624 
August 2§, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TEE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established, 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, i , 
Mrs. e. T. koyle, j-Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal Tostal Union, $2.04. 
equal to 8s. Gd., or 8 y 2 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 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 be sent to us within one 
month of the time of the transaction, and you must have 
mentioned The 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 20, 1904. 
THE PRIZE CLIPPINGS. 
The first prize this week goes to New York, second 
to Maine, and third to Pennsylvania, as follows: 
G. E. Minard, Albany Co., N. Y. 
Mary B. Aiken, Penobscot Co., Me. 
W. W. Kapp, Armstrong Co., Pa. 
We still offer weekly prizes of $1.50, $1 and 50 cents 
for the best clippings from local papers. 
* 
The Toronto Sun tells its readers: ‘A member of 
Parliament is as much your servant as is the hired man 
on your farm. There should be no more hesitation in 
asking for an explanation of failure in duty in one case 
than there is in asking for it in the other.” Bear that 
pithy statement in mind when your Congressman or 
Senator shows a lack of regard for farmers’ interests. 
Try him right away on the parcels post bill! 
* 
It is difficult to buy Alfalfa hay in eastern markets. 
This is because the hay is bulky, and feeders are not 
well acquainted with it. In Syracuse, N. Y., we under¬ 
stand the hay sells readily at $12.50 a ton. Alfalfa has 
been grown near that city until livery stable keepers 
know what the hay is. It is now proposed in California 
to grind Alfalfa hay into a coarse meal and sell it in bags, 
or pressed into cakes. This will save bulk and preserve 
the feeding value of the hay, but few besides poultry 
keepers will buy it until it has been well advertised and 
exploited. We have known people to pay high prices 
for cotton hulls with a small amount of meal mixed 
with them who would balk at paying a fair price for 
ground Alfalfa. 
* 
Every year we hear of many thrashing machine acci¬ 
dents. In some cases the victim is killed; in others 
a hand or an arm is torn to shreds. With reasonable 
care work around a modern thrasher is no more hazard¬ 
ous than chopping wood, and almost every accident is 
the result of glaring lack of caution. We have seen 
men who, when feeding, seemed to think nothing of 
putting the hand within four inches of the screeching 
cylinder, to pull out or push in a bunch of straw. 
Others in handing sheaves stand on a ladder or platform 
in such position that a little slip would throw them on 
the table, with good chance of a foot striking the cylin¬ 
der. With no wobbly platforms or loose clothing and a 
firm resolution to keep the hands away from the cylinder 
when in motion, most of these horrible accidents may 
be avoided. 
* 
The pure food bill will be opposed in the Senate by 
the makers of “rectified” whisky. This bill establishes 
standards for whisky as well as for food. The “rectifier” 
mixes pure alcohol with various other articles, and sells 
the mixture for whisky, while this bill would compel 
him to label his stuff “compound.” It is said that 85 
per cent of the so-called whisky sold in this country is 
put together in this way, and the “rectifiers” are so 
strong that they actually expect to defeat the bill or 
kill the section which seeks to make them mark their 
goods properly. The R. N.-Y. has no sympathy for 
whisky manufacturers, but if the wretched stuff is to be 
made at all it should at least be “pure.” In principle 
the “rectifiers” copy the methods of the oleo men by 
seeking to palm off an artificial mixture in place of a 
natural product. For the good of society such an at¬ 
tempt should be put down in every case. Farmers espe¬ 
cially should support the pure food bill. They suffer 
most from the sale of adulterated goods, because such 
adulteration not only hurts the sale of first-class prod¬ 
ucts, but gives the handlers a double chance to make 
profit. The chance of this useful bill must not be 
injured by a lot of “rectifiers” who would put an addi¬ 
tional devil into the solution they call “whisky.” 
* 
The question of educating the children often comes 
up in a farm family. We know of one case where a 
woman is tempted to sell the farm in order to provide 
money for educating her daughters. The farm is mort¬ 
gaged, but it is the only home the family has, and would 
bring little more than enough to send the girls to a good 
college. It is seldom wise for a stranger to offer advice 
about persona] matters, but this seems a case where one 
should say “Do not sell the farm!” We have seen too 
many cases where parents have slaved and toiled in 
order to make things easy for their children, only to find 
themselves neglected later. The average girl is more 
grateful than the average son, and she would willingly 
repay her mother by giving every comfort. A girl is 
not always mistress of her own future, and cannot carry 
out the plans she honestly makes. It will seem like hard 
advice to many parents, but it is better to make children 
work for an education than to give it to them without 
an effort. 
* 
One of our local grocers is famous for the good 
quality of the cheese he sells. As we have remarked 
before, good American cheese is a scarce article in the 
average grocery, a fact that has something to do with 
the small consumption deplored by H. E. Cook. The 
grocer referred to tells us that he can never get a supply 
of native cheese sufficiently ripened, so he buys a con¬ 
siderable quantity at a time, and ripens it himself, keep¬ 
ing it in the proper temperature, and turning as needed. 
This is troublesome and expensive, and though he 
charges two or three cents a pound more than the other 
grocers he makes little profit on this cheese; however, 
he pleases his customers and increases the cheese outlet. 
Very few giocers would trouble to do this, but the man 
in question became familiar with cheese processes in 
Great Britain, and very quickly saw the weak point in 
the average cheese supply here. We are eating Edam 
cheese with our salad this Summer; it is perfectly cured, 
and always to be relied on for excellence of flavor. 
So far, the sources of supply open to us do not furnish 
American cheese so satisfactory to our taste as the Dutch. 
* 
When we started out to learn what the trouble with 
fence wire is we wrote every manufacturer and fence 
maker in the country. Replies were received from most 
of them. Naturally many of the smaller concerns who 
do not make their own wire could not speak out as 
freely as they would like. We respect their position. 
It would be easy for the wire trust to squeeze them out 
of business. Without mentioning names we print the 
following letter from a well-known manufacturer: 
We are sorry to say that we believe the consumer has 
just cause for complaint within the past three or four years. 
Previous to the combining of all the mills into one com¬ 
pany, every mill endeavored to furnish a good quality of 
galvanized wire. We do not understand why the combines 
do not see it to their interests to give the same quality of 
goods properly galvanized to-day that the mills did six or 
eight years ago. New mills, having started within the past 
two or three years, are not able for a time to reach that 
perfection desired by the public, and again, they cannot 
supply the demand until they increase their capacity mate¬ 
rially. 
There is little doubt that the wire manufacturers are 
using less spelter or galvanizing than they formerly did. 
The plan is to wipe off all the galvanizing they can, 
leaving the thinnest possible coat. That is why the wire 
rusts and gives out so easily. The public, who buy such 
wire, know that something is wrong, but they do not 
know how to obtain justice. Here is a letter from a 
New York farmer: 
On page 57G there is an article on wire fences. This is 
a golden oppportunity for you. Get us some good fences; 
we want them, and we will pay for them. The wire made 
by the United States Steel Co. is even more rotten than 
their worthless stock. You end your article “and see if 
the American farmer cannot prevent this outrage.” We 
want a leader; let The It. N.-Y. be our leader. 
We intend to keep at this matter until it is made so 
clear and plain that no one can dodge the issue. The 
wire trust is making inferior wire, and charging more 
than it is worth. Having what amounts to a monopoly 
they think they can afford to ignore public sentiment. 
The only excuse they offer us is that farmers demand 
cheap goods, and will not pay fair prices for such wire 
as they used to sell. We shall see what becomes of this 
argument before we get done with it. There is no trust 
on the face of the earth that will dare to stand against 
an aroused public sentiment. Let us go calmly and sys¬ 
tematically about this business, and in time we can com¬ 
pel the trust to give us better wire. Put the blame where 
it belongs, and keep talking about it. Such things grow 
slowly, but we will keep them growing. 
Reports show a strange condition of affairs in the 
California Agricultural College. The progressive farm¬ 
ers of the State desire to have this college enlarged and 
improved, so that it will serve them. The State Uni¬ 
versity controls the college, and, strange to say, the 
University authorities do not want to make the College 
of Agriculture practical and useful. The methods used 
to defeat the plan are thus stated by The Dairy Review: 
A very clever method to accomplish the defeat of the 
farmers has been adopted. The University will ask for a 
big appropriation for an agricultural building, which it 
needs about as much as it needs a battleship. The present 
building is ample for the limited activities of the College 
of Agriculture. The new building propositon has been 
sprung solely for the purpose oi defeating the farmers’ 
efforts, for those hack of it know the Legislature will not 
grant both the model farm and practical school asked for 
and also the new building. 
The fact seems to be that the University has dodged 
its duty to the farmers. It has used the land grant 
funds and the power that goes with them for its own 
benefit, and given agriculture a very small slice of ser¬ 
vice. The authorities well understand that if the farm¬ 
ers once obtain a little switch of advantage from the 
Legislature the stick will grow into a club, which will 
be felt every time it falls. California farmers should 
go on with their fight. It is a great thing for agricul¬ 
ture that these battles are fought outside of party lines. 
* 
Whenever some smart writer wants to get in a hard 
blow at farming be works over the old “insanity” fig¬ 
ures. He claims that the great majority of women in¬ 
mates of insane asylums come from farm homes, and 
that their insanity is caused by the hard and lonely 
life which farm women live. We have become tired of 
hearing this old lie repeated over and over again, and 
have begun a careful investigation in order to obtain 
the facts. Here is a sample report from M. C. Ashley. 
Superintendent of the hospital at Middletown, N. Y.: 
Of the women population of this hospital at the present 
time there are 418 patients from cities and towns and 282 
from rural districts. The number from the rural districts 
includes not only those who come from farms, hut many 
who come from towns, of a few hundred to a few thousand 
population. 
The farm is* obliged to suffer in reputation for the 
sins of hundreds of*smaller towns. We like the word 
“hospital” applied to an institution for the care of the 
insane. Some of such places are worse than jails, where 
little effort is made to cure or help the inmates. Dr. G. 
L. Adams, of the Westboro Hospital in Massachusetts, 
writes: 
There have been floating round the press for the last few 
years statements to the effect that farmers' wives grow in¬ 
sane much more frequently than women engaged in other 
occupations. It is not true, but I believe in the East that 
the reverse is true, that life on a farm is not conducive to 
insanity. In the Far West, especially in the Dakotas and 
Nebraska, where the farms are widely scattered and the 
farmer’s family, whose nearest, neighbor may be 10 miles 
away, may not see any but their own people for weeks at 
a time, under those circumstances a farmer’s wife who 
remains doing the household work while her husband is 
out on the farm frequently breaks down with melancholia, 
and I am told that the statistics there show a larger pro¬ 
portion of women from farm life than there should be in 
proportion to the population, hut even here I am inclined to 
think that the number may not he excessive, because these 
States are essentially farming communities, the cities forming 
a comparatively small portion of the population. 
At the Matteawau (N. Y.) hospital insane prisoners 
are kept. These inmates either became insane while in 
prison or offered insanity as a defence for crime. Out 
of 610 patients 83 are women. Of these only nine re¬ 
sided on farms prior to their confinement. Of the nine 
one was born in the city. The State Commissioner of 
Lunacy says that it is nearly impossible to state the con¬ 
nection of occupation with insanity, but according to his 
figures during the past 15 years 35,806 women have been 
admitted to State insane hospitals. Of these only nine 
were classed as “agricultural and pastoral,” while 13,597 
were from domestic service and 14,812 from commercial 
classes. It is about time for the old lie to be killed 
and buried. 
BREVITIES. 
Don't worry about what the soil will do 30 years from 
now. See what it will do to-day. 
Op course you have read the valuable notes on growing 
seedlings which have appeared in Ruralisms. 
We will get under the galvanizing of “cheek" on the wire 
trust some day and make them feel public opinion. 
IIow would you like to live in Russia, where the only way 
to vote a man out of office seems to be the use of the bomb 
ticket? 
It is stated on page G18 that increased facilities for ship¬ 
ping milk have lessened the acreage of hops In Otsego Co., 
N. This will increase the respect of temperance advo¬ 
cates for the dairy cow. 
On page 619 is a picture of one plant of Hairy vetch. 
Long experience has shown us how difficult it is to give a 
fair idea 1 of the way a new forage crop looks from a photo¬ 
graph. One must see the crop growing in order to gain a 
fair idea of it. One good sight of an Alfalfa field is worth 
100 photographs. 
