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TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May 14 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TUE BUSINESS FARMER'S RARER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet,) 
Mrs. E. T. Hoyle, f 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*4 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, MAY 14, 1904 
PRIZES FOR CLIPPINGS. 
Many interesting reports and stories of things that 
concern farmers are to be found in local weekly 
papers. Some of them are so good that they deserve 
a wider circulation. In order to encourage their col¬ 
lection, we will offer for the next few weeks, prizes 
for the best clipping from a local paper. Each week 
we will pay $1.50 for the best, $1 for the second best, 
and 50 cents for the third best. We do not want 
funny stories or things of purely local interest,, but 
prefer odd and important things which have an in¬ 
terest for farmers generally. The articles must be 
original in the local paper and must be founded on 
fact. A fair sample of what we want Is given on 
page 396. The clipping should be pasted on white 
paper and neatly folded. 
* 
Reports in the aaily papers indicated heavy loss 
to fruit growers in Maryland and Virginia. Some 
reports even told of total “losses.” Our own reports 
indicate little damage in that section. Our reporters 
are among the best fruit growers in the States. 
* 
If a farmer has any thought of selling his farm, 
he is wise to plant a good apple orchard on it. Such 
an orchard with a good reputation is better than a 
real estate agent, for good fruit is recognized as a 
salable asset. Even to the farmer who does not 
care to be specially known as a fruit grower, an ap¬ 
ple orchard is a good investment. 
* 
We usually have little trouble in securing volunteer 
information in regard to farm matters. We ask the 
question and some one comes forward with sound ex¬ 
perience. One question seems to have baffled our 
readers. We have asked whether anyone has ever 
planted an orchard on the plan mentioned on page 396 
and found it satisfactory. When the agents come and 
agree to plant and care for the orchard on shares, 
do they ever carry out their part so that the buyer 
finds it a good investment? We are frank to say that 
we doubt it, but we are open to conviction. 
* 
At the last meeting of the American Pomological 
Society, an evening was given to 19 five-minute talks 
by members. All but two got well inside the time 
limit. They did this by cutting out all introduction, 
all apology for talking and most of the jokes. To 
their surprise, these speakers, by doing this pruning, 
found themselves at the heart of their subject at 
once. In reading the printed report we are pleased 
to see how forcible these short speeches were. The 
next thought is, why take space to introduce yourself 
or apologize at any time? Why not get into the sub¬ 
ject at once and stay there? 
* 
It is reported that Oxnard, the beet sugar man, has 
suggested that the Department of the Interior provide 
Indian labor for the cultivation of the sugar beet. 
He thinks the Department should start an Indian em¬ 
ployment bureau in Colorado, list the red men, and 
assign them to various sugar manufacturers. East¬ 
ern farmers who have found difficulty in inducing an 
ordinary tame hired man to weed or thin sugar beets 
by hand, will feel somewhat doubtful of thus utiliz¬ 
ing the surplus energy of the noble red man, but 
there are plenty of other citizens who might well be 
made useful in this capacity, and who would not be 
missed in any other. Why not begin with all the 
professional politicians who have no other visible 
means of support; all the labor agitators who will 
neither work themselves nor permit others to do it; 
all the college-bred young men who imbibe with their 
culture a distaste for honest work, and all the teach¬ 
ers who would make the dead matter of scholasticism 
greater than the live things of nature? There is 
enough material going to waste to weed all the beets 
between the Statue of Liberty and the Golden Gate, 
without disturbing the dignified calm of the reserva¬ 
tions, or asking Uncle Sam to adopt the peonage 
system in favor of an industry where the manufac¬ 
turer gets the sugar, and the farmer much the same 
provender as the Prodigal Son. 
* 
A question that we shall discuss this season is the 
old one of the relations between capital and skilled 
labor on the farm. A man of means will buy a farm 
and attempt to conduct it as he would a store or a 
factory. He hires a manager or foreman and attempts 
to organize the business. We think the majority of 
such enterprises fail usually for the reason that the 
owner and the manager do not understand each 
other and thus cannot agree. If you ask the owner 
he will say that the failure was due to the manager, 
while the manager will be quite positive that the 
owner ruined his plans. There is usually fault on 
both sides, through a failure to understand just what 
the manager is expected to do and how much author¬ 
ity he is to have. This is a large question with many 
sides to it. We shall hear the foreman’s side first 
and then we shall be glad to have the owners talk up. 
* 
The United States Supreme Court has put honest 
hayseed in its hair by deciding a case from Texas. 
Johnson grass is a vigorous-growing plant which 
becomes a pest when let alone—and sometimes m 
spite of cultivation. It makes fair pastures or fodder 
and was introduced by well-meaning people as a new 
plant for farmers to experiment with. As a result it 
overran whole counties, drove out cultivated crops 
or greatly increased the cost of keeping them clean. 
New tools were made necessary for lighting it—the 
plant became a nuisance. It became necessary to 
prohibit its spreading by law and the State of Texas 
finally passed a law compelling railroads under 
penalty to destroy all Johnson grass growing along 
their lines before it went to seed. The railroads op¬ 
posed the law chiefly on the ground that it discrimi¬ 
nated against them. It was carried to the Supreme 
Court, which has now decided against the railroads. 
They must destroy the Johnson grass or pay their 
fines. The theory of this decision is the just one that 
a State has the right to protect its citizens—that is. 
to compel corporations or individuals to aid in pre¬ 
venting the spread of an evil which might destroy 
property or damage it. The State is also the best 
judge of what constitutes an evil. 
* 
Where can I find reliable farm help? That is the 
most difficult question facing the Eastern farmer, 
today. It is made harder when a farmer whose w r ork 
is far behind reads that thousands of foreigners are 
rushing here from Europe. The feelings of such 
men are well expressed in the following letter: 
I have read with interest what you have published 
from time to time on the farm-labor question. The 
problem is a serious one that may well be taken up by 
the State and National authorities. If some plan could 
be devised whereby the farm laborer just arriving in 
this country could be sent to the place where he is 
needed a mutual benefit would result. The difficulty 
at present seems to be that there is no source of intel¬ 
ligent information regarding men who land in New 
York seeking employment. 
The Labor Bureau at the Barge Office will send a 
man to a farmer, but will not vouch for his efficiency 
or honesty. The farmer must also pay car fare and 
then not know' whether he is getting an anarchist, a 
tramp or a competent farm hand. The general expe¬ 
rience seems to have been that the latter result is in¬ 
frequent. Could there not be an arrangement made 
with foreign governments by which each immigrant 
could come with a certificate stating what he has done 
and what he can do? A bureau in New York could 
then co-operate with the farmers in getting this help 
properly distributed. At this moment I want a farm 
hand familiar with dairy farming. I know where a doz¬ 
en more could get good homes and steady employment. 
There are probably men enough landing in New York 
to meet the demand. How can the supply and demand 
be brought together? The R. N.-Y. could do no better 
service for the farmer than to find a workable solution 
of this problem at the New' York end. 
The great trouble is that one man cannot guarantee 
that this selection would suit another. In the rush 
and hurry of the immigration season there is no way 
of telling just what a man is worth. We could not 
undertake to pick a man out of this hurried throng 
that would satisfy a farmer. The only possible way 
to make a satisfactory selection would be to come 
here and wait until the right man appeared. We are 
told that in some cases farmers have clubbed to¬ 
gether and sent a representative here who hired a 
dozen or more men and sent them back to be picked 
out by farmers much as live stock would be divided. 
We believe that the National Government might well 
take hold of this matter. It is now far more im¬ 
portant that we import good farm labor than that we 
export more produce. 
* 
Life insurance agents tell us that a drinking man 
is considered a far more dangerous risk than 10 years 
ago. The cheaper liquors contain substances that are 
dangerous even when taken in small quantities, and 
heavy drinkers are sure to suffer. Experiments in 
England show that vast quantities of “doctored” food 
and drink were being exported and consumed at 
home. For example we are told: 
A famous brand of “invert” sugar, made at Liverpool, 
has been found to be poisoned by sulphuric acid from 
pyrites. This acid contains a dangerous quantity of ar¬ 
senic. This not only poisons the wort in some of the 
noted brews of English malt drinks, but it made this 
glucose unfit for human use In any form. This glucose, 
or ‘invert” sugar, is made from pyrites, chiefly imported 
from Spain and Portugal. * * * The British experi¬ 
ments show that hundreds of cases treated as “chronic 
.alcoholism,” “cirrhosis of the liver” and various aggra¬ 
vated types of neuritis, were simply cases of beer pois¬ 
oning. In Manchester the disease among beer drinkers, 
diagnosed by doctors as “alcoholic heart,” is produced 
by the same cause. 
Thousands of people now know how dangerous 
these cheap drinks are, yet they seem to think it 
is enough to leave the poison out and still sell the 
drinks. Why not stop the sale of the drinks while 
the drinkers have some small amount of stomach 
left? 
• 
The farmer’s dollar is a shining mark for the schemer 
and the speculator. The following letter from a New 
York subscriber is a fair statement of the case: 
the country is being flooded with literature urging peo¬ 
ple to buy stock in business companies and lots in dis¬ 
tant cities, allowing payment on the installment plan, 
sa> $10 per month, certificate of stock to be issued when 
fully paid for, taxes to be levied on lots according as 
they increase in value. Stocks first worth $125 per share 
later, as no one bought, it was found some sharehold¬ 
ers were willing to part with a few shares for $100, as 
they wished to invest in something else. These shares 
were paying anywhere from 10 to 13>4 per cent. Victims 
were urged to telegraph immediately if they wished any 
of these shares, as they could not remain long for sale. 
If these investments were sound they would be promptly 
taken up by the moneyed people close by, who can learn 
of their soundness. 
It is a sad thing that people who say they cannot 
afford to put comforts into the house, or needed im¬ 
provements on the farm, will actually invest money 
in these schemes. Farmers have been known to 
telegraph for some of these shares—taking the print¬ 
ed word of an utter stranger against the honest ad¬ 
vice of old friends. The craze to earn a few extra 
cents on the dollar hurts the farm and the farmer in 
a dozen different ways. Money is taken from coun¬ 
try districts where it is needed. Fewer improve¬ 
ments are started, and land values decline, for the 
city is built up at the expense of the country. The 
home and the family are pinched. It often happens 
that the money which ought to carry comforts to 
mother and the children is squandered by some dis¬ 
honest rascal, who offered worthless “stock” in its 
place. How can a farmer expect that his boys are to 
feel as they ought to about the farm when they see 
father sending the cream of it away to invest in some 
other business? We repeat what we have said before 
that these stock companies are not all dishonest— 
but most of them will depend for their success on 
the personal character of some stranger. Is it or is 
it not an insult to your own farm to admit that it 
does not offer as good chances for investment as any 
other piece of land? 
BREVITIES. 
The fatted calf did not get his fat from husks! 
Soy beans are good “sogers” to fight for the farm. 
Reports from grass meadows are generally good. 
We have had a long Winter’s rest—now try to catch up. 
The man who likes to hear himself talk surely has a 
“sound” mind. 
In March of this year we exported $1,329,080 worth of 
fruits and imported $1,582,675 worth. 
Mr. Mapes says his article on page 407 is a challenge 
from Orange Co., N. Y., to the world! 
The courts decide that a husband is liable for his 
wife’s debts for luxuries as well as necessities! 
Remember that the dried blood used for fertilizer Is 
not the stuff to feed to calves. Blood meal is specially 
prepared. 
Seed of sweet corn is pretty much all sold out in this 
part of the country. There has never been such a heavy 
planting near us. 
In Vermont the Shrubby cinquefoil known as sage¬ 
brush, hardhack, etc., is spreading over pastures and 
tilled fields. It has been found that butternut trees de¬ 
stroy this weed. It will not grow close to the butternut. 
