384 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May 7, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TUE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER' 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850 . 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Ok. Walter Van- Fleet, I ._. o 
Mrs. K. T. Hoyle, [Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
euual to 8s. 6d., or 814 marks, or 1014 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 trilling differences between 
subscribers and honest responsible advertisers. Neither 
will w’e be responsible for the debts of honest bankrup.s 
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, MAY 7, 1904. 
A well-known prizefighter was knocked senseless 
by a blow on the head. When he came to he sadly 
remarked: “My head is too large; had it been smaller 
the other man’s fist would have missed it.” That was 
true, and it should be a warning to all who are af¬ 
flicted with the self-imposed disease known as the 
“big head.” The man with the largest comb is most 
likely to have it cut! 
The outlook for beet sugar-making in the Eastern 
States is not encouraging, to say the least. In spite 
of bounties and State instruction the factories can 
barely obtain beets enough to keep the rust off their 
machinery. We expected this result from the first, 
though we still think that many eastern farmers can 
atford to grow sugar beets to feed to stock. Eastern 
farmers do not take kindly to beet growing. It re¬ 
quires much back work and finger work. It is hard 
enough to get workers who will get down on their 
knees, and when they can be found there is more 
money in putting them among onions or other vege¬ 
tables. Until the beet crop can be grown mostly by 
horse tools we have no idea that the beet sugar busi¬ 
ness in New York State will do much more than eat 
up bounties. If there are facts to disprove this we 
shall be glad to have them. 
* 
The mails are crowded with letters and circulars 
from people who have stock in various enterprises for 
sale. Many of these are mining companies. They say 
they control a mine or land in a mining section, but 
lack the capital required to lay a pipe line or dig a 
shaft or do some other work. They ask you to buy 
stock in the mine, so that your money may go with 
that of others to pay for these “improvements.” It is 
quite possible that some of these schemes are honest 
enough, with really valuable property back of them. 
The success of any of them is only a possibility, and 
about the only difference in their value lies in the per¬ 
sonal honesty of those who control them. The per¬ 
sonal honesty of a stranger is a slender hook on 
which to hang hard-earned savings. On general 
principles we would not invest one cent in a business 
over which we had no personal control, unless we 
knew the men who have it in charge. Think of a 
farmer with crying needs for investment all over his 
farm sending the life blood of that farm out of sight! 
He might as well tie it in a handkerchief and throw 
it into the pond. 
* 
That Indiana correspondent who was studying the 
mystery of mutilated lambs, page 331, called out some 
interesting experience from others—a usual happen¬ 
ing among readers of The R.N.-Y. It would seem that 
this ovine cannibalism can only be traced to defects 
in feeding; not necessarily the absence of some needed 
element, but rather a dietary that induces physical 
discomfort, and thus warps the ewe’s natural ma¬ 
ternal instinct into an unreasoning savagery. Nor is 
this view unreasonable in the light of what we al¬ 
ready know of the influence of food upon personal 
morals. City mission workers who are in close touch 
with the poor assert that much drunkenness and con¬ 
sequent misery is the natural outcome of poorly cook¬ 
ed and innutritious food. A man engaged in hard 
labor must have fuel to keep the engine going; if his 
meals leave him with an unsatisfied craving the saloon 
at once suggests itself. The poorly-nourished or 
feverish ewe begins to devour her offspring; the ill- 
nourished man swallows thrift and honor; his chil¬ 
dren’s future and their daily bread. It would be 
wickedly unjust to blame bad housekeeping for all the 
moral derelicts, yet there is a connection between the 
two, and there is a sound moral lesson in that irrev¬ 
erent old Spanish proverb that says “Heaven sends 
victuals, but the devil sends the cooks.” 
* 
The hearing on the Agricultural College bill before 
Gov. Odell on April 27 was one-sided. Two of the 
college presidents appeared, submitted a brief and 
made arguments that seemed to lack heart and force. 
On the other side about 50 persons appeared in sup¬ 
port of the bill. It was the strongest delegation that 
ever represented agriculture at Albany, and the Gov¬ 
ernor was made to understand that fact. The argu¬ 
ments in favor of the bill were presented clearly and 
forcibly, and Gov. Odell listened to them attentively— 
asking numerous questions, so that every detail could 
be fully explained. After that hearing there seems 
nothing for the Governor to do but to sign the bill. 
We are very glad that the farmers were able to make 
such a showing at the Capitol. Many of them left 
their work and broke up a busy day in order to at¬ 
tend. That is the way to do things. 
The following statement is credited to H. B. Hebert, 
president of the Canal Association of Greater New 
York: 
We are watching closely the political developments with 
respect to their possible influence on the $101,000,000 canal 
improvement. While we are going to act on the de¬ 
fensive, we expect to have something to say if an attempt 
is made by either party to put none but anti-canal men 
on guard. We’ll have money to burn if opposition to the 
great improvement, already approved by the people, is to 
be made an issue, directly or indirectly. 
This statement is called out by the report that ef¬ 
forts will be made to prevent the nomination of a 
strong canal man for Governor. It might be possible 
to nominate such a man behind the smoke of burning 
money, but we venture the prediction that he never 
could be elected. Mr. Hebert evidently has little idea 
of the deep feeling against the canal improvement 
among New York farmers. 
• 
Few of us realize how much spraying with the lime 
and sulphur wash has been done this Spring. We 
hear of it everywhere. Of course some mistakes have 
been made both in mixing and using. We have tried 
to tell on paper just how the mixture should be made, 
but there are those who say they followed directions 
and still made a bad job of the mixture. Some of 
those who made a good mixture put it on the trunks 
and low r er limbs, but paid no attention to the new 
growth where most of the scale would be found. Some 
forgot that this wash is caustic, and waited until the 
buds had started before putting it on. These things 
will be learned in time. We are asked if the wash 
should be put on if we are sure we have no scale. 
There are very few of us who know there is no scale 
on our trees. If we were of the few we would not use 
the wash. As it is we expect to use whale-oil soap in 
Summer and the lime-sulphur wash in early Winter. 
♦ 
Eyery month we are told of some new scheme for 
combining western farmers. The plan usually is to 
form a great society or stock company, raise a large 
sum of money and use it for holding back grain and 
other crops so as to control the price. One after an¬ 
other of these organizations is started—and fails. 
That the effort to form them does not die makes It 
clear that some change in the present system of buy¬ 
ing and shipping is needed. Farmers know that, but 
they are as yet unable to get together in opposition 
to the monopolies in transportation or other indus¬ 
tries. We see one after another of these great schemes 
fall, but we are not discouraged. Every one of 
them is an educator. They will get the truth down to 
the farmer yet—that he must creep before he can 
walk, and walk before he can run. Take 1,000 men, 
not one of whom can make a business combination 
with his own neighbors, and how can they expect to 
make an enduring State organization? We must be¬ 
gin with the local and county organizations first. 
Without them the great organization is impossible. 
With them anything is possible. 
* 
It is hard to figure the value of an apple orchard 
as an investment, because few farms in the North are 
given entirely to apple growing. A farm of average 
size will contain 15 acres or more of orchards—the 
rest of the land being given to other crops. If the 
orchard has a reputation for yielding well it often de¬ 
termines the selling value of the whole farm, but it 
is seldom sold separately. Take the Hudson River 
Valley for example. The great majority of the farm¬ 
ers have orchards of apples of more or less dimen¬ 
sions, but as a rule they are a secondary considera¬ 
tion. Little attention is paid to the majority of these 
orchards, and we have often been astonished at the 
results that are obtained in spite of the treatment 
given the trees, or perhaps we should say the lack of 
treatment. These farmers, as a rule, sell their apples 
on the trees to buyers, not caring to handle them 
themselves. We see the near future when the apple 
will pass out of the hands of the indifferent grower 
and will be handled by men who make fruit growing 
a specialty. The increase of insect pests and fungous 
diseases make this result inevitable. Where a man 
can take cheap and rough land, naturally adapted to 
apple growing, and turn it into bearing orchards at 
reasonable expense he has one of the greatest oppor¬ 
tunities for coining value that Nature offers. 
* 
On general principles Congress did well to adjourn 
early. There was no reason why the members should 
remain at Washington unless they were prepared to 
do something worthy. What do we mean by “some¬ 
thing worthy”? Why, giving the country a parcels 
post, or enlarging the powers of the Interstate Com¬ 
merce Commission, so that it can enforce its own rul¬ 
ings. These are two worthy things which Con¬ 
gress dodged. If these things are worthy why did 
Congress dodge them? Do honest men dodge at the 
sight of righteous things? Congress dodged at the 
shadow thrown by the express monopoly and the dis¬ 
honest railroad shipper. The first does not want the 
public to have reasonable mail package service, and 
the other does not want to compete on fair terms with 
the smaller shipper. The Hope Farm man tells how 
he tried to scrub a shadow out of a milk pail. Con¬ 
gress sometimes makes what is known as a “bluff” at 
howling at the shadow, while the substance is per¬ 
fectly safe. Well, gentlemen, it is our own fault. We 
shall get what we need when we put up our best fight 
for it—not before. “Who would be free himself must 
strike the blow!” 
« 
Two men who sat near us in a New Jersey railway 
train recently were expressing, unconsciously, their 
allegiance to the American Apple Consumers’ League. 
One of them was carrying a bag of choice Spitzen- 
burgs, which, he said, had gradually come to take the 
place of oranges in his family. “We used to eat or¬ 
anges,” he said, “till we struck a lot of those tough 
Californias, with no more juice than paper napkins. 
Then we started on apples, and kept it up, though 25 
cents a day for eating apples right along till straw¬ 
berries come in makes quite an item.” He went on 
to say that he wished fine apples were sold in pack* 
ages like grape baskets, because they were trouble¬ 
some in a paper bag, yet he was obliged to carry them 
from New York to his home, 20 miles out, because 
his town did not offer good dessert apples at five cents 
each. It is not likely that the growers could afford to 
put apples in grape baskets for the convenience of the 
commuter; instead, he should be able to order a 
bushel box from his grocer, who would deliver it at his 
door. The man who spends 25 cents a day for dessert 
apples, irrespective of those bought for cooking, is 
representative of a growing class. We have always 
considered that apples and oranges would not conflict 
in sales, but poor quality in one certainly means 
greater sale for the other, and we believe that the 
market for dessert apples is greatly increasing. Have 
you tried apples for breakfast? 
BREVITIES. 
Read the rose notes on page 381. 
The round tile beats the “horseshoe” by a large ma¬ 
jority. 
Don’t forget to tell us about hay loaders on rougn 
eastern farms. 
Never before was so much damage done to fruit trees 
by meadow mice as last Winter. 
Who is there among us that will refuse the “Govern¬ 
ment seeds’’ and tell our Congressmen why? 
Like a pleasant drink to the human soul is the chance 
to say “I told you so.” When such a chance is presented 
—try to reject it. 
If you made signing the pledge a condition in hiring 
men, how many good ones could you find in your locality 
while the rumshops are open? 
It is said on good authority that in at least one section 
of Michigan the use of vetch for green manuring has 
greatly injured the wheat. The vetch seeds get into tne 
wheat and spoil it for milling. 
One of our Ohio correspondents says that sheep have 
been given up in his section because the dog Industry is 
working overtime. It requires something more than a 
high-tariff fence to protect American wool from the 
sheep-killing dog. 
Reports come of cases where seed potatoes have been 
ruined by soaking in the solution of formalin to destroy 
scab germs. The solution seems to have killed the 
sprouts. We have had such good results with this mix¬ 
ture that we can hardly believe that a solution of one 
pint to 15 gallons can do harm! 
Most of us can remember how our eastern entomolo¬ 
gists condemned the lime, salt and sulphur wash for 
San Jose scale. It might do in California, they said, but 
not in our climate. Now it is considered the most ef¬ 
fective remedy we have. California fruit growers have 
nearly rid their trees of some insects by importing the 
parasites which prey on them. We are told that such a 
plan would not work in our climate, but let us hope the 
scientists are again mistaken. 
