THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 16 
334 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert w. Colling wood, Editor. 
Or. Walter Van Fleet, 
Mrs. e. T. koyle, 
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 8M> marks, or lO 1 ^ francs. 
“A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is 
backed bv a responsible person. But to make doubly 
sure we will make good any loss to paid subscribers 
sustained bv 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 ihe 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, APRIL 16, 1904. 
The past Winter has given a good chance to test 
the mulch method. It has been claimed that uncul¬ 
tivated orchards will ripen their wood better and 
withstand cold better than those that were thoroughly 
tilled. Last Winter cleaned out many peach orchards. 
Has any reader noticed any difference for or against 
mulched trees or those on high or rough hills? What 
is the verdict? 
* 
We print Mr. Bowker’s letter on agricultural edu¬ 
cation on page 323. Several weeks ago we printed an 
extract from this letter in which the suggestion is 
made that rural ministers might well take a course 
at an agricultural college. We have since learned of 
a young man who attended the Vermont Agricultural 
College before studying at a school -of divinity. This 
seems excellent preparation for one who is to spend 
his life in a rural parish. The country minister will 
help his people and himself if he is prepared to help 
them to higher and more satisfactory farming. 
* 
All ye who think of starting the Stringfellow or 
the grass-mulch plan of orcharding remember a few 
things: Cut both top and root back. Do not leave 
one long and the other short. We do not consider it 
necessary to dig a large hole, but do not crowd the 
roots, and be sure to pack the earth hard around 
them. Hoe a space around the tree or plow a few 
furrows by the side of the rows, and keep the glass 
away from the body of the trees by hoeing or a thick 
mulch of manure, straw, grass or coal ashes. Fer¬ 
tilize the trees well unless you know the soil is already 
very rich. It is folly to stick a tree into a poor, worn- 
out sod and expect it to grow without feeding. Do 
not let the grass grow too high, but cut it frequently 
and pile all you can afford to around the trees. Keep 
the heads of the trees down and clip off the limbs 
that grow to the center before they are too large. In 
our experience the apple will stand this treatment 
better than the peach. 
* 
Since we printed the articles showing what a man 
can do with a small piece t>f land friends have sent us 
many notes and clippings. It seems as if nearly every 
community can show a man who has done wonders 
on a small garden spot. The crop may be vegetables 
or hens or fruit, but by handling his little place so 
that every square foot counts the man has been able 
to support himself and more. Sometimes he does this 
and actually lends money to neighbors who work 10 
times as much land as he does. It is good to talk 
about these things. They show farmers what can be 
done if the soil is handled intelligently. They also 
go to prove what most of us know; that we usually 
try to work too much land. The result is that little 
if any of it is properly handled, and of course we fall 
short of full crops. Now that labor is so hard to find 
many of us would be far better off to put a good share 
of the farm into pasture or orchards, and crowd our 
w r orlc and manure upon the best parts of the farm. 
* 
We sometimes hear farmers laugh at what they 
read about “pedigreed corn” or selecting a “scale of 
points” with which to judge an ear of corn. They 
know how to pick out an ear without any “scale of 
points”—therefore all such talk is nonsense! Now 
what they have in mind when they pick out the ear 
would be, if organized and printed, a “scale of points,” 
and these farmers cannot claim that it would make 
their thought “nonsense” to put it into readable shape 
and print it! If it is a good thing to have in mind, 
a good picture what an ear of corn ought to be, it is 
a better thing to have that picture made so clear that 
all can understand it and use it. Farmers possess 
information about the practical things of agriculture 
which the scientific men never can acquire in their 
laboratories. Instead of standing back to laugh at 
the scientist who tries to be of service to him, the 
farmer might well help organize or even control the 
work of improving his grains and stock. 
* 
It is a poor plan when in town to go into a store 
or the post office and leave the horse outside un¬ 
hitched with young cnildren in the wagon or sleigh. 
Better hitch the horse, or better still, take the chil¬ 
dren with you. The other day we drove up to a 
depot and went into the express office, leaving the 
horse unhitched with our little four-year-old in the 
sleigh. An unexpected train came in suddenly and 
frightened the horse. He did not run away, but for 
a second chances seemed even. We were more 
frightened than the horse, and learned a lesson we 
hope not to forget in some time. 
* 
Eveky year we are besieged with questions about 
pumps for spraying. Farmers may understand that 
they cannot haul a big load with a pony, but some of 
them seem to think they can do a large job of spray¬ 
ing with a small pump. There is no use trying to 
spray a commercial orchard with a squirt gun. The 
small pumps are useful up to their capacity, but in an 
orchard of fair-sized trees a powerful pump is needed. 
The strong power not only sends the stream higher, 
but drives it through the nozzle in the form of a fine 
mist—which is the way it ought to go. We do not 
wish to imply that the small pumps are useless. They 
are excellent for light work, but it is always safe to 
have a reserve of power. 
In the year 1900 the farmers of this country con¬ 
sumed $54,783,757 worth of fertilizers. We have no 
doubt that this year the National fertilizer bill will 
be $75,000,000. The great increase this year will be 
due to three causes—the high price of cotton and 
other staples, the growth of the belief in the West 
that phosphates must be used on grain and grass 
lands, and the failure of most manurial crops last 
year. This last cause will make considerable differ¬ 
ence in the trade. For some years now farmers on 
the lighter soils of the Middle South have depended 
on cow peas and Crimson clover for a good share 
of their nitrogen. Last season was the worst ever 
known for these crops, and there was a general 
failure. This means a serious loss of fertility, and 
it must be made up this year by using more chem¬ 
icals. There is nothing very startling about these 
fertilizer figures when we learn that in New Jersey, 
taking all land in cultivation, the fertilizer bill was 
only 76 cents per acre; in Rhode Island, 58 cents, 
and in Maryland and Delaware each 51 cents. Even 
in Montana, Wyoming and Arizona farmers and fruit 
growers buy fertilizers. 
Many dairy farmers not far from town will find it 
a paying venture to put in quite a lot of sweet corn, 
getting in some on especially early warm soil. By 
having an early start and getting a good trade fixed 
you can hold it through the season. As soon as the 
marketable ears are picked the stalks and small ears 
make excellent cow fodder, and come on at just about 
the time the pastures begin to be short. You will 
want a succession for this, and we have found the fol¬ 
lowing varieties to work well: Sheffield, Crosby’s 
Early, Shaker’s Early. Evergreen and Country Gentle¬ 
man. These cover a wide period. Varieties with larger 
ears will sell for one time better perhaps, but large- 
kerneled corn is not usually of as good quality. Some 
have spoiled their trade by picking too long on one 
variety, until the corn was hard and tough, and one 
meal of this kind stops the corn-eating habit for some 
time. The fodder will pay the cost of raising the 
corn, and all sold is nearly clean profit. We have 
known some growers who supply grocers on contract, 
the grocer or market man to use only their corn, and 
they take back daily unsold ears, which are used for 
feeding. This means that the consumer gets fresh 
corn every time; the grocer has no loss and a better 
demand for corn comes to the grower. 
* 
The health authorities of a western city recently 
discussed the possibility of improving the local milk 
supply. It was frankly stated that the milk was both 
dirty and poor in quality, but the assertion was made 
that the consumers would not pay enough to make 
cleanliness and quality worth while. In addition to 
the lack of care in production, it was also said that 
much of the milk was embalmed to prevent souring. 
One housekeeper stated that her milkman pointed 
out, as a special virtue, the fact that his milk would 
keep until it stiffened to a jelly without souring. 
From the expression that settled upon this lady’s 
countenance when she heard about embalmed milk 
it is reasonable to suppose that one milkman at least 
would learn something good for his soul’s health 
the next morning. Considering these facts, it is not 
surprising that some of the physicians present freely 
asserted that no animal needs milk as a food after 
weaning, and that one is wise to leave it alone. 
Diminished consumption is the natural result of a 
low-grade product. One’s indignation at the milk¬ 
man who supplies a dirty and doctored product is 
tempered by pity for the lack of intelligence that in¬ 
duces it; he is in the same position as the misguided 
individual who sawed off the branch he was sitting on. 
* 
Some of the Southern States are waking up to the 
need of adding to their white population. An indus¬ 
trial revolution is going on at the South. The in¬ 
crease in cotton manufacturing has called thousands 
of white people away from the farms to the factory. 
Several causes, among others the danger from the 
boll weevil, are changing the whole aspect of cotton 
growing. The result is that the South feels the need 
of diversified farming as never before, while the 
necessary skilled labor is lacking. Southern agricul¬ 
ture would be more promising to-day if during the 
past 20 years thousands of the best negroes could 
have been trained to skillful service on the farm. 
The majority of leading southern men do not appar¬ 
ently believe yet that such training is possible, and 
they are hoping to attract immigrants from southern 
Europe. South Carolina will send an agricultural 
commissioner abroad to present the advantages of 
that State. It seems to us that the South has waited 
too long. Foreigners have already spread all over 
the North and West. In 1900 there were in New York 
City alone 2,212,058 persons with both parents born 
in foreign countries. Those who come now are most 
likely to go where their friends or relatives are lo¬ 
cated and as the irrigated districts are opened in the 
Far West immigrants from southern Europe will be 
likely to go there if they seek farm work at all. We 
do not think the southern people can seriously expect 
to attract immigrants from northern Europe, for such 
immigration flows along close lines of latitude, and 
rarely goes very far south. Another thing which the 
southern people must consider is the evident fact that 
the northeastern part of this country will hereafter 
attract from other sections instead of sending its own 
people away. New York, New England and Pennsyl¬ 
vania have during the past 50 years sent millions of 
men and women and millions more in money to settle 
and develop the West. Now a movement has started 
to stop this flow, and start it back again. We believe 
this will succeed, for the eastern country has many 
advantages which other sections cannot match. We 
think the South is about 20 years too late in starting 
its call for Europeans. It can no longer attract the 
cream. The northern farm is to have its innings once 
more. In New York State the struggle to obtain the 
building for the agricultural college is bringing farm¬ 
ers together for a dozen worthy purposes. 
BREVITIES. 
The hustling days are here. 
No business can succeed with rum mixed in it. 
Will hay loaders pay in our eastern haylields? 
When farming succeeds in any community farm labor 
is attracted to it. 
One pint of formalin to 15 gallons of water is the 
strength for the scab bath. 
It won’t take that Holstein cow with the long name 
(first page) long to surround a ton of clover hay! 
We believe that sulphur, dusted on the potato seed, 
helps to prevent the spread of scab and also prevents 
rot in a wet season. 
The potato-spraying question gets bigger the more 
you study it. Do we actually know when we say that 
spraying does not pay? 
A mixture of three parts acid phosphate and one part 
(by weight) muriate of potash is good to use with stable 
manure. It gives a balance for most crops. 
Canners in the Willamette Valley, Oregon, intend to 
pack sweet corn for the first time this year, and are 
making contracts at $7 a ton. That section has not been 
regarded as suitable for sweet corn and most, if not all 
of the canned product, has been shipped in from the 
East. 
Who are opposed to the parcels post? The express 
companies chiefly. Why? They know that such a postal 
privilege would force them to give fairer rates on ex¬ 
press service. Has the Government any right to compel 
people to be fair? Yes, when such people conduct a 
public service—who else can do it? 
When a piece of blue litmus paper is pushed down 
into damp soil and left there a reasonable time the 
color of it tells to the eye what the tongue tells when 
put in a liquid. Is it sweet or sour? If the litmus paper 
remain blue when dried, the soil is not particularly acid. 
If the paper turns red, the soil is sour and may be 
limed. We have been told that this Is not a reliable 
test, but few people would care to make that statement 
in print. 
