78 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
January 30 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
K National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home*. 
Established. 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, I Associates 
Mrs. E. T. Boyle, j-Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, J2.04, 
equal to 8s. 6d., or 8% marks, or 10% 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 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 30, 1904. 
Another agricultural college that needs a new 
building is the one at Burlington, Vt. Vermont claims 
to be a dairy State and yet her dairymen seem in¬ 
clined to stand by and let the dairy school perish for 
lack of a home. We are told that Vermont is the only 
State in the Union that never spent a cent for build¬ 
ings at her agricultural college. What’s the matter 
with Vermont? Where is the Vermont Grange? 
* 
We have never before had so many questions about 
fertilizers. They come from all over the country—a 
large proportion from the West. We can easily re¬ 
member the time when he who talked of using ferti¬ 
lizers west of the Mississippi River was regarded as a 
wild man. Last year in the State of Missouri alone, 
nearly $2,000,000 worth of fertilizers were used by 
farmers in addition to their supplies of stable manure. 
In States farther east the use of chemicals is becom¬ 
ing general. This is one thing in which the West can 
learn of the East. There are eastern farms which 
were producing good crops when the West was a 
howling wilderness. With the aid of chemicals, prop¬ 
erly used, these farms are now producing more than 
they ever did. We do not argue any more that chemi¬ 
cals are useful—we try to show how they can be made 
profitable. 
A 
There may be some of our scientific men who have 
in mind bulletins on the fuel supply, care of cows, 
home-mixing fertilizers, or other timely subjects. 
Now they doubtless have the scientific part of their 
topic well in hand. What is science without practice? 
We will tell them how to make their bulletins doubly 
useful. Let them take a few weeks off, disguise them- 
selves as hired men and go out for a job on some aver¬ 
age farm. Who doubts that a season on the end of a 
cross-cut saw would not give them new ideas of fuel? 
Will not cleaning out the stable, singing to the cow 
and getting up before daylight to milk, temper their 
science as iron is tempered into steel? Let them mix 
chemicals on the barn floor for a few days and some 
of their advice about home mixing may be left out of 
their bulletin. Come, gentlemen, we charge nothing 
for this useful advice. Who will be the first to try it? 
Have farmers any fear that they will entertain a 
scientist unawares? 
* 
In order that readers may know how badly the New 
York Agricultural College needs a new home we make 
a fair statement of the situation. The present college 
work is carried on in several rooms in different build¬ 
ings scattered all over the University campus. These 
various buildings are from a quarter of a mile to a 
mile apart. With the work thus spread out and scat¬ 
tered it is easy to see how the instruction is interfered 
with. Even when a room has been found for a class 
it is usually too small so that students are crowded 
together or divided into sections so that the work is 
doubled. For example, in the study of soils consid¬ 
erable room is required for laboratory work. The 
room assigned for this work will accommodate 13 
while 60 or 70 students want to enter this course! It 
is easy to see what a state of affairs this creates. As 
is now quite generally known the dairy school is so 
crowded that about 50 students were turned away 
simply because there was no room for them to study. 
We could easily fill a column with just such instances 
to show how the College is cramped for room and 
how it lacks equipment. The New York Agricultural 
College is without a home and it is clearly the duty 
of the State to provide one. That is now all the in¬ 
stitution lacks to make it the leading college of its 
class in the world! There should be no further argu¬ 
ment or hesitation about it. A farmer without a home 
is a sad individual—a farmers’ college without a home 
can never fulfill its mission. Gov. Odell favors the 
college. How about your Senator and Assemblyman? 
Are they in line? Write them at once and ask them 
to vote for the bill now before the Legislature. 
* 
There is one class of literature that holds our in¬ 
terest at this time year after year. Popular novels 
may enter their millionth edition, daily papers brag 
of their stupendous circulation, and magazines tell of 
their ability to instruct and amuse, but they are all 
ephemeral compared with the abiding force of a good 
seed or nursery catalogue. We look at the wind-swept 
snow outside, and turn with pleasure to the garden of 
printer’s ink that we intend to translate into reality 
next Summer. It is true that some catalogues are 
misleading, but there are enough honest and trust¬ 
worthy ones to act as an antidote. They should be 
studied carefully, the garden schedule made out, and 
the order sent as early as possible. Nor should the 
catalogues be thrown away after one examination; 
they will repay further reference. The primary ob¬ 
ject of this paper salesman is to sell goods, but it also 
teaches us how to buy them. 
* 
State Agricultural Commissioner Wieting tens us 
in his report that in 1884 New York City consumed 
21,198,160 quarts of milk. Last year, so greatly has 
the demand increased, that no less than 69,398,120 
quarts were sent here. In spite of this enormous in¬ 
crease the people of this city have hardly begun to 
use milk as ihey should. The majority still regard 
it as a luxury—comparatively few realize that it is a 
food. It seems likely that each year will witness a 
large increase in the demand for good milk, and popu¬ 
lar education is all along the line of demanding the 
purest article. As people learn that milk is one of 
the best of foods they also learn that it can carry dis¬ 
ease and filth if these are found where it is made. 
“Certified” milk is now sent over 200 miles to this 
market and sold at a good price. Such milk is sold 
on a guaranteed analysis—which is the proper way to 
buy or sell food of any kind. 
* 
W. H. Bowker is reported as follows: 
If our ministers in the country parishes could first at¬ 
tend an agricultural college before they went to the 
divinity school, I believe they would be better fitted to 
preach to their flocks. They certainly would be more in 
touch and sympathy with them than they now are. What 
better way to lead a man from “Nature up to Nature’s 
God” than through a knowledge of the sciences which 
deal with Nature in all its infinite variety? 
We have among our readers quite a number of rural 
preachers who are also farmers. Some of them have 
introduced new seeds and plants or improved methods 
among the members of their congregations. Few if 
any of them are graduates of an agricultural college, 
but we see no reason why they could not make better 
farmers and more useful preachers as the result of 
such a course. A sermon on cow peas or Alfalfa, or 
even on the silo, might not only result in practical 
good but turn a moral point as well. One end of the 
rural pulpit may well rest firmly upon the soil! 
* 
The questions from city men who want to turn 
farmers begin earlier than usual this year. Here is 
one: 
Two years from this Spring I am intending to go on a 
farm in this county. I am closely confined all the week 
and also know nothing about farming. Can you inform 
me of any way to acquire any practical knowledge be¬ 
fore that time? 
The average man who looks at a farm through an 
office window seems to place too little importance up¬ 
on the practical side of farm work. Many of the books 
and papers which discuss farming make it appear that 
farm work is mechanical and may be as easily learned 
as the care of a machine. No greater mistake could be 
made. The practical side of farming is by far the 
most important and is harder to learn than the prac¬ 
tical side of any other business because it requires 
more real judgment, and must meet all sorts of condi¬ 
tions. The practical side of farm work cannot be 
learned from a book. Imagine a man who never 
milked a cow sitting down to a strange animal after 
reading a careful essay on milking. No, while we may 
absorb many useful things about farming through the 
head, the practical side of it comes through the hands 
and out through the pores of the skin. Our friend 
should spend a fair share of his time studying books 
and papers on farming—particularly such matters as 
soils and fertilizers, plant diseases and insects. By 
corresponding with good farmers he can pick up many 
ideas about methods and ways of doing things, but 
he can only obtain practical knowledge through his 
own efforts. If this man is situated so he can have a 
small garden and keep a few hens he can usefully em¬ 
ploy his spare time attending to them. If he has a 
vacation he should by all means spend it on a farm; 
not as a visitor but as a workman. He must remem¬ 
ber that this going to a farm for a living is serious 
business, with the chances against anyone who thinks 
that farming is a soft job or an easy business to learn. 
He should have capital enough to pay for his mis¬ 
takes while trying to learn and be sure that his fam¬ 
ily can be satisfied with country living. 
* 
Not so many years ago a boy was looked upon as 
a precious national asset, because he could grow into 
a soldier. The soldier was considered first because 
he could fight for his country. In time this estimate 
of a man’s national value gradually changed, and the 
professional man, the inventor and the “captain of 
industry” ranked with or above the soldier. All 
through these years the farm was expected to provide 
the crude material of blood and nerve which society 
polished or trained! Now we are to have another 
change. The time will come when man and woman 
can justly claim that they give to their country the 
noblest national gift when they nourish and train a 
good farmer! 
* 
One of the strongest things about the New York 
Experiment Station at Geneva is the fact that it is not 
a part of any political machine. The Board of Control 
and the Director are left reasonably free to plan their 
work and execute it without regard to somebody’s 
political job. This is as it should be. It has been 
demonstrated again and again in other States that 
when the politicians get their hands on this scientific 
work they are sure to degrade it. We regret to say 
that an effort is being made to put the Geneva Sta¬ 
tion under the control of the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture. A bill has been introduced at Albany with that 
end apparently in view. The farmers of the State 
must prevent the passage of this bill by protesting 
against it. The Geneva Station must be left free from 
all political entanglements. If this bill is pressed we 
must get our postage stamps ready and stick them 
where they belong. 
* 
The article on beef making expresses the views of 
a good many fruit and general farmers. Fifteen years 
ago, when the beef trust was locating its markets all 
over the East, many older men predicted that beef 
cattle would never again pay on the average New 
York farm. They were sincere in their belief, but they 
did not realize how farming was to change. The de¬ 
velopment of the fruit industry alone has been far be¬ 
yond what the most sanguine anticipated. Farms 
have changed, so that while they require more manure 
than ever before they have less room than formerly 
for pasturing young stock. Mr. Buell’s plan of raising 
a few steers on the farm may answer for some farm¬ 
ers, but there are more, we think, who will find it 
profitable to buy young western steers or heifers and 
fatten them through the Winter. We must remembe>- 
that the great western ranges are being fenced and 
taken up for homes. The “cattle barons” who former¬ 
ly fed their cattle on free Government land will be 
obliged more and more to compete on lairer terms 
with eastern farmers. It is pleasant to think that the 
anti-oleo bill, instead of killing the beef cattle indus¬ 
try as was predicted, enables eastern farmers to make 
a fair choice between beef and the dairy. Few if any 
successful dairymen will turn from butter fat to suet, 
but the man who feels that he is “tied to a cow’s tail” 
may well think it over. 
BREVITIES. 
Not much profit in home prophecy. 
Where are the farm hands to help out the farm heads? 
E’ven the ice men are finding fault with this weather. 
It makes the ice too thick. 
Did you ever see a hotbed sash made with one large 
sheet of glass, as mentioned by Mr. Morse last week? 
To the many who think of trying a speculation in 
packing cheap eggs in water glass we say, don’t try too 
many the first time. 
Fourteen ounces of pins welded into a solid mass 
were found in a cow’s stomach at one of the Chicago 
packing houses. That cow must have been full of good 
points. 
A New York farmer gives his calf a large dose of 
baking powder—thinking it was “medicine.” He raised 
the calf after all. 
If you would take a job that’s risky, by all means 
keep away from whisky. If you from danger points 
would steer—be sure and keep away from beer. Wherever 
you take a drink of gin—you swallow down a dose of 
sin. When tempted to a glass of rum, remember that it 
rhymes with bum. Wherever there’s a glass >of brandy, 
be sure you’ll find the devil handy. He also hands you 
out his card, whenever your cider waxes hard. 
