March 26 
2?0 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PA I'FR. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established WHO. 
condemn such a scheme entirely we will ask our read¬ 
ers to tell us of any case where such a scheme has 
worked out. Did it prove a “fake” or a fact? You are. 
pretty sure to get the truth from R. N.-Y. readers. 
* 
Herbert W. Collinuwood, Editor. 
Du. WALTER VAN 
Mks. K T. Kovi.k, 
Fleet, i 
f 
Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business .Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to 8s. Gd., or 8* *4 marks, or 10$ 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, MARCH 2G, 1904. 
Read the excellent article by H. E. Cook on the next 
page. He tells the truth about eastern farm lands. 
Nowhere on the face of the earth can better bargains 
in farm land he obtained than in New York State and 
New England. Public sentiment helps give value to 
such land. Let us all get together to put confidence 
and respect into it. 
* 
The bill providing for a building at the Agricultural 
College was reported from the Ways and Means Com¬ 
mittee on March 16. The fight before the committee 
has been hard and long; now the battle is transferred 
to the Legislature itself. The hardest rub will come 
in the Senate, and it behooves every friend of the 
college to stick a pen into his Senator at once. We 
must not fail now, after having fought the bill out 
into the open. Up and at them once more! Bring 
every possible force to bear upon your Senator! 
* 
We have had a good discussion as to the best way 
to heat a farmhouse. Some of the best articles are 
yet to be printed. This great interest in house heat¬ 
ing prompts us to start another discussion on house 
lighting. Many people whose eyes are weak are cut 
off from much enjoyment when darkness comes, be¬ 
cause the lights are so poor that they cannot see to 
read. With the darkness and storm outside the farm 
home should be as bright and cheerful as possible. If 
there is any particular form of lamp or any arrange¬ 
ment of lights that will bring night closer to day the 
farmer ought to have it. We therefore call for ex¬ 
perience in lighting the farmhouse. What is the best 
way to do it? 
* 
One of The R. N.-Y.’s neighbors is an Italian widow 
who lives in a narrow tenement, street nearby. She 
spends her mornings over the washtub or scrubbing 
pail—her afternoons standing on a blustery corner 
selling papers. She finds time with it all to nurse her 
old father, a man past fourscore, whose vitality has 
been lowered almost to the vanishing point by the 
severe Winter. Speaking of the food given the in¬ 
valid, the widow said: “I buy dose big Spy apple— 
not dose hard red apple like sawdust, and bake in 
oven. My papa he says: ‘Maria, I don’t die if my 
friends feed me dose big apple—I keep right on liv 
ing.’” We think this Italian patriarch is entitled to 
honorary membership in the Apple Consumers’ 
League. It is worth noting, too, that a buyer of this 
class is ready to discriminate against inferior quality, 
and knows a superior sort well enough to call it by 
name. 
* 
lx some parts of the country agents are at work 
trying to sell trees or plants on the old “share” plan. 
You are asked to buy 1,000 fruit or nut trees at a high 
price. You furnish the ground, the company is to 
plant the trees and pay all or part of the expense of 
caring for them until bearing. The company is to 
have a share of several crops, after which the orchard 
is to belong to the owner of the land. It is quite 
easy to see what an advantage such a contract 
would give to a man who was inclined to be 
a rascal. He would receive far more for the trees in 
the first place than they were worth. He could well 
afford to plant them and then get out with a big 
profit. As a rule, the risk is so great that we would 
not advise a man to try any such scheme. At the 
same time we are ready to admit that an honest nur¬ 
seryman might carry out his side of such a contract 
so as to prove a real benefit to a farmer. Before we 
We should all plant our crops hopefully this year. 
The hard Winter is over and Spring will seem brighter 
than ever before, in consequence of the dark days 
that lie behind us. The soil will respond after the 
frost and snow. There is no surplus of food products 
in the country—rather a shortage of several kinds. 
Not only must the country be fed out of this season’s 
crops, but a surplus laid aside for the future. For¬ 
eign countries are likely to demand more of our meat, 
grain and fruit than ever before. We must also re¬ 
member that while the population of this country has 
increased rapidly, the area of land devoted to food 
production has increased but slowly. There will be 
no rapid increase until some of the arid lands are 
opened to irrigation. Again, more and more of the 
produce of the far Western States will be sent to sup¬ 
ply our increasing trade in Asia, and to that extent^ 
less will be sent to our eastern markets. All these 
things indicate larger opportunities for the American 
farmer—especially those east of the Mississippi River. 
Let us therefore put our crops in*with the utmost care, 
and stay by them. 
* 
We have seen the following story credited to the 
president of the New Hampshire Agricultural Col¬ 
lege. A farmer’s boy wanted to go to the agricultural 
college, but his father objected, because lie said that 
all the professors knew was book farming. The boy 
was wise in his way, and he went at his father about, 
as follows: 
“Father, what you know about farming is worth 
something, isn’t it?” 
“Why, of course it is!” 
“And Uncle John is a good farmer—what he knows 
is worth something?” 
“Yes, yes. Uncle John is a good practical farmer!” 
“Well, Father, if what you know and what Uncle 
John knows could be printed in a book it would be 
‘book farming,’ but I don’t see why that would take 
any value out of it!” 
There was nothing left for father to say except thht 
the true “book” farmers do not always put practical 
matters in their hooks. Granting this, there is no 
reason why the printing of a fact about, farming 
should ever make it less valuable. It ought to add to 
its value. Even a statement that is not founded on 
fact, while for a time it may lead some astray, will, 
in the end be exposed to better advantage if it ap¬ 
pears in print. Much of the old prejudice against 
“book farming” is dying out, for farmers see that 
printer’s ink is the only preservative that will hold 
the record of brain and hand so that it will be ac¬ 
curate and true. We hope to see the practical men 
have a larger share in making books. 
* 
To snow how farmers are gaining in the knowledge 
of their business we give the experience of some New 
Jersey farmers with fertilizers. Some years ago they 
bought the ready-mixed goods of various makers— 
each man buying for himself. A Grange was organ¬ 
ized, and these farmers began to study the fertilizer 
question together. After some experimenting they 
became satisfied that their soil needed certain com¬ 
binations of plant food for potatoes. They made up 
a formula that they found would suit, and instead of 
attempting home mixing made a contract with a fer¬ 
tilizer company to mix for them. For example, they 
demanded one-fourth of the nitrogen from nitrate of 
soda, one-fourth from sulphate of ammonia and one- 
half from dried blood or tankage. All the phosphoric 
acid is to be from dissolved bone black, and all the 
potash from sulphate. By going at it in this way 
they save at least $5 per ton, and know just what 
they are using. Of greater value even than this is the 
experience gained by studying the question out until 
lliey understand it. Such studies give a farmer mas¬ 
tery of his business, and give him greater confidence 
to go on and study out larger problems in farming. It 
is therefore one of the most hopeful things about 
eastern farming when farmers use their brains in this 
way, and bring the science which is so freely offered 
them into practical use. A farmer who does not now 
believe in fertilizers may say that it is all nonsense 
to divide the nitrogen up in this way. Yet if he had 
to buy manure and had a chance to obtain a lot that, 
had all the liquids mixed with it he would quickly 
take it in preference to another lot that had only 
straw and solids. Such a man should realize that 
these fertilizer farmers have studied into the question 
deeper than he has. A man may first be satisfied with 
knowing that manure will help his crops. Then he 
learns that the liquids are “quicker” than the solids, 
or that well-rotted manure is better than fresh. Then 
he begins to learn why this is so, and this knowledge 
enables him to save money in buying plant food, and 
also to suit his crops. No man can tell just wheu or 
how lie gained such knowledge. It grows upon him 
as he studies. 
* 
The decision of the United States Supreme Court 
jn the celebrated “merger” case is an event of great 
National importance. Briefly stated, the facts are as 
follows: Two great railroads run through the North¬ 
west between the Mississippi River and the Pacific 
Ocean—the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern. 
There was for a time bitter rivalry and competition 
between them, which was to the advantage of ship¬ 
pers. A contest for control of the roads led to a 
panic in Wall Street, which did great damage tc busi¬ 
ness. The parties that controlled the two roads final- 
Ividecided that combination would be better than con¬ 
test, and so they decided to merge their interests— 
that is, to form a new company that should hold the 
stock of both railroads. They therefore obtained in 
New Jersey a charter for a corporation known as the 
Northern Securities Company, with an authorized 
capital of $400,000,000, exchanging its stock for stock 
of each of the two railroads. The object of this was 
evident enough. It brought the roads under one man¬ 
agement, so that there could be no further competi¬ 
tion. A shipper in that territory would he obliged to 
accept any rates the new company saw fit to enforce. 
The injustice of such a condition is made more evi¬ 
dent when we remember that the far-western roads 
owe their existence to gifts of public lands from the 
people, and even grants of money from States or Na¬ 
tion. If such a combination is lawful people who live 
along the lines of such roads would be at the mercy 
of the railroads. They are far from markets, and 
would be forced to accept arbitrary rates of trans¬ 
portation on what they bought or sold. Not only 
this, but if a combination of two large roads could 
be made and the principle accepted as just there would 
be no good reason why the combination should not go 
on until all the main roads in the country are con¬ 
trolled by a few rich men. We should then have a 
government of men and not of law. The Government 
brought suit against the Northern Securities Company 
for violation of what is known as the anti-trust law, 
claiming that such a combination of two competing 
roads is an unlawful restraint of fair competition The 
Court has decided by a vote of five to four that this 
combination is unlawful; that it does disturb the nat¬ 
ural laws of competition, and cannot be permitted. 
The principle underlying it all is that Congress has 
supreme power to regulate commerce between States, 
and that the so-called Sherman law enacted by Con¬ 
gress covers just such a case as this “merger.” We 
do not see how the Court could have taken any other 
ground. The decision will have a good effect. It will 
prevent other attempts to monopolize interstate traffic 
and will, we hope, cause other illegal combinations to 
break up voluntarily, or cause the Government to 
break them. No one expects a panic as the result of 
this decision, for the value of the railroad property 
has not been injured in the least. Every honest man 
lias reason to rejoice at this decision, and farmers in 
particular, because the transportation problem is the 
hardest one they have to face. The common people 
can control Congress. So long as they will do so there 
is a higher power in this country than corporate 
wealth. 
BREVITIES. 
The brave man dishorns his discouragements. 
Let us plan our planting rather than plant our plans. 
The lime and sulphur wash will destroy Oyster-shell 
and Scurfy bark-lice which accumulate on fruit trees. 
It is a great thing to have children grow up in a hom? 
with a liking for one another. Where can they do this 
better than on a farm? 
We would like to hear from those of our readers who 
have tried to make homes on the arid western lands - 
whether they succeeded or not. 
We find many farmers who think they have used m 
the past too much nitrogen on the potato crop. While 
the heavy dressing of nitrogen makes a big vine they 
think it is more likely to be attacked by blight. 
The old man may call the young man a hothead, and 
the other reply by calling “old fogy.” One forgets that 
the enthusiasm which he condemns really helps him, 
while the other does not know how the conservatism helps 
him. 
When a man drops a piece of honey comb in a glass of 
corn syrup in New York State he must maik the stuff 
“corn honey.” We saw some of the same stuff for s ile 
in a New Jersey grocery simply labeled “Honey.” There 
was a difference of several cents in the prices charged. 
J. S. Woodward, of Niagara Co., N. Y., writes on 
March 14, “Four days more and we shall have had four 
solid months of frost with not thaw enough to soften an 
inch of surface. Hundreds of acres of wheat are under 
solid ice from an inch to a foot thick, and I fear it wili 
be smothered.” 
Dairy students at Cornell have organized a club. 
Among other diversions a mock trial was recently held— 
one student being tried for bringing adulterated milk to 
a creamery. Some of the “classicals” should wake up 
and try to realize how the idea of an independent agri¬ 
cultural education is spreading through all branches. 
