24 
1 
January 9 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKEK- 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
K National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
HERBERT W. COLLINGWOOD, Editor. 
Or. Walter Van Fleet, l „ 
Mrs. E. T. Royle, f 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 8% 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 trilling 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 to 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, JANUARY 9, 1904. 
Imagine a man investing money in mushroom cul¬ 
ture, or buying shares in some enterprise that he can¬ 
not control or learn anything about when his barn 
needs shingling, his fences are falling down, his fields 
need ditching, his orchard needs feeding and his wife 
needs household conveniences! What would you think 
of such a man if you should see him in the glass? 
* 
A strip of land in this city four inches wide and 
90 feet long recently sold for $1,500! Who gave this 
value to the land? Those who built on either side of 
it and around it. The owner has but to sit still, pay 
taxes, and demand his price when improvement comes 
to the point where this narrow strip is needed. That 
is not the way a farmer adds value to the soil. He 
adds to its producing capacity, which is the truest 
value of land. 
* 
The Western New York Horticultural Society is 
probably the strongest organization of its class in the 
country. Its annual meeting is a general round-up of 
horticultural progress during the year. This year’s 
meeting will be held at Rochester January 27-28, in 
the old-time headquarters, the common council cham¬ 
bers. The programme is without doubt the best one 
ever prepared, a large part of it being devoted to 
questions and answers. 
• 
Some of our institute speakers should be gently re¬ 
minded now and then that their part of scientific 
teaching is to make it soluble. Nobody expects them 
to discover any great scientific truths. They will be 
forgiven if they drop technical terms and abstract 
principles and get down to the level of the dullest 
man in their audience. Of course it tickles one’s 
vanity a little more to talk to the brightest man in 
the room, but the institute man is not, or should not 
be, paid to make the bright ones shine. Chop the 
science up into pieces small enough to enter the brain 
of the average farmer! 
* 
At the recent convention of California fruit grow¬ 
ers the following resolution was offered: 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the California fruit 
growers, in convention assembled, that the fruit growing 
industry of California is in a generally satisfactory and 
prosperous condition. 
It was passed with but one dissenting vote, though 
before it was offered many of the members were 
privately complaining about the business. Suppose 
similar resolutions were offered at other State so¬ 
cieties—would they pass? We think so, for few peo¬ 
ple care to go on record as predicting failure or loss 
unless such a thing is plainly evident. Who can see 
failure in a well-managed orchard? 
* 
Whenever we begin to advise readers to vote with 
the postage stamp in favor of some important measure 
a lot of politicians start up to wag their wise heads 
and sneer at the plan. 
“You never accomplish a thing by such work,” they 
say. “Nobody pays any attention to such letters and 
you don’t get anybody to write anyway! You make 
yourself ridiculous.” 
Now they know better. The reason they want to 
stop such work is because these letters cut them out 
of their job as go-between. The real power lies in 
the people back of them, but they prefer that the 
“higher powers” should not realize this. When a 
dozen farmers write over their heads to Representa¬ 
tive, Senator, Governor or President the “ big man’’ 
first asks the small politician what it means. He 
gives his opinion and if he is able to stop the letters 
that opinion is accepted. If in spite of him the letters 
continue to come the upper man realizes that some 
thing must be done, for however sure he may seem 
to be of his position he knows that it is built on a 
stack of ballots. Thus the two-cent postage stamp is 
the weapon of the man behind the ballot, and the 
politician knows it well. As for making one’s self 
ridiculous by sTarting or writing such letters—hum¬ 
bug! You make yourself more than ridiculous when 
you lack the moral courage to assert your rights! We 
shall have two or three things for your postage 
stamps soon. Get ready for them! 
* 
Exports of fruits from this country are gaining in 
value every year. During the 11 months ending De¬ 
cember 1, there were sent to foreign countries $16,- 
468,160 worth of nuts and fruits. Ten years ago this 
total was only $3,918,799 for the full 12 months. Of 
this year’s exports $6,416,367 were for apples both 
green and dried. The next largest item was for 
prunes $2,183,349. Ten years ago the exports of 
prunes were too small to be counted by themselves; 
in fact, during 1893 there were imported over $1,000,- 
000 worth. These imports have shrunk to $37,000 this 
year. Thus fruits and particularly apples are taking 
good rank among our exports and the foreign demand 
can be multiplied by 10! 
* 
Farmers through the West have been complaining 
at the low prices offered for live cattle and hogs. The 
oleo men have said: “We told you so—cut off the de¬ 
mand for oleo oil and down goes the price of the car¬ 
cass!” These people as usual tell only one side of the 
case—that is their own side. During the 11 months 
ending December 1 the exports from this country of 
oleo and oleo oil were valued at $12,708,807. Last year 
jduring the same period the exports were $10,205,439. 
Thus the oleo people have increased their foreign 
trade by $2,500,000, which brands this statement of 
loss as false. Again, while prices paid to western 
farmers for live meat have been reduced, we who buy 
that meat at retail know that we have been charged 
full prices for it. We pay as much as we did when live 
meat brought far more than it does now. So that 
there is no foundation for the claim that the anti- 
oleo law is responsible lor low prices of hogs and 
cattle, despite assertions to the contrary. 
m 
The California Citrus Union is an organization 
iormed to control the output of oranges and lemons 
from California. Its object was to handle the selling 
and shipping so that the market would not be over¬ 
stocked. Of course, in order to make suen work suc¬ 
cessful or even possible it was necessary for the grow¬ 
ers composing the union to “hang together.” Thus 
the members agreed to deliver their fruit to the offi¬ 
cers of the union who, as we understand it, were to 
pack and market it for them. Certain growers after 
making a contract with the union to deliver their 
fruit received what they considered better offers from 
independent packers and attempted to break their 
contract by selling wherever they pleased. The union 
tried to obtain an injunction to prevent these grow¬ 
ers from breaking their contract, but the court re¬ 
fuses to grant it. The chief grounds for this refusal 
are that a suit for damages is the proper way to settle 
such a case, and that the contract is loose. This con¬ 
tract does not agree to pay a fixed sum at a certain 
date for the fruit. Of course that would be impossible. 
The union cannot tell in advance what the fruit will 
bring, hence the court holds that such a contract 
could not be enforced. This is a matter of great im¬ 
portance not only to California but to growers in 
other States where farmers try to combine and sell 
goods. The difference between such a contract and 
one made between a canning factory and a grower 
will be easily seen. In the latter case a fixed price is 
agreed to before the season opens. In the other case 
the seller is merely an agent who agrees to get the 
best he can for the fruit. In California it is thought 
that this decision will break up the union and injure 
the market. 
a 
The average country churchyard is a hideous 
looking place—overrun with briars and weeds, and 
with little attempt at adornment. As Whittier well 
says: 
“Our vales are sweet with fern and rose, 
Our hills are maple crowned. 
But not from these our fathers chose 
The village burying-ground. 
The dreariest spot in all the land 
To death they set apart, 
With scanty grace from Nature’s hand 
And none from that of art.” 
Some of these local burying grounds occupy places 
that might be beautified at little expense, but as a 
rule they are sadly neglected. In some parts of New 
England the old churchyards are being improved in 
a singular way. We saw one recently that had been 
jmt in order with money left by an old citizen of the 
town. This person willed a certain amount of money 
for the purpose of refitting the churchyard and keep¬ 
ing it in order. Another man has already laid aside 
money which, at his death, is to be spent in beau¬ 
tifying the graveyard in his native town. Such peo¬ 
ple leave worthy monuments behind them. The 
country burying-ground can be and should be a beau¬ 
tiful park bringing up happy and not gloomy thoughts 
of those who have gone before. 
* 
For various reasons the cotton crop is attracting 
great attention just now. The boll weevil, a destruc¬ 
tive insect, is spreading so rapidly that there can be 
no doubt about the serious menace to the cotton 
growing industry. The papers printed in Texas con¬ 
tain more matter about this insect than they do about 
politics. At present there is no apparent way of head¬ 
ing the insect off. It seems evident that the cotton 
crop for some years at least will be cut down in yield. 
It wduld also seem that some of the land now given 
up to cotton will be put in other crops, grain or Al¬ 
falfa, for the production of meat. Thus this insect 
may really prove useful to some parts of the South by 
compelling planters to grow new crops. In another 
way the cotton crop is likely to change history some¬ 
what. A band of speculators backed, it is said, by 
European capital, have succeeded in forcing the price 
of cotton to 14 cents a pound in New York, the high¬ 
est point in 20 years. This has forced New England 
mill owners to pay more for raw cotton than they 
can afford at the present prices of labor and cloth. 
It has also raised the price of cotton abroad. Just 
what the outcome of this will be can hardly be told 
now. The southern people seem to think that the 
effect will be to drive more cotton factories to the 
South making that section headquarters for the in¬ 
dustry as New England is now. We do not take that 
view of it, lor the New England States have distinct 
and peculiar advantages for spinning the finer grades 
of cotton which no other section of the country can 
duplicate. The high prices for cotton mean higher 
prices for cotton goods to the consumer, if these 
prices are kept up certain grades of wool will go 
higher and the sheep industry will be benefited. The 
most serious outcome to the South, however, will be 
the fact that European countries will be driven to 
producing raw cotton in their colonies. We have re¬ 
ceived some excellent samples of cotton grown in 
Cuba. Egypt and the African colonies of France and 
Germany can without doubt produce large quantities 
of cotton. At former prices Europe has been content 
to buy cotton in America. Now every nation that can 
do so will make an extra effort to stimulate cotton 
growing in its colonies. There is no doubt that some 
of them will succeed, and every extra bale thus pro¬ 
duced will mean one bale less purchased in America. 
The recent rise in cotton has meant millions of money 
for the South, but it may create a competition which 
will prove disastrous. 
bREVlTlES. 
A grave situation—weeds all over the berry patch. 
The weather profit is the sum laid aside for the “rainy 
day.” 
A farmer made his wife a Christmas present of a bottle 
of patent medicine. Santa Claus sometimes has claws. 
The inmate of a boarding house is tempted to use force 
to make his landlord prune out prunes and give him apple 
sauce. 
Wanted— 8,000,000 Americans to eat five apples each day! 
That will put money into business and medicine out of 
business. 
Think how much of the success of California fruit 
growers depends on their packing—and then overhaul 
your own pack. 
An Illinois farmer is said to dry out bins or cribs of 
damp grain by putting layers of drain tile through the 
mass. We should like to hear from any reader who has 
tried this. 
When the trusts buy a man out they tell him that his 
“good will” has no value. The “peace” they give is a 
frozen one. When peace is frozen and good will destroyed 
humanity has few spiritual assets left! 
We have received in the last few days letters from 
South Africa, New Zealand, Burmah, Turkey, Alaska and 
Hawaii. These are all from active subscribers who say 
they get a full dollar’s worth out of The R. N.-Y. 
Once in a while we hear of western steer and hog fat¬ 
tened who keep a Jersey cow for their home supply of 
milk and cream. There are plenty of orchard men who 
raise Ben Davis apples to sell, but who have a few trees 
of Grimes Golden or Jonathan for their own eating! We 
call these people wise men! 
When a man writes an article for the press he should 
polish it at the same time and in same way. This is 
sometimes done unconsciously, the writer thinking his 
subject over with great care before he writes it out. In 
truth no one should ever write for print until this has 
been done. Others write and re-write as new ideas crop 
out. There is too much careless writing. We have MSS. 
sent us which the writer has not even read over. The 
last written sheet is at the top! There is no surer way 
to become that worst pirate of literature—the hack writer. 
