344 
M&y 11 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TUE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Hekbert W. Colbingwood, Editor. 
Dll. Wabter Van Fbkkt, / 
H. K. Van Deman. VAssoclates. 
Mrs. E. T. Koybe, \ 
John J. Dilbon, Busluess Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countrlea In the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8s. (id., or 8*^ murks, 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 columns, and any such swindler will be publicly 
exposed. W protect subscribers against rogues, but we do not guar¬ 
antee to adjust trifling 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 Burab New-Yorker when writing 
the advertiser. 
Name and address of sender, and what the remittance Is for, should 
appear In every letter. 
Bemittances may bo made In money order, express order, personal 
check or bank draft. 
THE BUBAL NKW-YOBKEB, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, MAY 11, 1901. 
We find that many people are interested in Porto 
Rico. We do not think that there is likely to be any 
large emigration to the Island, still there is a class 
of people who would without doubt do well there. 
For this and other reasons we have ari'anged for some 
reliable articles describing the actual chances to be 
found in Porto Rico. .lack Frost seems to have put 
his heel on northern Florida, but he will long and 
beg in vain for a chance at Uncle Sam’s new island. 
* 
Thehe are always those who say that apple grow¬ 
ing will be greatly overdone The facts and figures of 
February generally silence such men, for in most 
years there is a lack of fine apples in late Winter. 
They may be right in saying that people are planlmti 
too many apples. Planting used to be 75 per cent of 
the business; now it is but 25 per cent. Spraying, cul¬ 
tivation and storage are now nearly as important as 
planting. The Jericho road that runs between the 
apple orchard and the fine market is a rough high¬ 
way. The barrel of apples will strike 10 thieves 
where it formerly met one. Happily science has given 
us many new Samaritans also. 
* 
Tiikee years ago a laundryman in Rochester, N. Y., 
left his horse and wagon standing on the street. A 
steam automobile came along. The horse took fright, 
ran, and injured the wagon and himself. The owner 
recovered damages, but the county court reversed the 
judgment, holding that automobiles have a right on 
the road or street, and that horses must get used to 
them. The appellate court has now upset this deci¬ 
sion and decided against the automobile. It appears 
to hold that the automobile is a small steam engine 
subject to the laws of the road which govern such 
machinery. This seems to us fair. The horse has en¬ 
joyed the rights of the road for centuries, and he 
should come ahead of the horseless carriage. 
The new buildings at Ellis Island, New York, for 
I he reception of immigrants, are the most complete 
in arrangement and equipment of any that have been 
made for this purpose. Features of special note are 
bathrooms and laundry. In the laundry nearly 20,000 
garments per day can be disinfected and thoroughly 
washed, and the bathrooms will accommodate 1,000 
bathers per day. All immigrants who for any reason 
are obliged to remain on the Island over night will be 
made to take a bath. It is thought that such an initia¬ 
tion may have a salutary effect on these prospective 
citizens, and prove something of an incentive toward 
keeping clean afterward. What they will think when, 
later, they get into some of the political “deals” of 
this country, where no laundry is provided, is quite 
another thing. 
* 
Thebe are many credulous people who believe 
themselves heirs of unclaimed estates, either here or 
in Europe, and they are willing to put time and 
money at the disposal of rogues who fatten upon 
such claims. Recently a woman was arrested at 
Richmond, Ind., by Federal authorities, on the charge 
of using the mails to defraud; she was secretary of 
an association formed to recrover a great estate in 
Maryland, which is believed to be a myth. The al¬ 
leged heirs, scattered over many States, have been 
furnishing money to prosecute their shadowy claims. 
One would hardly believe such frauds possible when 
the suppositious estate is located within the United 
States, but they prosper amazingly as do all of the 
get-rich-qulck schemes. Foreign consuls often send 
warnings from abroad regarding imaginary fortunes 
lying unclaimed in the Bank of England, or unknown 
estates in some far-off corner of Europe. Rainbow 
chasing is never very profitable, and it will be well 
to put the energy thus expended into digging out 
prosperity at home. 
* 
The transportation committee of the Eastern New 
York Horticultural Society met with representative 
farmers and others May 3 at Newburg, N. Y., and 
laid their grievances before the express and steamboat 
men. There has been much dissatisfaction among 
shippers at the careless way in which fruit is handled 
and the shiftless manner of returning empty crates. 
The committee made a strong showing, and there 
were men enough present to show that they mean 
business. 
* 
No, my scientific friend, the fact that you publish a 
good bulletin dealing with some fact or method does 
not settle the matter for good. Many people will not 
take the trouble to read it. Many will never know 
it was published. Some will read and forget it— 
others will not understand it. The only thing to do 
is to keep at the public. You cannot lift a sack of 
fertilizer or a bag of grain by getting above them and 
reaching down. You get down to their level or a lit¬ 
tle below them and lift up. In like manner, if you 
wish to get the farmer to know what the fertilizer or 
the grain is composed of, you must get down to his 
level and lift him into it. You may say that it is not 
your business to do this work of education. You dis¬ 
cover facts rather than make them popular. We are 
not prepared to deny that statement, but if you issue 
bulletins at all, why not aim closer at the people who 
most need your facts? 
* 
An interesting statement has been made regarding 
the national debts of the world’s great nations. In 
1793 it was estimated that the total debt of the nations 
was $2,500,000,000. it is now estimated at $31,000,000,- 
000. The increase in debt, population and coin during 
the past century may be stated about as follows: 
Increase in population. 150 per cent 
Increase In gold and silver. 300 “ 
Increase in debt.1,000 “ “ 
It will thus be seen that this vast world’s debt has 
largely exceeded the increase in coin, and must be 
based largely on credit. What has caused this fright¬ 
ful increase of debt? Possibly one-third resulted from 
building railroads and improving rivers and harbors. 
The rest may be charged to wars—many of them un¬ 
holy and little short of barbarous! This is the bur¬ 
den that agriculture has carried—for, in the end, the 
great expense of war and destruction must come out 
of the soil. 
* 
We begin this week a series of articles on dairy 
farm topics by H. E. Cook, of New York. Mr. Cook 
is a successful dairyman. He can milk a cow with 
his own hands, make the milk into butter or cheese, 
and sell the product to advantage. He can then take 
the pen and tell just how it was done, so that all may 
follow him. We regard Mr. Cook as one of the best 
dairy writers in the country. Our readers are sure to 
be helped by his articles. In a private note Mr. Cook 
writes: 
In 1899 we had a dry season, and potatoes were a good 
crop. Last year another dry season, and the conditions 
of the two crops were reversed, so after all it is a ques¬ 
tion of doing one’s best and never i<jsing faith in the 
Great Ruler. Did you ever think that the farmer of ali 
men lives on faith, and I’m not sure but he may live 
as well as other people! 
Of course he may if he will live up to his faith. No 
matter how the rain now falls, dry days are ahead or 
us, and we shall hear much of soiling crops this year. 
We try to promise by performance, and will let Mr. 
Cook’s articles speak for themselves. 
* 
The recent failure of a banking house in Seneca 
Co., N. Y., has proved a severe calamity to that part 
of the State. Among the reasons given for this fail¬ 
ure is the following: 
The failure was a direct result of the decline in farm 
values. Many of the mortgages held by the bank were 
taken when farms hereabouts were in demand at $75 an 
acre. The same farms can be purchased to-day for $40 
an acre. As an inevitable result the bank was more than 
$50,000 short in its April collections and failure followed. 
We have no doubt that this statement of cause is 
correct. When these mortgages were given, the higher 
values were justified by the earning capacity of the 
farms. Through no fault of owner or tenant farm 
values have been forced down by reduced prices and 
increased competition. This shows what we have al¬ 
ways maintained—that there can be no permanent 
prosperity in this country unless the farmers are gen¬ 
erally prosperous. A shrinkage of farm values 
through reduced prices or inability to sell farm pro¬ 
ducts is sure sooner or later to affect injuriously all 
forms of business and property. Money invested in 
land ought to be the safest possible investment, for 
the soil is the great mother of all industrial life. The 
farm that has shrunk 40 per cent in earning value 
cannot pay off the debt contracted at the higher figure 
without pinching the pocketbook of the men who lent 
the money, or the life of the farmer who struggles 
to pay it. Since the Civil War the National policy of 
this country has been to build up the town and city 
at the expense of the farm. Such prossperity will 
surely prove to be hollow unless the farm be given a 
fairer chance and the special favors granted to other 
classes be taken from them. 
* 
Stkanoe and brutal things are done in the name 
of “sport,” and about the most inexcusable and dis¬ 
gusting that we know of is the practice of pigeon 
shooting as carried on by some gun clubs. These 
pigeons, practically tame birds, are let loose, and fre¬ 
quently considerable scaring is necessary on the part 
of the attendants to make them fiy, so that the brave 
Nimrod who is to murder them can get a shot. It 
often happens also that instead of being killed out¬ 
right they are only maimed, and have to suffer for 
some time before being put out of their misery. It 
would be a nearly parallel case if a farmer should get 
his hired man to chase his fiock of White Leghorns 
or Plymouth Rocks until some of the frightened birds 
fiew over the fence or on top of the henhouse, while 
he blazed away at them, and then went about the 
neighborhood bragging about the glorious sport they 
had had. Of course, it is great markmanship for a 
man to hit with a rifle 95 out of 100 birds set loose 
for his benefit, as one did recently, but it is an act 
of cowardice second only to Herod’s slaugnter of the 
innocents. His skill could be shown nearly as well 
by shooting at glass balls or some similar moving 
target. Why sacrifice for mere fun the lives of help¬ 
less, harmless creatures? A man with such a fever 
for hunting should go into the jungle after lions, 
tigers or poisonous snakes, where he takes an even 
chance with his victim. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
“ THE WOMEN’S HOUSE.” 
Iln view of the recent discussion in The R. N.-Y. re¬ 
garding a horse for the women folks to drive, we have 
been asked to repeat the following]: 
Ain’t got no speed; he’s fat enougli to kill— 
Jest sorter jogs along a steady course. 
An’ yet there ain’t no hundred dollar bill 
that ever 11 buy old Gray—the women’s lioi'se. 
I don’t expect he really earns his feed. 
Jest cultivates a little an’ that’s all; 
Yet he’s exactly what the women need, 
To hitch up now an’ then an’ make a call. 
You know how women drive—jerk on tlie bits; 
Push on the lines, an’ cluck an’ holler “whoa”! 
Enough to drive a nervous horse to Ills, 
But some old pelter like old Gray will go 
Like clockwork—why, he’ll turn right out an’ pass 
Another wagon—patient as a saint, 
Kf they broke down—he’d go to eatin’ grass. 
An’ when they whip him, he makes no coini.laint. 
1 feel as safe as can be wlien old Gray 
'J’akes out them women folk.s—he’s old, 1 know. 
An’ now an’ then 1 In.'ar tlie women say 
They wished they had a horse that ain’t so slow, 
An yet I’ll bet they'll miss him when, some day, 
lie sti ikes the last iiard milestone of his course. 
No! No! There ain’t no money buys old Gray. 
1 couldn t sell him—he’s the women’s horse. 
Who can wear light heels with a heavy heart? 
Better giv'e your self away” than sell youself! 
The widow may contribute her might through a broom. 
Planning for the child is like building casdes in Hie 
heir. 
Who can tell us about the paper fruit baskets? Are 
they useful? 
The cynics say that every man has his price. What is 
your price to-day? 
Iaking a post-graduate course—the horse that breaks 
his bridle and runs. 
Let us put away childish things.” Some men need 
help to get rid of them! 
W^HY is a sitting hen like a strike leader? One sits 
on the eggs and the oilier eggs on the cit. 
I HE hatchet is the only thing that will cure some 
hatches tliat never should have been hatched. 
No the farmer s wife is not a hired girl taking a post- 
giaduate course and tied up so that she can’t run away. 
The hired man who lakes a real interest in his work! 
You can t keep him down. If his present boss will not 
raise him some one else will. 
It Is sui’prising how many people use an extra b in 
spelling plum. 'J'he time to use the b is when you are 
trying to get the rows straight. 
The latest so-called “consumption cure” is based on the 
observation that persons with gout or rheumatic troubles 
seldom have tuberculosis. The uric acid in the blood 
is thought to antagonize the tuberculosis germ. Those 
who have suffered from gout or gravel will hardly want 
to try this cure! 
A planter in Arkansas is said to be contemplating the 
establishment of a kangaroo ranch. Besides the value 
of its hide, the kangaroo sujjplies the tendons used by 
surgeons to sew up wounds. Probably the Arkan.sas man 
realizes that the prollts from such a venture must in¬ 
crease by leaps and bounds. 
