768 
October 22, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TEE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established, 1850 . 
Herbert w. Collingwood, Editor. 
I)H. WALTER VAN FLEET. I Assoclfl * PS 
Mrs. E. T. Hoyle, f Associates. 
Joh.v J. Dillon, Business Manager 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to 8s. (id., or 8 Yi marks, or 10 'At 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 lie responsible for 
the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must lie sent to us within one 
month of the time of the transaction, and you must have 
mentioned Tiie Rural New-Yorker 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, OCTOBER 22, 1904. 
THE PRIZE PHOTOGRAPHS. 
The prizes for the last contest were awarded as 
follows: 
Arthur D. Morse, Cumberland Co., Me. 
Miss Cora V. Speer, Allegheny Co., Pa. 
Miss Ida M. Colcord, Macoupin Co., Ill. 
Other excellent pictures were received, some of which 
will be printed. We again offer prizes of $2, $1.50 and 
$1 for best pictures sent during the next two weeks. 
* 
A newspaper report states that Miss Helen Gould 
has engaged Isaac W. Brown, known as “the Hoosier 
bird and bee man,” to address public schools and 
farmers’ meetings. Another report states that Mr. 
Brown says that the great increase in Potato beetles is 
caused by the slaughter of the birds which formerly 
consumed these beetles. What bird eats the Potato 
beetle? We believe that some birds will destroy the 
eggs of the beetle, but will Mr. Brown please tell us 
what bird eats the insect? 
* 
The New York police are investigating a number 
of sudden deaths among the patrons of a low “barrel- 
house” saloon, it being suggested that alleged whisky 
sold there must be poisonous. People who buy “whisky” 
sold for 10 cents a pint, and then drink it by the glass¬ 
ful, undiluted, would hardly be regarded as conservative 
risks by a life insurance company. The real point at 
issue seems the negligence that permits the existence 
of such “dives,” and only awakes to their dangers 
when some flagrant scandal prevents further suppres¬ 
sion of the facts. 
* 
The wire fence discussion is still going on. No one 
has yet come forward to claim that modern wire is as 
good as that put on the market a dozen years ago. At 
the same time it is clear that the cost of manufacturing 
wire is less than in former years. It is still possible 
to make good wire, and it would be made if there were 
any chance for competition. Read the notes from fence 
makers on the next page. These men are not pre¬ 
pared to come out openly and tell many things they 
could tell about wire. The story will come out in time, 
and in such a way that there will be no dodging it. 
Let every farmer watch his wire fences. Take a sample 
of rusted wire, sew it to a card with the facts on the 
card and send it to the man who sold you the wire. If 
he takes no notice of you send him another. If we 
keep at this thing long enough the samples of wire will 
surely go “higher up,” past dealer and fence maker, to 
the manufacturer. What good will that do? Why, all 
progress against injustice has been made in this way. 
Years ago men with shining steel won their rights—now 
we may do it with rusty steel. It is only a question 
of keeping at it. No trust that ever was organized 
can stand against good old-fashioned trust in the power 
of the people. So send in the rusty evidence of humbug 
by the thousand samples. Keep at them! 
* 
Few of us realize how northern apples have found a 
place in southern markets. In a recent southern trip 
the writer found apples offered at stores in all fair¬ 
sized towns. In Savannah the daily papers contained 
large advertisements of “New arrivals of King apples!” 
We met a party of Cubans in Florida who were on their 
way home from St. Louis. For their lunch on the 
train they carried a large bag of apples, and the way 
those apples disappeared marked the Cubans as prom¬ 
inent members of the Apple Consumers’ League. 1 his 
large consumption of apples seems to have started in 
1896, when, as most of us remember, there was a 
bumper crop of the fruit. In their efforts to dispose of 
the stock they had bought, dealers sent many carloads 
to the southern cities. They barely paid for the cost, 
but new markets were opened, which have enlarged ever 
since. The southern trade for apples is bound to grow 
to large proportions. As the southern people obtain 
more cash they are sure to buy more fruit. Even in 
the height of the orange season there is a demand for 
apples. 
* 
Tiie following story is related by a Maine reader:— 
A farmer here sent a load of Baldwin and Ben Davis 
apples to be made into cider. He had measured his apples, 
and sent just enough to fill the barrel that he sent witn 
them. But the darky Sam, who drove the team, went by his 
own home and took a 10-gallon cask and filled it with cider 
for his own use, so that he was short on the amount he 
ought to have had. “Sam,” said the farmer, “where is the 
rest of your cider?” Sam thought a minute and replied: 
“Marser, you know them Ben Davis; they take up all the 
juice.” 
Many of us will think Sam had a good argument. 
One thing is sure, the cider maker who would give 
full measure of cider for each bushel of Ben Davis 
would go out of business. The answer made to all this 
is that “there is more money in the Ben Davis than in 
any other variety of apple!” We are not prepared to 
deny it yet. Some people live where they can get no 
other variety. Some eat with their eyes and do not 
know what a good apple is. The dollars such people 
pay are as good as any—but each year will bring a 
greater demand for high-flavored fruit, better trans¬ 
portation and better systems of storage. Ben Davis 
will not stand up against them all! 
* 
We are told of some strange things that happen on 
new telephone lines. Here is one little story found in 
the Coldwater, Mich., Reporter: 
One dear old lady bad one placed in her farmhouse and 
she was considerably impressed by the utility of the 'phone, 
but she thought it contained undeveloped possibilities, as 
will be seen from the following: One day no one on the line 
was able to ring up central, and a complaint was sent in to 
the exchange. A couple of linemen were sent to the differ¬ 
ent 'phones on the circuit and found nothing the matter 
until they came to the house of the old lady. To their utter 
amazement she was unconcernedly darning socks over the 
receiver, which she had taken down and was holding in her 
lap. She did not know that she was tying up the entire 
party line. 
We will guarantee that those stockings were well 
darned at least. Another woman is said to have put 
the baby to sleep and then placed the receiver close 
to its mouth. Then she notified “Central” to gall her 
up at a neighbor’s house if the child cried. You may 
trust a farm household to get all the service out of a 
telephone. Our town friends may smile at the old lady 
who tied up the line, but did you ever see a greenhorn 
from town try to do some simple little thing on the 
farm ? 
* 
We find that some New York fruit growers do not 
have a very clear idea of the outcome of the compulsory 
spraying laws in the Northwest. We have heard men at 
fruit meetings talk much as follows: “In the Pacific 
States the inspectors stamp out disease and insects. 
They go right into a man’s orchard and do the work 
for him, making him pay the cost. That’s the way to 
do it, and we ought to have such a law in New York.” 
There are such laws in several Eastern States, but they 
cannot be enforced, because it has been impossible to 
put the power of public sentiment back of them. In 
communities where such sentiment is pronounced no en¬ 
forcement is needed. The States of Oregon, Washing¬ 
ton and Idaho have passed laws giving the authorities 
full power to protect fruit growers. They may enter a 
man’s premises and spray his trees, and have the District 
Attorney collect the bill. They may fumigate or de¬ 
stroy nursery stock or growing trees if they think it 
desirable. They have all the law back of them that is 
needed, and they can get more if they want it. and yet 
it must be said that this law cannot be enforced to the 
letter. In some cases the inspectors entered orchards 
and sprayed the trees, leaving the attorney to collect. 
The difficulty was that it was impossible completely to 
exterminate scale at one spraying, the trees were soon 
infested again, and the next time the commissioner 
attempted to clean up the injured parties were able to 
make so strong a case of careless work, malicious pros¬ 
ecution, etc., that county courts and district attorneys 
would not undertake the cases. Thus it has been found 
in these States, as it will be elsewhere, that a law of 
this sort cannot be enforced until people are educated 
to the point where they realize its necessity. There are 
sections in New York State now where such a law could 
be enforced because the majority of the people realize 
the importance of fighting insects and disease. In other 
sections enforcement would lead to riot or bloodshed. 
because people would consider it an infringement of 
personal liberty. There is no use expecting any benefit 
from a law which has no public sentiment back of it. 
No law can succeed unless there be loyalty back of it. 
* 
It is amusing to see how candidates and political 
party managers almost fall over themselves in their haste 
to claim credit for starting free rural mail delivery. 
Some of them must think that the faculty of remem¬ 
bering things has become a lost art with farmers. A 
few years ago it was impossible to find more than a 
handful of men at Washington to consider mail delivery 
in country neighborhoods. It would have been laughed 
out of Congress if farmers themselves had not forced 
the politicians to give it a trial. Now that it has become 
one of the most popular issues in the country there are 
men who are willing to show the bruises made by the 
blows which forced them to give it support and call 
them badges of honor! It is a hopeful sign. It shows 
what may be done for a parcels post. Just now the 
politicians dare not promise that. They fight it as they 
once did free rural delivery. Keep at them as was done 
over that. When they are convinced that we mean busi¬ 
ness we shall have the parcels post. Ten years hence, 
if we all do our duty the politicians will be patting them¬ 
selves on the back and claiming credit for the “great 
work of reform.” Keep at them, therefore, without any 
let-up. 
* 
Under the so-called “labor system” of building and 
repairing public highways the 74,097 miles of dirt roads 
in New York called for 2,000,000 days’ work each year. 
At $1.50 per day this meant a labor value of $3,000,000, 
or $60,000,000 for 20 years’ work, with little or nothing 
in the way of improvement to show it. Taking 14 
States of which the mileage of roads is known as a 
basis for figuring, it is estimated that the total mileage 
for the entire country is 2,500,000. In New York the 
cost in labor value of working one mile of road was 
about $400. On this basis the yearly labor cost of all 
American roads was $1,000,000,000. We have either 
squandered a vast amount of labor in the past 25 years, 
or else the labor itself was not worth the price. Both 
statements are probably true. With one half the value 
given to the labor, put in the form of cash, men who 
knew their business could have improved these roads. 
A cash tax will give far better satisfaction than the 
old labor system, provided the man who handles the 
money knows how to make a road. When we talk 
of paying taxes in cash, however, we must remember 
that for centuries labor has been a farmer’s chief 
asset. He is at a disadvantage as compared with a 
city man when he tries to change the labor of his 
hands for cash. An increase in the cash tax comes 
hard on many farmers, and not a single dollar of it 
should be spent for experiments in road building, or 
for unnecessary expenses. We cannot expect that the 
feeders to main roads can all be macadamized, but 
they can be smoothed and kept in order. 
BREVITIES . 
The conceited fool is Satan’s tool. 
.Tack Frost and Old Boreas have formed a partnership 
this Fall. 
There seems to be the same old trouble over the contract 
for the Government free seeds. 
Can one learn moral courage out of a book? One book 
certainly points the way to it. 
Ilow long does it take a scrub breeder to take the good 
blood out of a purebred animal? 
The leading southern papers print daily quotations of 
stock in southern cotton mills, and the list is a long one. 
Those gentlemen who have been consoling themselves 
with the remark “we are the people !" should now change 
to “are we the people?” 
We have all sorts of readers. By mistake one of them 
was addressed as “Reverend.” He writes back that he con¬ 
siders it a “premeditated insult.” 
Do any readers know of cases where trees, shrubs or 
crops of any sort have been destroyed or injured by illumi¬ 
nating gas escaping from pipes? If so, please give us the 
facts. 
Even drugs are adulterated. Unless there is a guarantee 
from reliable dealers druggists cannot tell what they put 
into their prescriptions. Some of the drug frauds have just 
been caught in this city. 
Dr. A. V. Moore, of Ithaca, N. Y., says he has come to a 
point in the study of roup in chickens when he must co¬ 
operate with chicken raisers. All who have had this disease 
in their flocks should contribute their experience. 
A reader in Tennessee says lie is undecided whether to 
go to the Far West and try beef cattle raising or come to 
the Northeast and try dairying. A few years ago the East 
would have had little chance against the West in an argu¬ 
ment of this sort. Now the East has the better of it. 
Grape growers who have lamented the depredations of 
various birds may find some consolation in a news item from 
Nevada. It is reported that quail are dying by the hun¬ 
dreds in Lander County, and as the birds have been very 
destructive to grapes, vineyardists were suspected of poison¬ 
ing them. Investigation shows, however, that the birds died 
from a form of appendicitis, grape seeds lodging in a small 
intestine, and causing fatal results. Couldn’t some one con¬ 
vey this information to the robins? 
