decries the 
too common practice of seeking to get double from 
the land by this and similar methods. Sheep are 
valuable as scavengers, and will eat down closely 
many weeds, coarse grasses and bushes of various 
kinds that cattle will not touch. In this way, they 
are valuable. But when a pasture is stocked to its 
fullest capacity with cows, it is folly to expect it to 
carry any great number of sheep besides, and have 
all the stock do their best. This sort of work is in 
line with the practices of many old-time orchardists 
who expected their orchards to produce, at least ap¬ 
proximately, full farm crops, besides giving a full 
quota of fruit. There is a great deal of profitable 
double cropping in these latter days, but there is such 
a thing as overdoing the matter in some directions. 
People talk about investing money so that it will 
earn dividends in the future. In former years, a good 
farm was looked upon as one of the best places for 
investing labor and money. In recent years, many 
people have become doubtful about this, but here 
comes an opinion from a shrewd business man : 
You can come into some of our hill towns, not very far from 
the railroad, and buy a farm of from 100 to 150 acres, a good old 
house and rather poor barns, at anywhere from $800 to $1,5C0 On 
such a farm, you can find from 40 to 60 acres of land which, if 
planted in apple orchard and fairly well cared for, would in 10 
or 15 years from now be paying you a cash dividend on at least 
$50,000. 
Now where do you think sush land is situated ? Right 
in New England ! There is, probably, no other p ace 
in the country where this can be done so well! The 
apple is, probably, the only fruit that would make it 
sure. 
The suggestions regarding trespass on farm lands, 
embodied in Mr. Barns’s article on page 165, will be 
indorsed by many of our readers. Apart from the 
minor discomforts of seeing one’s fields turned into 
highways, there is, as Mr. Barns says, a great deal of 
pilfering by trespassers, and this petty thieving is 
treated by its perpetrators as a matter of no moment 
whatever. As to the game laws, the farmer is between 
two fires ; on the one hand, he may protect and feed 
wild game birds out of regard for their beauty, to see 
these pretty creatures shot by tramping pot-hunters 
under the very shadow of his barns, while on the 
other, he may not destroy wild game, which destroys 
his crops, perhaps at the very season when the animals 
are most destructive. The game laws, in New York 
State at least, are already so complicated that even 
their authors would scarce recognize them ; but legis¬ 
lation concerning trespass on farm and garden lands 
is a crying need, and deserves thought on the part of 
allied societies. 
In The R. N.-Y. of February 18, we gave an account 
of the tr al and conviction in an Ohio court of the 
manufacturers of a bogus maple syrup. It was 
shown on the trial that their product, which was 
labeled PURE MAPLE _SYRUP, was a vile decoction 
of maple chips, pigskin, syrup made from granulated 
sugar, and water. It would seem as though, the con¬ 
viction of any firm or individuals’of such acts should 
be sufficient to drive them out of business, brand 
them as the blackest of villains, and banish them for¬ 
ever from the society of decent men. But Mr. Phil¬ 
lips, who reported the case, writes us that these con¬ 
victed criminals are still ’doing business at the old 
stand, the only concession being a slight change in 
label; the latter now reads, SUGAR MAPLE SYRUP. 
“ They are filling the markets all over the State as 
fast as they can make the stuff.” What can we think 
or say of such scoundrels? The English language 
has no suitable words to characterize them. By the 
side of individuals guilty of such practices, the bur¬ 
glar, the highwayman and the pickpocket are to be 
respected and honored. These villains are double- 
dyed ; they steal the name of one of Nature’s purest 
and most wholesome products to sell a vile concoc¬ 
tion of the devil’s invention, steal the markets of the 
hard-working, honest producers, and steal the money 
of trusting consumers who believe they are getting 
what they pay for. Simple money fines are of no ac¬ 
count in such cases. The severest punishment known 
should be meted out to them by an outraged public. 
A combination of pillory, whipping-post and chain 
gang would be not a whit too severe. And what shall 
we say of the Dairy and Food Commissioner of the 
great agricultural State of Ohio, if he fail to follow 
up these and all similar frauds and cheats, in these 
and other food products, to the full extent of the law ? 
We would be only too glad to believe that he will do 
so, and that the grave charges imputed to him by 
Dairyman, on page 162, are unjust. We shall be com¬ 
pelled to judge him by his official acts, and of this 
judgment he cannot complain. We call upon him and 
upon every honest person to see that the grand State 
of Ohio be redeemed from the disgrace of this in¬ 
famous traffic in bogus food products, and producers 
and consumers alike be pi-otected in their business, 
their health and their homes. 
The New York State Agricultural Department has 
plainly defined its position on the proposition to tax 
colored oleomargarine 10 cents a pound. It is op¬ 
posed to the law because it thinks this tax would 
“legalize a fraud”, or in other words, “recognize a 
counterfeit as a legitimate article of commerce.” The 
Department desires a national law which provides 
that dairy or food products taken into a State shall 
immediately become subject to State laws, no matter 
whether they are in the original package or not. The 
opinion of the New York State Department is worthy 
of a’l respect, but we would call attention to the fact 
that equally good authorities hold that the 10-centtax 
is a more effective method. The tax is for the purpose 
of distinguishing colored oleomargarine, and driving 
it out off the maiket as a legitimate competitor with 
yellow butter. When the Government puts such a 
tax on colored oleomargarine, it will establish “ un¬ 
friendly legislation ”. The general Government, in 
such a case, can only work through taxation, as it did 
when it taxed the State banks out of existence. The 
New York State Department seems to be afraid that, 
if Congress put a tax of 10 cents a pound on this oleo¬ 
margarine, efforts will be made later to reduce this 
tax We question whether it would be easier to get 
Congress to do this than it would to get a State legis¬ 
lature to make a law favorable to oleo, or to get State 
authorities to wink at a State law. We would take 
our chances with striking at the fountainhead of the 
fraud. 
BREVITIES. 
For years, they sung a trio in the fertilizing choir, 
With Nitrogen’s soprano running higher yet and higher, 
While old Phosphoric Acid gave the tenor notes a chase, 
And Potash put the stiffest sort of starch inside the bass. 
They sang Dame Nature’s harmonies with melody so sweet 
That we who listened have believed the trio was complete; 
Yet sometimes there’s a cracking in Miss Nitrogen’s sweet tone, 
And old P. Acid’s tenor is as dry as any bone. 
Old Potash does his duty with the lower notes, and still 
When Sister Lime is absent, they can hardly fill the bill. 
For Nitrogen is lively, and old Potash pretty slow, 
We need an alto singer, and we don’t know where to go 
To find a friend more faithful to fill out and keep the time 
Thau that respected stand-by, Sister Carbonate of Lime. 
For years, she’s sung the alto in a humble, quiet way, 
And given other folks a chance without a word to say; 
She just slipped in the alto when the other notes went wrong, 
So now let’s recognize her when the choir pipe up their song. 
Stand by the old stand-bys. 
“ Winter horse dairying ’’—page 161. 
Put hoops of faith around your hope. 
There’s no coal in sight in Porto Rico. 
A cold fact will make some people hot. 
There is a “ smell of reform ” at Albany. 
The function of a fungicide is to have fun with fungus. 
For what class of farmers are the institutes designed, anyway? 
How has Ben Davis stood the freeze ? We want to hear from 
western men. 
Hurry up San Jos6 scale legislation, or we shall be weighed in 
the scales and found wanting. 
“ Figures can’t lie ”—but they sometimes lay eggs that hatch 
into chickens that come home to roost. 
Don’t let the San Jos6 scale become to the fruit grower what 
the chinch bug is to the Western farmer. 
Now, then, gentlemen, rally ’round the Hag, and support that 
simple but sound game law on page 155! 
The farmer who never makes mistakes—but there is no such 
farmer. The farmer who never says a word about his mistakes— 
his name is legion. 
SrEAKiNG of the southern cow pea, F. E. Dawley says that he 
thinks the ordinary field bean will prove just as valuable in 
northern New York. 
At Albany, there are samples of so-called “canned tomatoes ” 
which contain pumpkin colored with aniline dyes, and doctored 
with a few tomato seeds! 
Some of the agricultural papers are taking pains to explain 
that their opinions are not for sale. They would provide more 
fuel if they would say less and saw more wood. 
It is said that 6,000 pounds of cotton seed have been sent to the 
Philippines. How our southern cotton growers will jump for 
joy when the cotton grown from that seed greets, their cotton in 
the market place. 
He who fights and runs away will find his life work turned to 
play, and will keep running till he’s gray. But he who fights and 
makes a stand, though he may lose, will bear the brand of brave 
man straight from honor’s hand. 
We cannot fairly blame Germany and France for trying to pro¬ 
tect themselves against the San Jose scale. We should do the 
same thing against several foreign insects. There is no sense, 
however, in their excluding dried and evaporated fruits, for the 
scale could not possibly live after passing through the evapor¬ 
ator. It is true that live scales may be carried on fresh fruits, 
but from the habits of the insect, no one who has studied the 
matter believes that it can be established on trees in this way. 
