4o 
January 1ft 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850 . 
Hkrbebt W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, j 
H. E. Van Deman, > Associates. 
Mrs. E. T. Royle, ) 
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 8i4 marks, or 1054 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 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, JANUARY 19, 1901. 
Hate u little patience with us at this time of year. 
If the date and label do not show credit promptly 
have no fear. Every remittance received Is entered 
up carefully daily. We are yet a little behind with 
other work, but are catching up rapidly, and your 
credits will all appear shortly. Just so with orders 
for other papers. Other large publishers are behind 
at this season, like ourselves, but all orders are for¬ 
warded, and will be filled without unnecessary delay, 
• 
Why not get up a little club for The R. N.-Y. in 
your neighborhood? Send four names and $4 and 
your own paper will be credited for a year free; the 
five names for $4. If you are already credited for this 
year, keep $1, sending us $3 for the four names. 
• 
How many anti-oleo letters have you written to 
your Senator? None? You will feel like a hero, won’t 
you, if he votes against the Grout bill and then says 
in excuse for such action that the people of his State 
didn’t seem to care anything about it! 
• 
There are many good peach growers who class the 
Elberta peach with the Ben Davis apple. It is a 
showy, handsome fruit which sells for its face rather 
than for its fiesh. One grower raised some fine-look¬ 
ing Elbertas, and was told, when he came the second 
time with them: “No, I do not want any more Cali¬ 
fornia peaches!’’ 
* 
We havd’a letter from Senator Chauncey M. Depew, 
of New York, in which he promises to vote for the 
Grout bill. We felt sure that the eloquent tongue of 
Senator Depew would never roll over words in favor 
of oleo. The Senator is something of a farmer him¬ 
self—an officer of the celebrated New York Farmers; 
of course he believes in killing the miserable grubs 
that torture the back of the good old cow ! 
* 
How many middle-aged failures do you know? By 
“middle-aged failures” we mean men or women who 
have reached the prime of life, having had fair health 
and average opportunities, and yet have failed to se¬ 
cure competency and home. Take the list of such 
people within your acquaintance, and put opposite 
each name the known cause for the failure. We ven¬ 
ture to say that a great majority of these failures will 
be traced directly or indirectly to the use of intoxicat¬ 
ing liquor. We also believe that you will have the 
job of your life to find a life failure that can be hon¬ 
estly traced to the strict performance of duty. 
• 
One of the clearest demonstrations of the power and 
value of a live Grange is' to be seen in the coimtry 
around Lunenburg, Mass. Scattered through this 
country are numerous hill towns. In former years 
such towns, throughout New England, were usually 
prosperous. The little streams were fringed with 
factories and shops; the hillside farms produced fine 
crops of character, packed it into stalwart boys and 
brainy girls, and sent them out to do the world’s 
work. As the inventors secured more and more of a 
monopoly of power in the valleys the wealth of the 
hill towns began to run down hill, like the water in 
their streams. In many places where there was little 
to tie farm families together this drain has gone on 
until farms and villages show the marks of desertion 
everywhere. At Lunenburg and nearby towns the 
Grange has largely stopped this drain. It has pro¬ 
vided a strong social and business tie needed to make 
farm life brighter and more attractive. It is safe to 
say that no organization at present known could have 
taken quite the place of the Grange in saving these 
hill towns, and in preserving the best features of the 
old-fashioned New England home. In one way the 
Grange is seen at its best in New England. 
* 
We have never liked the word “institute” as applied 
to the well-known meetings of farmers. It seems too 
formal, and does not seem to convey just the right 
meaning. Mr, Gold and Prof. Beal show us this week 
how the name first came into use, and it is now likely 
to stick, for 30 years of usage makes a strong glue for 
language. We do not pretend to be dictionary- 
makers, and there are apparently words enough now 
in our language, but we would like to see some 
simpler and more original word used in connection 
with meetings of farmers. 
* 
On January 8 the House Committee on Agriculture 
at Washington gave a hearing to a committee of 
wholesale seedsmen, who argued against the Govern¬ 
ment free-seed distribution. They contended that the 
Government was interfering with private business. 
Seedsmen are drawing a comparison between the free- 
seed distribution and the ship subsidy bill, not at all 
complimentary to either. The fact is that the free- 
seed distribution is absolutely indefensible, as The R. 
N.-Y. has stated many times before, and the only peo¬ 
ple vitally interested in it are a few Congressmen, who 
use the seeds as a political lubricant. 
* 
Senator Towne, the new Senator from Minnesota, 
will have but a short term in the Senate, but it will 
be bright with color for the cow if she can only get 
out of the Senate Agricultural Committee, This is 
what Senator Towne says: 
Of course, I believe that people who want to eat oleo¬ 
margarine ought to be permitted to do so. I similarly 
believe that those who want to eat butter ought to be 
permitted to do so. Those who buy ought to know what 
they are buying, and the producer of butter ought not 
to be submitted to any other competition than that which 
would naturally exist between the two products on their 
merits. 
The whole story is told in those 72 words. What 
the oleoists want to do is to sell a counterfeit. Never 
have lard and suet been ot the same color as grass 
butter. They want to color these inferior fats and 
deceive the public. There you have the whole story— 
stripped of all their plausible talk about “poor man’s 
food.” 
* 
Last year The R. N.-Y. told of the great damage 
done to the wheat in Monmouth Co., N. J., by the 
Angoumois moth. This little insect took the milling 
value out of nearly 70,000 bushels of grain in central 
New Jersey. When the millers refused to handle the 
wheat something of a panic seized the farmers, and 
great loss was feared. After the article referred to 
was printed we began to get letters from poultrymen 
and stock-keepers asking whether this grain was good 
for feeding. Investigation showed that it was not 
badly hurt for feeding purposes, and most of it has al¬ 
ready been sold at 62 to 70 cents a bushel, and regu¬ 
lar wheat buyers handle it as feed. Thus this dam¬ 
aged wheat sells for about as much as the finest grain 
on the Kansas farm. In the thickly-settled portions 
of the East anything that has value for feeding ani¬ 
mals or plants may be sold. Let us also remember 
that the New Jersey farms that produced this wheat 
have been in constant cultivation for more than 125 
years—and still produce as many bushels of wheat 
per acre as the newer soils of the West. 
* 
The Maine Bornological Society prepared a fine ex¬ 
hibit of apples and other fruits to be sent to the Buf¬ 
falo Exposition. We understand that the Maine 
Legislature refuses to appropriate the money needed 
to show this fruit properly. If this report be true it 
is the most surprising thing we have heard of lately. 
The purest breed of Yankees left on this continent re¬ 
fuse a chance to advertise their wares! It seems im¬ 
possible. The Maine apples are as fine in finish and 
fiavor as any that can be grown inside the limits of 
this country—yet few, outside of parts of New Eng¬ 
land, know it. The people of this country are not 
running about to hunt up the best things. They are 
too busy earning the money with which to buy them. 
The producer must do the advertising, though the 
consumer often pays for it. California is a fruit-pro¬ 
ducing State, and the Californians are coming to Buf¬ 
falo with money and men to crowd more of their fruit 
into the eastern markets. Much of this fruit, while 
large and handsome, is far inferior in quality to that 
grown in Maine orchards. Yet if Maine stands back 
with hands in pockets while California counts out a 
fair share of her roll for advertising purposes, Cali¬ 
fornia fruit will be demanded and sold. What in the 
world has become of the old Yankee genius for ad¬ 
vertising? It will be a shame if that fine collection 
of fruit must be sold! Get after that Legislature! 
The article on Alfalfa printed in this issue, is of 
special interest to fruit growers or small farmers. To 
read what is said of this plant by western farmers 
one would think it was useful only on great farms 
where vast flocks and herds are kept. That is not 
true. It is also a blessing to the man with a few acres 
which are crowded hard with fruits or vegetables. As 
a rule, such a man does not keep much stock, and he 
cannot afford to have a large share of his land in 
fodder crops. Other crops pay better—yet the outlay 
for hay is considerable. Alfalfa gives a heavy yield 
per acre, and a comparatively small patch of it will 
furnish hay for the limited stock on a fruit farm. A 
few acres, which might not be suitable for the money 
crops, provide the fodder and save the hay bill. This 
is worth remembering wherever Alfalfa will grow. 
The only objection we have heard to the crop is the 
difficulty in plowing it when well established. The 
roots are large and tough, as one might expect, and 
the plow has a hard job among them. 
• 
Many people are shocked at the disclosures of 
practices of nurses and others inside certain insane 
asylums. We are not much surprised at the stories 
told whenever a public cleaning occurs, for we have, 
unfortunately, been obliged to learn things about 
these institutions. Many of them are not asylums at 
s^ll—they are jails for weak or broken-minded people. 
Most of them are elegant structures—the cost often 
running up into hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 
some cases honest efforts are made to cure the mental 
disease; in others the patient is regarded as a nuisance 
to be endured rather than cured. There are, un¬ 
happily, many thoughtless people who send friends 
or relatives to these palace prisons and then take no 
further notice of tnem. No wonder the attendants 
come to regard such patients as so many sticks of 
human timber! God help the poor nervous wretch 
whose mind is trembling in the balance, and who falls 
into the hands of some of these cold-blooded attend¬ 
ants! We think the plan of herding the insane and 
feeble-minded together in these great buildings is all 
wrong. They should be separated and classed and 
kept in small colonies on farms! 
• 
BREVITIES. 
THE WHY MAN. 
(Reprinted by Request.) 
There was a man in our town and he had wondrous whys. 
He went unto an institute—his talk was just this size: 
“Say, mister, what is nitrogen and legumes—what are 
they? 
And carbohydrate, oxygen and carbonate, I pray; 
And what is an albuminoid, and what is chlorophyl? 
And what are these bacteria you tell us how to kill? 
Somehow it’s worse than Greek to me, this learned stuff 
you said. 
While these big, undiscovered words are buzzing at my 
head.’’ 
The people laughed, the chairman rose and pounded 
with his cane; 
The wise professors wag their heads and look a look of 
pain. 
They sat on our inquiring friend and ridiculed his whys; 
And yet he had the right of it! The questions they 
despise 
Were just the things he had to know ere he could un¬ 
derstand 
The matters they were driving at in speeches wisely 
planned. 
And lots of those who laughed at him and ridiculed that 
day. 
Knew less than he, but were afraid to "give themselves 
away.” 
And so they wisely wagged their heads at each big- 
sounding word, 
Aitho’ they scarcely understood a fraction that they 
heard. 
Chop up your scientific terms and deem it no disgrace 
To make your science soluble at every talking place. 
No! no! The “rest cure” never cured a case of laziness. 
It’s greed that makes some men substitute creed for 
deed. 
It looks like a sure thing that the quail will eat Potato 
bugs! 
Is beardless barley worth sowing? Who can give facts 
about it? 
Humiliating but true—the dollar is the best measure of 
friendship. 
One of the best fruit reports we have ever printed on 
the next page. 
The food fraud and adulterator is the worst thief in 
the farmer’s market. 
A KNOWLEDGE Of truc principles ought to give a man 
more Interest in agriculture. 
Milk cans are sterilized by getting into hot water. 
Would that the same were true of the human tongue! 
We Intimated last week that Senator Allen, of Ne¬ 
braska, is against the Grout bill. We now learn that he 
favors it, and gladly correct the statement. 
The Baldwin apple was born in New England. Some 
things must be sent away from home to reach their best 
estate. Not so with the Baldwin. It is still the best red 
apple for its native heath. 
Men rise by what is put under their feet. They may 
put self there and stand securely. They may force others 
to build the pile, and find that sooner or later those who 
built will demand their own and pull down the pile. 
