592 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
August 0, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PARER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Hr. Walter Van Fleet, I . 
Mbs. K. T. Hoyle, ^ Associates. 
Johx J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal Postal Union. $2 04, 
equal to 8s. Cd., or 8M* marks, or 10Vi 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 col¬ 
umns. 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 he sent to us within one 
month of the time of the transaction, and you must have 
mentioned Tjib Rural New-Yorker when writing the adver¬ 
tiser. 
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, AUGUST G, 1904. 
1 THE PRIZE CLIPPINGS. 
This week the first prize goes to Connecticut, the 
second and third to New York, as follows: 
Humphrey D. Darrah, Fairfield Co., Conn. 
Mrs. E. C. Moulton, Genesee Co., N. Y. 
Mrs. If. C. Blanding, Madison Co., N. Y. 
We still offer weekly prizes of $1.50, $1 and 50 cents 
for the best clippings from local papers. 
* 
This week we begin to print reports of damage done 
by the San Jose scale in New York. Reports from 
other States will follow. Fruit growers are now set¬ 
tling down to a real sense of the danger from this in¬ 
sect. No orchard once infested seems to recover. The 
spread of the scale is slow, but everlastingly sure. It 
seems to be a sure case of watch and fight and spray. 
* 
If New York State were to go into the business of 
“booming” her farm land what an argument could be 
presented as compared with the claims made by 
Western States! The soil is naturally strong and fertile 
—capable of high culture. The State is well watered, 
with thousands of locations where irrigation can be 
profitably employed. Within a comparatively few miles 
are millions of city people who produce no food what¬ 
ever. No State in the Union has such perfect transpor¬ 
tation facilities as New York. If these advantages could 
be well and persistently pushed the average selling value 
of New York farm land coulu be increased by 50 per cent. 
* 
What Prof. Slingerland has to say about Carpet 
beetles, on page 588, will be very interesting to all 
housekeepers. The life history of this villainous insect, 
which browses gaily among the trees and plants of the 
garden until its progeny is boarded out in our carpets, 
is new to most of us, and it is well to know that care¬ 
ful screening of doors and windows is some insurance 
against it. Wire screens are not merely a comfort or 
luxury; they have a sanitary and economic value be¬ 
yond computation. Modern science tells us that flies 
and mosquitoes may be the winged messengers of dis¬ 
ease and death; their exclusion from the home is a ne¬ 
cessity, and with them we shut out a host of other 
insect plagues. We should be very glad to see the 
permanently fastened-down carpet disappear into the 
limbo of things forgotten, taking the last Carpet beetle 
with it, but we cannot yet hope for that, and so long 
as it is with us carpet owners must fight strenuously 
against the beetle, with wire screens and constant sweep¬ 
ing for their allies. But, after all, is a nailed-down 
carpet reallv worth while? 
* 
Since Mr. Stubenrauch told us about the low price 
of farm lands in 'Texas we have had many letters from 
people who want to know more about the South. This 
rich land is offered at a low price because cotton growers 
are frightened by the Cotton boll-weevil. They want 
to go somewhere else and raise cotton. Many of those 
who ask about this land are potato or fruit growers 
who, for some reason, are not satisfied with their present 
locations. Either prices are low, land too high, society 
not congenial or some other condition makes them rest¬ 
less and willing to change. There is much of this rest¬ 
less, unsatisfied spirit in the country. Younger people, 
without strong home attachments, may find it profitable 
to move about until they find a fixed location, hut people 
o f middle age should be slow to give up their home. 
Recently a reader in Illinois spoke of going East or 
South because he finds it impossible to obtain workmen 
who will hoe. He will have a hard job to find in any 
locality men who like to work at actual hand labor. 
Most workmen like to drive a horse and do the things 
which seem to accomplish results, but few of them are 
satisfied with the slow finger work which must be done 
if small fruits are to be grown as they should be. 
Readers are starting up all over the East to offer farms 
to this Illinois man, but not one of them yet feels like 
guaranteeing a supply of workmen who can and will hoe. 
* 
'The death of J. H. Brigham makes it necessary to 
appoint a new Assistant Secretary of Agriculture. We 
notice that various gentlemen have been “nominated” 
for this position. We have no name to suggest, for we 
take the position that in a case of this sort the head 
of the Department should be left free to select his own 
assistants. In a general way the people have a right 
to suggest how a great Department is to be conducted. 
When a man has been selected .to organize and head 
such a Department he should be left free to carry out 
his policy. Secretary Wilson should therefore be left 
alone to choose his assistants. If a new head of the 
Department were to be appointed we should surely have 
something to say about it. 
* 
Who will carry the Western States? A good share 
of the welfare of the people will depend upon the answer 
to this question. We are not talking about the Pres¬ 
idential candidates, but about the corn crop or the weed 
crop. Unless a man holds an office or wants to hold 
one he need not lose sleep over the election. The mak¬ 
ing of the corn crop is quite another matter. We need 
a bumper crop—one that will fill all the granaries and 
run them over. That will make cheap and abundant 
food of all kinds, give business to railroad men and 
handlers, provide for a great export trade, and put 
money in the pockets of farmers. Nothing is more nec¬ 
essary this year than a great crop of corn. The men 
who save the country are not now rallying voters and 
pulling political wires. They are chasing cultivators 
up and down the corn rows, or hoeing out weeds. 
* 
The city man in the country question is started on 
page 59:i. This is always interesting to a large number 
of readers who live in town, cultivate a small garden and 
have dreams of a home in the country. We have had an 
endless correspondence with such people, which is often 
sad when we realize how some of them long for a home 
of their own, and how little they know of the trials that 
face them in a lonely country place. We wish to explain 
that the questions printed on the next page were sent 
at random to a number of our readers. We wanted to 
have fair opinions from unprejudiced men. We might 
obtain truthful statements from men who have suc¬ 
ceeded, and also from those who have failed. Possibly 
we shall print both sides before we are done with the 
subject. There are so many people discussing the 
problem of the farm as an investment for a life’s savings 
that we desire to set all the facts before them. 
* 
We are informed that Luther Burbank, the hybridist, 
is investigating fruit shipping conditions in California. 
Mr. Burbank has given us many new fruits and flow¬ 
ers; now if he can give us some human hybrids in the 
railroad line he will benefit his countrymen still more. 
If we might suggest a few desirable things we would 
name a railroad magnate with such a change of heart 
that he will give the public fair rates without rebates to 
those who least need them. We would also like a handler 
who will never play baseball with a case of fruit, and 
a ticket agent who always looks pleasant when you ask 
him about the “next train.” Let Brother Burbank see 
if he cannot breed some railroad men who will not 
give us to understand that they own the entire earth. 
Of course we know they do, but we would like to be 
able to imagine at times that we own a small piece 
of it. While he is about it let him give us a large ex¬ 
press company that will favor a parcels post! But why 
expect the impossible? 
* 
It is early yet to make definite estimates of the apple 
crop. The dealers and handlers are. as usual, talking 
“big crop,” but it is hard for the average observer to 
make out where the excess of apples is to he found. 
This talk always starts in July, just before the apple 
shippers meet, and is without doubt intended to influ¬ 
ence apple sellers. Of course the apple shippers, through 
their organization, have a good chance to estimate the 
size of the crop, but a dozen things may Happen between 
now and October to change the whole aspect of affairs. 
Heavy gales, wet weather and fungus, inability to buy 
barrels—these and other things will influence prices 
aside from any present appearance of the trees. We 
must remember that most of the developments during 
the past 10 years have tended to steady prices and 
bring the business under closer observation. We now 
know more about what people want and \yhat they 
will need. Systems of distribution and handling in 
storage have been improved, so that there is less likely 
to be a glut. Various State and private organizations 
are able to gather statistics and reports, so that the 
coming crop can be estimated before it is picked. All 
those things are likely to steady prices, for high prices 
come through a real or fancied failure of supply. It 
seems to us that we are likely to come to a condition 
in the apple market somewhat like that of wheat. Prices 
for grain vary little because the amount in the country 
is well known, and the demand can be accurately stated. 
The apple grower therefore is likely to have a stand¬ 
ard price for his fruit with less variation from year 
to year than in the past. On the whole we believe this 
will mean an advantage to the grower, as the money 
made by advancing prices has usually gone to the 
handlers. 
* 
In California orange growers are considering the 
value of cull fruit for fertilizer. The plant food in a 
ton of such fruit is worth $3, or a little more than 
average manure. One grower is reported as using 20 
tons of such fruit per acre, chiefly in young, non-bearing 
orchards. It pays us best to keep hogs in the orchards 
to eat the fallen fruit. Our hogs just now are feasting 
on windfall apples with a small feed of whole corn in 
addition. We have given up the idea of trying to ship 
inferior fruit. I he packages, the handling and the 
transportation cost as much as for first-class fruit, and 
the mass of poor stuff dumped on the market injures the 
sale of the good fruit. While the fertilizing value 'Ot 
cull fruit is considerable the feeding value is worth 
saving. We have seen farmers pick up windfalls and 
carry them to stock. This seems, to us useless labor, 
for hogs or sheep will pick up the fruit without help. 
Good judgment must be used in feeding such fruit, but 
we believe it a sin to let it waste and a crime to send it 
to market to compete with a good product. 
* 
Many of our readers have no use for a dog. Most 
of those who curse a dog never became acquainted with 
a good one. A cur, untaught and ill-bred, certainly is 
a nuisance. Most dogs have a bad reputation because 
they absorb and imitate the bad qualities of their 
masters. A man is known by his dog! We recently 
heard of a case where an evil reputation for a dog was 
something of a compliment for him. A fruit grower 
lived in a community where there is a class of people 
who think it more dignified to steal fruit than to sweat 
for it. J he fruit grower owns a large, powerful dog, good- 
natured and kind to friends but fierce toward thieves. 
He seems to have a sort of instinct which tells him 
when to extend paw or tooth. He is turned loose at 
night among the fruit. Not long ago the fruit grower 
received word from the authorities that complaint had 
been entered again his dog, charging him with being a 
dangerous animal. He was warned that the dog must 
be killed. In reply the fruit grower demanded the 
name of the complainant. He said the dog was kind 
to friends and visitors, but was “death on thieves,” 
therefore he would like to know who it was that con¬ 
sidered him dangerous. The name is not likely to be 
given. 
BREVITIES. 
Broad acres may lead to narrow alms. 
Tact is required to keep your bauk account intact. 
A friend writes that he wants a farm hand who “loves 
work.” Where is he to be found? 
There is said to be poison in hair dye. The worst poison 
is the belief of an old man that he can make people believe 
that Nature has not touched his hair. 
When Candidate Barker bought some celery plants one 
side said he was preparing for a Thanksgiving dinner, while 
the other said he was preparing a homemade tonic for the 
nerves. 
In some places buckets full of water are kept standing or 
hung up about farm buildings—to be used in case of tire. 
The liquid will be more effective if salt is dissolved in the 
water. 
A hog’s actions speak louder than words when you ask 
him if he likes one variety of apple better than auother. 
Try him with an assortment of Ben Davis, Baldwin, Grimes 
and Greening! 
It is reported that farmers in sections of Kansas and 
Missouri have gone back to old-fashioned grain cradles this 
year, as the only means of saving part of their harvest 
in consequence of continued rain, which has made the fields 
impassable for reapers. 
There is no greater enemy of farm prosperity than the 
rumshop. In the city it absorbs millions of dollars which 
ought to go to buy farm produce. In the country it demor¬ 
alizes the hired man and makes a headquarters for toughs 
and loafers. Yet most farmers seem to believe that they 
must endure it. Why? 
The Chinese are said to believe that ginseng will prolong 
life and make disease wellnigh impossible. The ginseng at 
least cannot cure itself, 'the wild plants are quite free from 
disease, but under cultivation wilts, rots and blights attack 
it. A recent Cornell bulletin describes some of these dis¬ 
eases and also claims that insects trouble the plants. So 
the patli of the ginseng grower is not all lined with gold. 
There seems to be little help yet for diseased plants. 
