8 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
.lanuaj'v 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established IS-W. 
Herbkkt W. CoLLiNGWOOD, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, I 
H. E. Van Deman, ^Associates. 
Mrs. E. T. Royle, j 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, J2.04, equal to 
88. 6d., or SYt 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 guar¬ 
antee 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 us within one month of the time of the transaction, and 
you must have mentioned I'UB 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, JANUARY 5, 1901. 
THIS copy 
of The R^al New-Yorker is sent yoi\ because we 
th\nk inquiry mat .vou will be intVested in a 
reliable^arm'paper. Please look it over.\You will 
find i^lean, well printed on good paper, ilfWrated 
an^eliable. After 50 years continuous weekly ptikli- 
Lion, it is at the present time acknowledged to K 
the best-edited farm paper in America. Last year we 
distributed the new rose. Ruby Queen, to subscribers. 
We frequently distribute novelties originated at the 
Rural Grounds, but never anything that delighted sub¬ 
scribers as this rose did. Hence, we prepared a sup¬ 
ply for new yearly subscribers this year. Send us $1 
now, and we will send you the paper every week fo- 
a year, and this beautiful new rose free and" post-paid. 
In two years you would not let the rose be taken out 
of your yard for a |5 bill. If you would, or if you are 
not in every way pleased with the paper, we will're- 
turn your dollar. Send at once, and we will see that 
\ou get a nice rose in right time for planting. If 
d^ipt send the yearly subscription, send 10 cents 
the cStn slot of blank order inclosed, and we will bd 
you the^aper every week for 10 weeks. Fob ad 
seal the C^ree gummed edges of the blank, anj^ ail 
at our risk.^ 
What is the use of going to Europe to study the 
ruins of ancient Greece, while there are millions of 
pounds of oleo right here in this country? A study 
of the quickest way of killing the fraud in oleo is of 
more importance in preserving a live republic than 
any study of the reasons for the death of an old one! 
No one can tell yet what the Senate committee will 
do with the Grout bill. The committee voted to end 
the hearings on January 10. This seems favorable to 
the bill, for the oleo people desire to let the hearings 
dawdle along until this session of Congress has ended. 
Now is the time to give your Senators a New Year’s 
present of your written opinion on this oleo matter. 
Churn out the words and send them right along. 
* 
The Superior Court at Hartford, Conn., recently had 
occasion to decide whether frogs are fish, within the 
meaning of a statute forbidding the catching of fish 
in a public reservoir, and reaches the opinion that 
they are. This recalls the astounding information re¬ 
ceived by an English traveler, who wished to know 
whether the rule against admitting dogs would pre¬ 
vent him from taking a turtle into a passenger car. 
The railway porter appealed to passed the turtle with 
this decision: “Cats is dogs, and rabbits is dogs, but 
a tortoise is an insect!” 
* 
One of our readers says that he attended the meet¬ 
ing of the Ohio State Horticultural Society. He says 
he ought to have joined this Society years ago. While 
his own operations are comparatively small he can 
see where he would have been several hundred dollars 
better off if he had attended more of the meetings. 
That is what we hear people say of other meetings, 
and there is no doubt that a live man will get rid of a 
good many dead ideas at any of our State meetings. 
Of course, as we say, the man must be alive, and both 
willing and ready to absorb information. We might 
take a trunk or a fertilizer sack to such a meeting and 
leave it open. When we took it home we might find 
some waste papers and refuse in it, but that would 
be about all. Some men complain that they cannot 
learn anything at such meetings, but the trouble 
usually is that they do not go there in a teachable 
spirit, but rather with the idea of proving that no one 
can teach them. We do not call such people live men, 
for they have ceased to grow! We regret that our 
farmers’ gatherings do not attract hundreds where 
they now bring together dozens. 
* 
Denmark, the great butter-making country of the 
world, bought last year 35,000,000 pounds of oleo oil 
from the United States. Last year England bought 
nearly $40,000,000 worth of butter from Denmark, but 
the frugal Dane spreads oleo on his own bread. Oleo 
costs him 15 cents a pound, while England pays 40 
cents a pound for his best butter. It will be seen that 
the Dane does not pay butter prices for his oleo. 
« 
Most people find it necessary to eat crow now and 
then, and there is a knack in knowing how to do It 
gracefully. Few of us have acquired the art of facing 
the defeat of a pet plan, without showing bitterness 
or putting on a flippant don’t-care air, which every 
one knows is not real. A man who, when defeated 
does not try to conceal the fact that he is sorry, and 
yet shows that he does not intend to look cross-eyed 
at the world for the rest of his life, or turn himself 
into a heagehog or barrel of vinegar on this account 
ought to be respected, and usually is—but he is a rare 
bird. 
The R. N.-Y. is a “boxer”. We make no secret of 
our plan to put on the gloves and make a hard fight 
for the box as an apple package. The barrel is satis¬ 
factory for a good share of the trade, but the neat box 
well packed with high-grade apples will find favor 
with thousands of city people. The apple trade will 
be increased by its use. You say the commission men 
do not want to handle the boxes? Well now, we have 
had an old-fashioned idea that the fruit grower was 
working for the interests of his own family, and not 
for commission men. We thought these gentlemen 
were working for those who pay them. The R. N.-Y. 
is a “boxer”. We shall make a fight for me apple box! 
• 
Prof. Phelps, in his articles on feeding nitrogen to 
fodder crops, has given farmers a valuable new idea. 
We may not be able to feed fat into milk, but it is evi¬ 
dent that we can increase the amount of protein in 
our hay by applying soluble nitrogen at the right time. 
Naturally it follows that the hay to sell is that grown 
on the poorer fields, and the hay to feed at home is 
that grown where an abundance of nitrogen is used. 
This shows the great value of nitrate of soda as a 
source of nitrogen. It is available at once, and can be 
applied quickly and easily at almost any stage of the 
plant’s growth. Good farmei’S have always claimed 
that it pays to feed the grass crop well. Here we have 
new evidence of it. 
* 
We hope to make the coming year a notable one in 
certain editorial features of The R. N.-Y. Mr. J. H. 
Hale gives us this week the first of a series of articles 
on “essential principles” of crop production. Our plan 
is to secure the solid, boiled-down experience of men 
who have made a life study of some particular crop, 
and who have mastered it so far as such mastery is 
given to human thought and energy. These articles 
will not be filled with dry details, but will deal with 
essential principles—that is, the points which these 
strong and successful men have found most important. 
They will cover all departments of farm operations, 
and will, we believe, form the strongest collection of 
horticultural and agricultural articles ever printed by 
a farm paper. 
* 
It is claimed that French chemists have succeeded 
in separating the gases of which the air is composed, 
so that the oxygen may be ignited for use as light 
or fuel. For years efforts have been made to sep¬ 
arate and capture the nitrogen in the air, so that it 
might be used as a fertilizer, but the leguminous 
plants seem to possess a trade secret regarding the 
process, which they will not give up. If, by means of 
some simple apparatus, the oxygen of the air could 
be separated to be used as fuel we should have an 
industrial revolution far greater in its results than 
the introduction of steam or electricity. Coal and 
oil are now the chief sources of fuel. Steam power 
is dependent on them, and therefore power or force 
is concentrated, for it must be tied to the places where 
fuel is cheaply handled. These places are usually at 
the seaboard, or on some inland watercourse where 
competitive freight rates are possible. The effect of 
using oxygen from the air as fuel would be to scatter 
the Nation’s industries and draw many of them away 
from the great cities. This we believe would be a 
desirable thing for farmers. On the other hand, such 
use of oxygen would be a severe blow to our manu¬ 
facturers. We are coming to have more and more of 
a monopoly of coal and oil, and to this extent have 
an advantage over other nations. With the air pro¬ 
viding abundant fuel oUr manufacturers would lose 
this advantage. 
“You color your butter; why then is it a fraud to 
color oleo?” That is the question which the oleo men 
ask. They have been driven from every other posi¬ 
tion, and they consider this unanswerable. Let us see 
about that. Butter is not colored in imitation of some 
other more expensive product. For centuries butter 
has been recognized as a yellow substance, and no 
one is deceived when pure butter fats are uniformly 
colored. It is not so of oleo. This is a collection of 
cheap fats costing less than 10 cents a pound. The 
color is put in so that the manufacturers may sell it 
at 20 cents or more. In one case the color is used to 
give a uniform tint to a recognized article of com¬ 
merce. In the other case it is used to prepare a 
counterfeit so that cheap fats may be sold for twice 
their true value. The whole fight of the oleo people 
is waged for the privilege of counterfeiting an article 
which has carried a definite color brand for centuries. 
t 
From all over the country come reports to th^effect 
that plain farmers are taking more interest than ever 
in the various farmers’ organizations. In some States 
there have been vigoi-ous efforts to elect new sets of 
officers in place of the men who for years have “run 
things”. As a rule, such efforts to procure “a new 
broom” fail through a lack of organization. In some 
cases the movement is doomed to failure because ill- 
advised and based largely on jealousy or personal 
spite. We are glad, however, to note that farmers 
begin to realize what they might accomplish if they 
would use their power wisely and well. There are 
advantages in having a few able men conduct the af¬ 
fairs of these societies. Often such men do the work 
at a loss of time and money. Farmers may well come 
forward and help such men rather than attempt to 
throw them out. In other cases the management falls 
into the hands of a ‘ring” of strong, selfish men who 
run things for their own benefit. Such men may well 
be dismissed without ceremony. The point we wish 
to emphasize is that a few strong, courageous men in 
an association of this sort can, if they try, secure a 
solid backing that will enforce reforms. A great ma¬ 
jority of the people in this land want something bet 
ter. They often stand still, marking time—waiting 
for a strong leader to suggest and lead. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
We hit you hard, Ben Davis, 
But you stood up to the crack, 
And every time we hit you 
You would Are some figures back. 
You came and shook the money 
That the people pay for you 
Beneath our very noses. 
And there’s nothing left to do. 
For money talks, Ben Davis, 
As it has since Adam’s day; 
When your forbears broke Eden 
And we’ll let you break away. 
For your downfall is coming; 
We will give you rope enough. 
When all your trees are bearing 
You will find the sledding rough. 
We like your bluff, Ben Davis, 
There is money in your cheek. 
But when we’re asked to plant you— 
No I thank you—not this week. 
Don’t put young blood into old ruts. 
The greatest verb al contract is I’ll try) 
Too many henhouses are cold-storage plants. 
Stingeth like an adder—the fellow who foots up your 
tax bill. 
Frost makes some folks hug the stove, while others go 
and make a move. 
The Crimson clover and oats gave good pasture on 
Christmas Day. 
Horse sense in the care of the horse will mean horse 
dollars to the owner. 
Remember that the nervous cow gives up her food, 
while the beefer stores it up. 
The greatest present you will ever have is the oppor¬ 
tunity of improving the present. 
No, SIR, you can’t overcome the bad blood In a scrub 
by crossing it with the corn crib. 
Yes, drought is a blessing if it prove the last straw in 
forcing the dairymen to build a silo. 
A RARE man—he who admits that it is easier to do a 
thing well than it is to tell about it. 
Cover crops are popular now—Grandmother is showing 
the little girls how to raise a bed quilt. 
In bad designs falter—in good ones make haste, and 
may the New Year be trimmed up to your taste. 
Greater is he that biteth his tongue over the first 
word than he that smacketh his chops over the last one. 
It pays to thin overloaded fruit on peach, apple or pear 
trees. How about strawberries on big plants in hill cul¬ 
ture? 
How about a duty on hides? Well, it is certainly your 
duty to hide your sorrows, and not make free with them 
to everybody. 
Those Pennsylvania milk farmers know how. They 
held together for the benefit of those who had only a 
verbal contract—and won. 
