496 
June 25 , 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
E^lablished 1850. 
Herbert vv. Colling wood, Editor. 
Du. Walter Van Fleet, i . . , „ 
Mrs. K. T. Hot lx, (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% 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 col¬ 
umns, 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 tho courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one 
month of the time of 1 lie transaction, and you must have 
mentioned Tub Rdral Nicw-Yoiiker when writing the adver¬ 
tiser. 
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. 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 1904. 
THE PRIZE CLIPPINGS . 
This week Missouri leads in the prize clipping con¬ 
test, with Ohio second and New York third. Prizes go 
to the following persons: 
C. S. Ladd, Jasper Co., Mo. 
A. E. Humphreys, Clark Co., O. 
J. Yates Peek, Kings Co., N. Y. 
We still offer weekly prizes of $1.50, $1 and 50 cents 
for clippings from local papers. 
* 
This makes three wet seasons in succession. The 
first one made farmers think of drainage, the second 
made them study it—now they are about ready to try it. 
We hope to begin next week a thorough discussion of 
the subject. 
* 
Reports from some of the rural towns in New England 
certainly show that farm lands are increasing in value 
and are easier to sell. Various reasons are given for 
this—the chief one being that progressive men here and 
there are showing what tne hill farms can be made to 
produce. One result of this increase of values is that 
the insurance companies arc more willing to insure 
farm property. 
* 
A leading daily paper printed a long story about the 
great doings with electricity in Chester Co., Pa. We 
were told that every little stream has been harnessed 
and made to turn dynamos, and that farmers are doing 
about all their work by electric power. Investigation 
shows that there is nothing in the story. It is a good 
sample of the stuff which appears in the daily papers. 
Reporters shuffle up theory and fact until they cannot 
tell the two apart, and then imagine that readers are 
equally blind. 
* 
The plan of sowing cow peas to occupy the soil after 
harvesting Fall wheat or oats is as good now as ever. 
With a favorable season the cow peas make a large 
growth, and can be plowed under in time for another 
crop of grain or grass seeding. The soil is left in much 
better shape than it would be if left in stubble and 
weeds. The trouble about the plan this year is the diffi¬ 
culty in obtaining cow pea .seed. There seems to be 
little if any left in the country. We are thinking of using 
white beans in place of the peas. 
* 
On page 481 Mr. Cook wonders why Americans only 
eat 3% pounds of cheese each per year while the Brit¬ 
ish annual consumption is 18 pounds per capita. One of 
the simplest explanations of this is the fact that workers 
or people of moderate means in Great Britain in most 
cases eat one meal a day more than Americans, and 
that a cheese meal. Their routine includes breakfast, 
dinner, tea and supper, the latter being eaten after 
the day’s avocations are all over, and usually quite 
near bedtime; its most ordinary form is bread and 
cheese, though it may be more elaborate. Of course 
this does not apply to those who have dinner in the 
evening, but the number of supper-eaters is quite enough 
to he a material factor in cheese-eating. Again, men 
doing laborious work, especially in the country, usually 
have a hasty lunch in the forenoon, and this means 
more cheese. Americans may wonder how the British 
digestion has survived these bedtime meals of cheese, 
but it must be remembered that in that northern lati¬ 
tude, with its long twilight, people are able to indulge 
in long walks and other outdoor recreation in the even¬ 
ing, thus acquiring an appetite that is ready to cope 
with substantial food. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Some of the farm papers have a way during the Fall 
of saying: “Compare us now with any other farm pub¬ 
lication!” They wait until the regular subscription 
season comes, then spend a little extra money for en¬ 
gravings and paper and ask people to make the compar¬ 
ison then. Most of us do not care to judge a man 
entirely by the way he looks when he dusts himself off, 
puts on his new hat and goes to church. We would 
rather see him at home in his working clothes! The 
R. N.-Y. invites comparison with other papers right 
now. This is a dull time usually in the subscription 
business, and some of our friends go a little dry. We 
work harder to put in a little extra juice in what would 
otherwise be a dry time. 
* 
The automobilist is abroad in our land, and this 
season especially acts as though he owned the whole 
earth. He is our only citizen who rushes into print 
to brag that he has beaten the record of other law¬ 
breakers in rushing through our streets and along our 
roads. He seems to take pride in proclaiming that he 
breaks our laws with impunity and is a privileged citi¬ 
zen. There are hundreds of women to-day in thickly 
settled communities who do not dare trust themselves 
and children where in the past they have driven alone 
with safety. The danger is not from the degenerate 
countryman, but our city cousins and their automobiles. 
It must be said that for “pure cussedness” and disregard 
for the rights of others many of their drivers excel any 
class of our citizens we have ever met. 
* 
The New York Agricultural Department is making 
a crusade against cheap candy. They find that “choc¬ 
olates ’ and cheaper grades of chewing gum are loaded 
with paraffin. I his stuff is not poisonous, but not even 
an ox could digest it. When it is desired to cut iron 
with acids the workmen cover the part to be protected 
with paraffin. The strongest acids will fail to get 
through such a coating. Imagine then what happens in 
the human stomach when such stuff is swallowed! In 
New York a cheap sweet called “velvet kisses” is sold 
to school children. It contains eight per cent of paraf¬ 
fin. While it may seem like velvet to the tongue it is 
like ragged steel to the stomach. The best way to treat 
cheap candy is to let it entirely alone. The State has 
no business to let a child commit suicide by eating it— 
even if the parents are willing. 
* 
It cannot be said that the Treasury Department takes 
a very broad view of the need of fractional currency. 
If one million people want such money and 500 do not 
like to handle it, are we to understand that the 500 are 
to be considered first? Again, who pays the cost of us¬ 
ing this money? One would think from the reasons 
given that a few officials at Washington were paying 
the bills. The people pay the cost, and they have a 
right to demand a class of money that will meet their 
needs. Compare the cost of issuing this paper money 
with the cost of maintaining the national banking system, 
or of sending small sums of money by express or post 
office money orders! If Secretary Shaw has no better 
arguments than these to advance we think he is wise 
in his decision not to write articles for the press! The 
fact remains that fractional currency would be a great 
convenience to thousands of country people. No real 
arguments have been given to show why it should not 
be issued! 
* 
Holmes Hall—a new building at the Agricultural 
College of Maine, was recently dedicated. It is named 
after Dr. Ezekiel Holmes, a man who 40 years ago did 
much to place the Agricultural College on a fair founda¬ 
tion. In Maine, as elsewhere, efforts were made to 
secure the agricultural college funds for the benefit of 
classical institutions. Dr. Holmes fought for the prin¬ 
ciple of separate education for the farmer. The speaker 
of the day told how Dr. Holmes appeared before the 
Legislature, and how he ended his speech as follows: 
And now I tell you, Mr. Chairman, that farmers of Maine, 
after having desired this opportunity for their advancement 
so long, and hoped for it so long, and prayed for it so 
long, and waited for it so long do not intend to sell their 
birthright for a mess of pottage. 
Men are needed in every generation to push this point 
with Governors and Legislatures with barbs on it so 
that nothing can pull it away. The farmers of America 
have given away a dozen “birthrights,” but each new 
generation can grow a new one. Let us hold to the one 
that belongs to this age. 
* 
We have had our say about ginseng culture. We do 
not hesitate to say that the cultivation of this drug is 
not a business for the average farmer. Surely a man 
who cannot keep a strawberry patch clean or keep his 
flower beds in order has no business to attempt ginseng. 
We have been in a ginseng garden, and know that the 
plant will grow under cultivation, but we repeat that 
if any considerable portion of the plants now growing 
ever make salable roots there will be no demand for the 
drug. '1 he moral side of ginseng culture may also be 
considered. From what we have learned from China¬ 
men and others the use of the root is more degrading 
than the use of tobacco. As we arc always pleased to 
give all sides a fair hearing we print this statement from 
probably the most intelligent grower in the land: 
5 ou think it a bad business—like tobacco growing, etc.— 
but you are all wrong. Ginseng Is perfectly harmless, and 
has no 111 effects of any kind—in fact, no effects—except 
upon the mind, as bread pills do on our people. You drink 
tea from China, and coffee from elsewhere, and they are 
both bad. Come now, be fair. The Chinese lake ginseng 
tea, and it Is purely a faith cure—works on the mind only. 
All stories of any bad use of it are false. If the market 
drops low one can easily dig up, dry and sell out all he has, 
but this will be a long time In the future. 
Bread pills at $10 a pound make pretty expensive 
bread. We shall have to leave the moral aspect of this 
production of faith cures ’ to those who think of trying 
the business. We prefer to grow apples and onions! 
* 
The oleo men die hard. They expected to win theii 
case before the Supreme Court, but the decision hit 
them a hard blow. The following from the National 
Provisioner is a fair statement of their feelings: 
The United States Supreme Court, in deciding that the 
Anti-Oleomargarine Law was constitutional, uncovers Con- 
giess and lays its act bare. The court says Congress in¬ 
tends to repress the sale of colored oleomargarine, and it is 
the duty of the court to uphold Congress. The farmers and 
advocates of the act protested all the time that it was not 
the intent of their bill to “repress colored oleomargarine, but 
to regulate its sale. The third reading was carried upon 
this assurance. The whole trade believed at the time that 
the real intent was to drive out the product. But the court 
was not trying deception and demagoguery. The highest 
court of the land has said that Congress has a right to pass 
such a law and that this particular act was to kill the sale 
of colored oleomargarine. It is now left to the trade to 
seek a repeal of the act. Before its passage 130,000,000 
pounds of oleomargarine were made. The output is now 
30,000,000 pounds, a joss of 75 per cent in about two years. 
The decision was not unanimous. The Chief Justice and 
two other of the justices dissented. The tax is odious to 
our ideas of government and obnoxious to fair and honest 
industry. 
Of course these men know better than to claim that 
the honest butter people merely tried to “regulate” the 
sale of colored oleo. Everybody knew that the object in 
coloring the oleo was to deceive the public and make the 
cheap fats of which oleo is made pass as butter. A 
plain statement of fact is that the manufacturers and 
dealers having refused to treat the public honestly the 
tax became a necessity. If oleo is now colored it must 
be sold at a price that will not injure the sale of honest 
butter. No injury has been done to the uncolored 
ai tide, since the tax upon it is lower than before 
the Grout bill was pased. If, as the Provisioner says, 
the passage of the Grout bill has cut off the output ot 
oleo by 75 per cent we simply have evidence of the 
fraud that was practiced in years past. It is safe to 
say that Congress will never repeal that law. It may 
be necessary to make it stronger. 
BREVITIES. 
Morning is the time for hoeing. 
Try tobacco dust for the green lice on rose bushes. 
A hen with her chicks will clean out many Onion maggots. 
There should be an “open door” to the best room in the 
house. 
Some young men need an antidote for the dote of the 
Auntie! 
Something wrong with the boy who really icants to get 
up early. He is unnatural. 
The deviltry of the rogues who adulterate food Is worthy 
of the master of all evil himself. 
A farmer may not want to sell his horse, but It does 
him good to have people stop and ask the price of the 
animal he drives. 
Wherever the automobile goes the people rise up to de¬ 
mand legislation to control its speed. No wonder—to those 
who have seen it go. 
Among other experiments to be attempted in finding a 
cure foi cancer is that of inoculation—the virus to lie 
propagated in living rats ! 
Congress has instructed the Secretary of Agriculture to 
collect samples of grass and clover seeds such as are sold 
in the open market, and examine them for adulterations. 
The Hope Farm man is justified in his refusal to kill a 
woodchuck by several interested readers, and also by the 
action of a New Jersey woodchuck, who, in return for the 
hospitality of a farm up at Pochuck, proceeded to hatch 
out chickens for the farm’s owner. 
Newspaper leports say that a Vermont man has invented 
a paper milk bottle, which the consumer opens by pulling a 
wire, which cuts off the neck, so the bottle can be used 
but once. It is cheap, light and sanitary. Have any of 
our readers met with this receptacle? 
The spread of German carp in some of the Hudson 
Valley streams, which they have reached as a result of 
freshets carrying the fish from private ponds, is said to be 
causing alarm among anglers, who think the spread of this 
fish means the destruction of Black bass, and it Is feared 
the carp will infest the breeding grounds of the shad, to 
the destruction of the North River fisheries. 
According to a speaker at the recent meeting of the 
Ameilcan Medical Association, the use of alcoholic beverages 
in the United States has nearly doubled since 1880, and 
in 1902 the per capita expense for alcohol sold was $17.33. 
It was also stated that the annual sale of patent medicines 
in the United States reaches the enormous sum of $00,000,- 
OOO. and that a large portion of this does positive harm. 
