246 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 19 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TEE BUSINESS FANNER'S PAPER. 
K National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
- ■ -- 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, ! Assoclate . 
Mrs. E. T. Royle, ( Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to Ss. 6d., or 8^ marks, or 10^6 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 
erder, personal check or bank draft. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street. New York.. 
SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 1904. 
For some reason hard to understand the associa¬ 
tions of hardware dealers are opposed to the Parcels 
Post bill. They go so far as to say that had it not 
been for the opposition of their National Association 
this bill would now be a law. We had no idea the vic¬ 
tory was so near. These hardware dealers seem to 
carry the hardest thing in their whole stock in trade 
under their hat. 
* 
Much has been said about the plan of using soil 
from a good Alfalfa field when seeding land where 
this crop has never grown. The object is to introduce 
the bacteria which work on the Alfalfa roots. Some 
farmers scoff at such things, but the idea is gaining 
ground. The New York State Fruit Growers’ agent 
offers the bacteria soil for sale at $10 per ton, and 
there seems to be a demand for it. 
* 
Potatoes for seed will bear watching this Spring. 
No one will plant badly frozen tubers, but the danger 
is from seed that has been chilled enough to weaken 
its vitality. It may sprout well enough to deceive the 
planter, and yet not have in it the possibilities of a 
good crop. There is little enough profit in the potato 
at its best. Planting doubtful seed is fishing for dis¬ 
appointment with the most certain bait. 
* 
Immense quantities of canned vegetables and fruits 
were consumed in the Baltimore fire. That city is 
headquarters for such goods. So many cans were de¬ 
stroyed that the loss will have much to do with this 
year’s demand for the canning crop. The cold Winter 
caused a decrease in demand, but this fire prevents 
much of any surplus, and this year’s crop must not 
only supply the season’s demands, but provide for 
storage. There ought to be good sale for tomatoes in 
particular. 
We find some men who are discouraged with peach 
growing at the North. Thousands of trees have been 
killed during the past Winter, and except in some fa¬ 
vored localities the crop will be light. This, follow¬ 
ing after the partial failure of last year, is discourag¬ 
ing, and some will take it as a sign that they should 
quit the business. We do not believe in such “signs” 
except as they tell us to get out of the low valleys 
and go up on the hills. We shall keep on planting 
peaches. This is no time to quit, but rather the time 
to plant anew. 
Attention is called to the statement on the next 
page of the events which led to the attack upon the 
Geneva Experiment Station. A fair-minded man will 
ask at once if it is possible that such an institution 
runs the risk of losing its independence by trying to 
do its plain duty! We give the facts—you may judge 
for yourself. This fertilizer scandal was the backbone 
of the opposition to Dr. Jordan, and the attempt to 
change the station. A few politicians took advantage 
of the situation and united with the friends of this 
fertilizer company. There you have the combination 
which would, had it not been exposed, have been will¬ 
ing to change the character of the station! The 
farmers of the State headed off this scheme. They 
let Albany understand that they wquld not have it, 
and leading men in the Legislature were surprised to 
learn how many true friends the Station and the col¬ 
lege can muster. The fact is, that slowly but surely 
the educated farmers of New York are learning 
something of their power, and also the best way to 
use it. As is well known, The R. N.-Y. will not in¬ 
dulge in personalities, or turn aside to notice petty 
flings or sneers. When it becomes necessary to tell 
the farmers a few things that they ought to know we 
hope to tell them plainly and fearlessly, working up 
to the highest ground in every discussion. The Ex¬ 
periment Station belongs to the farmers. It is their 
duty and privilege to defend it—and they will do so. 
* 
Here is a statement from a New England reader 
who, with others, saw the rain carry his cornfield to 
grass last Summer: 
It made me feel real friendly towards the editor of one 
farm paper that I have been foolish enough to take, when 
during last June and July, about all we could do was 
to sit and watch the rain come down day after day, we 
found his paper filled up with: “Now keep the cultivator 
humming,” “Now is the time to kill the weeds,” etc. It 
showed how little he was really in touch with the farmers. 
Such advice would certainly be likely to “jar” a 
farmer. Still, this is a big country, and there might 
have been a drought elsewhere. 
* 
Farmers in the Central West are suddenly waking 
up to find that chemical fertilizers are not poisonous 
but profitable. It takes but a short memory to go 
back to the time when even scientific men hooted at 
the suggestion that anything beside clover or manure 
would ever be needed. Now they go about promising 
large returns from the use of bone meal. Within a 
few years they will be advocating the use of potash 
and different forms of nitrogen. This means that 
western farmers will meet poorer soils with better 
farming. 
* 
During the past few weeks we have read or lis¬ 
tened to more than 50 different ways of planting a 
tree. These plans run all the way from digging a 
hole as large as a hogshead to punching a small hole 
in the ground with a stick. Strange to say each plan 
has strong advocates, who can point to fair success 
and predict failure for those who plant otherwise. 
After summing it all up we conclude that no one 
knows it all—that the greatest “crank” in the world 
is the man who says all must do just as he does and 
—that we shall go on planting very short roots in 
small holes. 
* 
“Wiiat shall I do with frozen peach trees?” This 
question is bothering many fruit growers just now. 
The advice to pull them out and plant new ones suits 
the nurserymen, but many growers feel like giving 
the trees a new chance. There are also many old 
trees that are headed too high, and might well be cut 
down. Now is a good time to do that. J. Norris 
Barnes, of Connecticut, has had considerable experi¬ 
ence in “dishorning” such trees. He has sent us 
photographs showing how such trees were cut back 
and how they grew. Pictures of them will appear 
next week, and they are worth waiting for before 
you pull out trees that seem to be dead. 
* 
J. Grant Morse tells us this week about his 10 
Jersey cows. He says: “This $1,288.78 is practically 
the amount produced by one man on a farm that cost 
less tlian twice that amount. In what other line of 
farming can one man do better?” It will depend on 
the man. Put Mr. Morse on a small fruit farm, or in 
charge of a flock of hens run as Mapes runs them, or 
in an orchard such as Mr. Hitchings is developing, 
and his $1,200 might be cut in two. Other men might 
take the other opportunities and make them go. 
Morse does well to stick to his cows. He knows and 
loves them. The fair comparison is between Morse 
and other dairymen—not between Morse and any 
other farmer. No man succeeds unless he is half 
horse, half cow, half hen or half apple, as the case 
may be. The point is that if a man is to be half cow 
he ought to be half purebred, or close to it. 
* 
No paper in the country has been a more ardent de¬ 
fender of oleo than the National Provisioner. In 
season and out of season it has pointed out what it 
called the “injustice” of denying to colored oleo the 
right to masquerade as butter. Yet we are not at all 
surprised to find it printing the following: 
There are evidences in the state of the European de¬ 
mand for oils and greases that the substitute is getting 
in disfavor. The product of which they are an ingre¬ 
dient is calling the consumer’s attention to the inferiority 
by the dissatisfaction which it creates among both the 
wholesalers who sell it and the consumers who use it. 
That is just what the honest butter men said about 
oleo. It was a subtitute—a cheap imitation of their 
goods, the sale of which created an unfair competi¬ 
tion. We have often said that the arguments of the 
oleo men would come back to cut them just as soon as 
cheap substitutes for lard and beef fat were put on 
the markets. Here they are, and the oleo men are 
evidently taking a dose of their own medicine. 
We have had our say about the “authorities” in 
Maine who are to build a log cabin to represent the 
State at St. Louis. Here is a Maine man who tells 
the story anew: 
I agree with you that we should hold up the State of 
Maine as a desirable place to live and work and die in, 
rather than the best place to kill an innocent deer. But 
we have a “game commission” in the State, and in order 
to make it a “big thing” they and their friends are doing 
the “log cabin” trick. Our State Pomological ^Society 
asked the privilege of cooperating with the ‘ins” in mak¬ 
ing a good display of fruit at St. Louis along last Sum¬ 
mer, but were coolly ignored, no notice taken of it, and 
not until November, when the fruit was all harvested 
and mostly sold and in Europe or cold storage, did they 
get a move on in the way of making an exhibit. As a 
consequence a few more sports will come to Maine next 
Fall, and a good many noses will be elevated at the “fruit 
display” made by the Pine Tree farmers. 
The folly of such conduct is enough to sadden even 
a codling worm or an Apple borer in a Maine orchard. 
These men have thrown away a chance to go out into 
the home of the Ben Davis apple and advertise the 
beautiful Maine fruit. Maine does not need more 
hunters half as much as she needs more homes. 
• 
The Agricultural Appropriation bill as passed by 
the House of Representatives, contained the follow¬ 
ing: 
The Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized and 
directed to coordinate the work of the several stations 
and the work of the stations with the Department of 
Agriculture, to the end of preventing unnecessary dupli¬ 
cation of work, of increasing the efficiency of the stations 
and the Department of Agriculture, and to unify and sys¬ 
tematize agricultural investigations in the United States. 
If this means anything at all it is an effort to bring 
the practical control of all the stations into the hands 
of the National Department. It is not desirable that 
the Department should have too much authority. It 
is well to have some organization or understanding, 
so that the stations can work together, but each sta¬ 
tion should remain independent and free to take up 
lines of work that are best suited to the needs of its 
State.' There is such a thing as too much “organiza¬ 
tion” when it interferes with original research or 
local needs. We regret to say that Secretary Wilson 
in recent remarks about New York agricultural edu¬ 
cation, and in the publication of recent bulletins, 
shows that he is likely to let prejudice play the part 
of reasonable argument. To give the Department full 
control of the stations would cut their true usefulness 
in half. Years ago we asked the late Edwin Willets, 
then Assistant Secretary, what was to be done with 
the stations which were not giving fair returns for 
the money they received. There were a number of 
them which could be classed as failures. He saw no 
way at that time to compel them to do more prac¬ 
tical work. Secretary Wilson seems to have found a 
way, but in stirring up the laggards he is quite likely 
to hold back the willing workers. We are not in 
favor of giving the National Department too much 
authority. 
BREVITIES. 
What about Cosgrove’s hen figures? 
The man with a dry throat feels that his Adam’s apple 
is a Ben Davis. 
If you have a lien on land do your best to fatten it 
the land we mean. 
A little extra grain now will put the plow team in 
trim for next month’s work. 
Come, gentlemen, let’s hunt for the bright side of life 
even if we can’t find any. 
“I have a soft job at last,” said the wagon wheel as it 
sank hub deep in the mud road. 
Last year we kept the dirt worked up to the trans¬ 
planted onions in a small ridge. 
Will those who have experience in harrowing wheat 
after sowing clover seed kindly give their experience? 
Plant a few of those hemlock spruces mentioned in 
Ruralisms. They are on “dress parade” the year around. 
A Texas saloonkeeper is said to face 1,147 counts for 
illicit selling, which will mean a fine of $75,000 and 63 
years in jail. 
You may silence a man and yet not convince him. Be¬ 
ware of this enforced silence. There are ugly germs of 
discontent in it. 
The rhubarb growers of Alameda Co., Cal., have form¬ 
ed an association. There are over 600 acres given to the 
crop in that county. 
A Chicago judge decides that a horse is not “raw ma¬ 
terial.” This horse was seized with other assets of a 
bogus oleomargarine plant. 
Moss on the back is no disgrace. Don’t try to dig it 
off with a knife. The scar that it leaves Is worse than 
the moss. Let it grow off gently. 
January was a hard month, yet the exports from this 
country of apples, dried and green, were valued at $941,- 
526, against $886,863 in January, 1903. 
We have found the San Jos6 scale on blackberries, but 
there is little danger that the insect will ruin crops of 
this sort, for they die when the canes die. 
IN some matters the crow appears very wise, but he 
must be lazy or lacking in judgment to hang around the 
North during three months of zero and howling winds. 
Think what a difference good roads and good wheels 
make with a wagon load. With the best conditions two 
horses haul 16,000 pounds on smooth asphalt in this city. 
