848 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
November 26 , 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established, 1850. 
Hekbbbt W. Coaling wood, Editor. 
DU. WALTER VAN FLEET, I Associates 
MRS. K. T. Boyle, \ Ass ociaiea. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal l’ostal Union, $2.04, 
equal to 8s. 6d., or 8 Ms marks, or 10Ms 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 trilling 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 transaction, and you must have 
mentioned The 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 he made in money order, express order, 
personal check or bank draft. 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1904. 
TEN WEEKS FOR 10 CENTS. 
In order to introduce The R. N.-Y. to progressive 
intelligent farmers who do not now take it, we send it 
.10 weeks for 10 cents for strictly introductory purposes. 
We depend on our old friends to make this known to 
neighbors and friends. 
* 
There is much truth in the following item, which is 
sent us without credit: 
An Arkansas man has found HO bee trees this Fall, each 
good for 50 to 150 pounds of honey. It is this opportunity 
to find bee trees, catch coons, 'possum and fish which keeps 
Arkansas agriculture at a low ebb. 
The road to true success never lies over an easy way. 
There must be a fight somewhere—a struggle against 
hard conditions, which is the only thing that will develop 
what is best in a farmer. 
* 
We learn from the insurance man who writes on page 
843 that the general fire insurance business is not profit¬ 
able. They do not want farm insurance business at 
any rate. If these standard companies lose money on 
farm risks how does it happen that Grange or co-opera¬ 
tive companies can afford to insure at a lower rate? 
There are two main reasons. The co-operative com¬ 
panies discriminate and insure property that is known 
to be safe. Its members know the property and its 
owners. Hence the risks are usually safer than those 
taken by the agent of some large concern which takes 
little personal interest in the property. Again, in a 
co-operative company every member is a partner, shar¬ 
ing losses as well as profits. These things help make 
safer insurance risks than the larger companies can take 
on farm property. 
* 
It is said that efforts will be made to induce the next 
New York Legislature to give the people of the State 
another chance to vote on the proposition to enlarge 
the Erie Canal. The Legislature might re-submit the 
proposition to popular vote. The farmers would like to 
get a chance to vote on this question again. At the 
last election thousands of them did not vote at all. Can 
these men be induced to take more interest another 
time? The immense majority in favor of canal enlarge¬ 
ment was piled up by voters in this city. Who were 
these voters? Largely working men who pay no taxes, 
own little if any property and pay little attention to 
the moral arguments involved. They will vote for any¬ 
thing that offers a job for the working man. It was a 
combination of this unthinking vote and the foreign 
shipping interests of New York that carried the election. 
There is no evidence in sight to show that this great 
city vote could be changed. It could be made larger if 
need be on the plea that “labor” needs the canal work. 
The R. N.-Y. believes that the present scheme to enlarge 
the canal is little short of a crime, but farmers who want 
to vote on it again must understand the size of the job 
before them. 
* 
The papers state that Mr. Johnson, candidate for 
Governor in Minnesota, owes his election to the way he 
J faced a hard situation when a boy. Attempts were made 
to discredit him by reporting that his father died in the 
poorhouse and that his mother took in washing to sup¬ 
port her family. Investigation showed that young John¬ 
son as a boy of 10 was obliged to go to work. His 
mother did work as best she could to support her family 
and the boy supported her nobly. When the facts were 
known people rallied to the support of Mr. Johnson, and 
he was elected, overcoming a majority of 100,000. The 
people of Minnesota did well to rebuke such a story and 
reward such a man. No man is responsible for his par¬ 
ents or ancestors. They curse him with bad habits and 
tendencies oftener than they bless him with strong 
character. It is to the everlasting credit of 
any man that he can fight past the obstacles 
of lowly birth and unfortunate childhood and 
make his way in the world. That was the old-fashioned 
model held before farm boys when the country was 
younger. We do not hear so much of it now, for times 
have changed. There are too many endowed colleges 
and too many easy ways to do what formerly required 
physical hardship. Still the old glory of satisfaction and 
self-respect wait the man who will conquer the future 
with his own hands. 
* 
It js hard to place a fair value on a year’s growth 
of a good apple tree. Our estimate is 40 cents for each 
tree, which would be about $16 per acre as we plant 
apples. As will be noticed on page 842, various esti¬ 
mates are given, the average being about $1 for the total 
value of the tree. Here is another way of figuring: 
My own idea is that fruit trees till they reach bearing 
age Increase the value of land 50 per cent each year com¬ 
pounded upon the amount invested in trees, cost of setting 
and care the first year. I should consider the trees eaten 
as a total loss: they will grow again, but will have to be 
reheaded and the loss of time will fully equal a new start. 
Therefore I should place the damage at 50 per cent greater 
than the cost of trees, setting and the care for the first year. 
As to above estimate I may say a peach orchard here has 
this, the fifth year of the orchard, paid back net, over 
80 per cent of such increase of value, and also fair rent 
for the land. a. g. gulley. 
Prest. Conn. Pomologlcal Society. 
The personal loss in the destruction of a good orchard 
cannot be fairly estimated. There is no $100 bill that 
ever was issued that would begin to compensate us for 
the destruction of an acre of apple trees that we had 
watched grow through the season. 
* 
A reader in Michigan expresses himself as follows: 
Certainly 10 cents for The R N.-Y. gives more pleasure 
and more enduring satisfaction than the same amount in¬ 
vested in the yellow daily. Keep up your fight for support 
of the Grout bill and safety on the public highways. In 
this State the farmers build the highways and It does seem 
rather hard after they have built, at a heavy expense, an 
extra good strip of road to be driven from it by the red 
devils and their careless, unscrupulous drivers. 
While the anti-oleo law is in no immediate danger, 
guards are still needed. The oleo dealers have organized 
for the purpose of repealing the law. The moment they 
approach Congress for this purpose the army for honest 
butter must be put in motion. As for the automobiles 
we must remember that the man and not the machine 
is to blame for trouble. We have had drivers stop their 
machines and go around another way or help lead a 
frightened horse by, doing all they could to prevent 
damage. Others dash by without proper warning, not 
even looking back to see if their victims are safe. 
Others rush by children or elderly people, apparently 
trying to frighten them, and often succeeding in draw¬ 
ing them under the wheels. These reckless men are the 
true “devils” of the road. It is surprising that more 
of them are not followed by a charge of buckshot. 
They discredit by their conduct the decent auto drivers 
who have respect for life and property. 
* . 
A favorite way for corporations or manufacturing 
trusts ,to secure rebates on freight shipments is exposed 
by the Interstate Commission. The favorite plan seems 
to be to connect the factory and the main railroad lines 
with a short railroad which is owned by the trust. 
Some of these railroads are a few miles long, while 
others are scarcely long enough to hold a dozen cars! 
They are usually given names which would lead an 
outsider to believe they are large affairs. Cars of 
freight are loaded at the factory and hauled over these 
baby roads to the main line for shipment. In order to 
secure the business the main lines agree to pay to the 
baby road a share of the total charges. For instance, in 
one case the total charges for hauling a car of farm 
machinery to its destination were $20. Of this, the 
baby road, or the little spur running back to the factory 
demanded and obtained $12. Since this little road was 
owned by the trust which controlled the factory it is 
easy to see how this arrangement acted as a rebate on 
all freight shipped. It would not be possible for an 
outside company manufacturing the same class of goods 
which are made by the trust to compete on even terms, 
because it could not obtain the rebate. These cases are 
reported, and it is common knowledge that there are 
many such. The small shipper is at a disadvantage, 
and sooner or later he can be crushed out of business 
by his larger rivals. Needless to say, all this rebate or 
“graft” comes finally out of tfie consumer. Not only 
that, but he becomes the victim of a monopoly because 
fair competition cannot exist where a business rival has 
this advantage in freight rates. The Interstate Com¬ 
merce Commission has no power to enforce its own deci¬ 
sions. It can only refer these charges to the Depart¬ 
ment of Justice for prosecution. This is another reason 
why Congress should increase the powers of this Com¬ 
mission. Farmers arc especially interested in this, and 
they should keep at Congress until this reasonable 
demand is granted. 
* 
Some readers seem to find it hard to understand one 
of the true functions of an agricultural paper. They 
want it to advocate just what they believe, and to de¬ 
nounce any argument against the belief as heresy. As 
an illustration, take the use of lime, salt and sulphur 
for spraying fruit trees. We have found that this wash 
or spray is not a sure remedy for scale. We have 
letters from a number of fruit growers who say they 
have used it with poor succees. Now is it the duty of 
a farm paper to announce these failures and call for a 
discussion of them, or suppress them and advocate, with¬ 
out any reserve, the use of lime, salt and sulphur? We 
hold that the former plan is the true one. There can 
be no doubt about the reported failures. Why did the 
spray fail? Was it poorly made, was it imperfectly 
sprayed or did part of the tree remain uncovered, or is 
it true that in some climates and seasons the wash 
refuses to stick long enough to kill the scale? The 
chances are that investigation will show that one or 
more of these reasons will explain the failure. The 
larger growers claim best results from lime and sulphur. 
In most cases, not all, these men have steam heat, which 
enables them to boil the wash thoroughly. They also 
have power which enables them to blow out the spray 
in a fine mist. Anyone can see that such things give 
far better chances of success than when the wash is 
made in small quantities and put on with a hand pump. 
A free and fair discussion is far more likely to make 
these things clear than a refusal to admit that the wash 
can possibly fail. The world would be far better off if 
more people were willing to understand that difference 
of opinion is not always heresy! 
* 
We are asked by western men to explain why farms 
well located in New England or New York are for sale 
at low figures. If they are desirable or can be made 
desirable why do they not bring more? It is not always 
easy to explain the reason to a western man. He may 
live in a section where farming is the main business. 
Most of the trade in his section may be local. In that 
case all business will depend upon farming and the price 
of land. 'I hese cheap eastern farms are usually in sec¬ 
tions where farming is not the most attractive business. 
Manufacturing or other lines have absorbed capital and 
character from farming. In some cases farms were 
opened and worked on the strength of some other 
industry, like lumbering or cutting tan bark. While 
this work lasted farmers had a good local market and 
farms reached a good price. When these local industries 
moved away of course the farms suffered. A dozen rea¬ 
sons might be given to show how the decline of eastern 
agriculture brought down the price of farm lands. 
Much of this decline dates from the war. Nearly every 
hill farm sent one or more soldiers. Many of them 
never returned. Others were so broadened and changed 
during their absence that they were not satisfied to live 
on the old farm. They went to live in town or started 
west. It was the bad policy of many New England 
farmers to send the money they made on the farm away 
to the West or to the manufacturing town for invest¬ 
ment. I his took the spirit out of farming and made it 
more difficult to obtain good help. These are some of 
the reasons why farms are cheap. Many of them offer 
better opportunities than ever to hopeful and business¬ 
like men, but there will be little play in the work of 
making them fit. 
BREVITIES . 
The farmers’ institute crop is being harvested. Cut out 
a few of those dry, long-winded essays. 
If your young orchard were nibbled off by deer what 
would you consider the damage worth? 
In some Ohio dairy sections frost ruined the corn. From 
lack of feed some men are selling the culls of their dairy 
herds at $5 and $10. 
The hogs and cattle approve of the “mulch” method; 
that is, mulching the stable floor with plenty of bedding 
as the nights get colder. 
M e receive a note from a well-known fruit grower, who 
writes: “However, you can edit it, if you choose, as my 
neighbor said he would the dog, if he owned the only one 
in existence.” 
The Drover's Journal advises President Roosevelt to go 
to St. Louis, return by way of Chicago, and see the live 
stock show, and then look at the complete returns of his 
majority. Thus lie may see the “three biggest things on 
earth !” 
The census taken in 1902 shows that the population of 
British India has increased over 40,000,000 since 1891. It 
now has about 235,000,000 persons, who speak 185 different 
languages, and observe eight great religions. During 1902 
36,002 persons were killed by reptiles and wild animals. 
The London Gardeners’ Chronicle recently asked for a 
vote as tp the best six dessert apples for general purposes. 
Out of 102 varieties reported upon by 196 persons Cox’s 
Orange Pippin headed the list with 162 votes, the remaining 
five being, in order named, King of the Pippins, Worcester 
Pearmaiu, Rlbston Pippin, Blenheim Orange and Irish Peach. 
