36o 
May 18 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TEE BUSINESS EAEMEB'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbebt W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Db. Walter Van Fleet, I 
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, 12.04, equal to 
8s. Cd., or 816 marks, or francs. 
“A SaUARE 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 subscrlbors 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 Bubal 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, MAY 18, 1901. 
To January 1, 1902, for 50 Cents. 
During the last two years we have received several 
thousand letters thanking us for the new rose. Ruby 
Queen, most of them saying at the same time that the 
writers are alw^ays glad to do a good turn for The R. 
N.-Y. We are going to give these good friends a 
chance now to interest their neighbors in the paper. 
We have some roses yet left. Get two of your neigh¬ 
bors to give you 50 cents each, send us the dollar and 
their names and addresses. We will send them the 
paper the remainder of this year, and each a rose 
by return mail. For your part we will send you 
postpaid Mr. Stringfellow’s New Horticulture, which 
is advertised in another column, for 50 cents. We 
hope to hear from several thousands of our friends 
on this proposition. Do not put it off. See what you 
can do at once. 
* 
Our advices indicate that the strawberry crop in 
the South is both short and late. If it were short and 
not late the prospects for the northern crop would be 
better. Prices would be likely to remain high right 
through the .season. The crop is late, however, and a 
few days or weeks of hot sunshine may quicken the 
growth in northern sections sO as to bring on a glut 
after all. 
m 
The oleo men admit that if the Grout bill had ever 
come before the Senate it would have passed. A ma¬ 
jority of the Senators favored it. The oleo men de¬ 
feated the bill by what they call “parliamentary ad¬ 
vantage.” It reached the Senate late in the session 
at a time when a good many important measures were 
crowding. By playing off one interest against another 
the oleo people were able to hold the bill up. The 
remedy is to bring it before the next Congress at once, 
and push it harder than ever. Let us try to get the 
stumps out of the road beforehand. One tough-rooted 
stump is J. W. Wadsworth, chairman of the agricul¬ 
tural committee. Pull him out by all means. 
* 
In a wholesale liquor store in this city is an odd¬ 
looking clock. The works are in a beer barrel, which 
is placed on a high shelf. One end of the cask is 
painted to make the dial around which the hands 
turn. In whatever form he appears, time has les¬ 
sons for all, even though they refuse to hear or heed. 
Intoxicating drinks not only rob a man of his money 
and brains, but of his time also. Surprising figures 
might be shown if some one could keep a correct ac¬ 
count of the time spent by the patrons of a busy 
saloon in one week in drinking and getting over it. 
The old clock in the beer keg says: “You may bottle 
me up, but still I point out to you the swiftly-flying 
minutes, which multiply to hours and days and years 
and lifetimes.” Time is a slippery customer. Chains 
will not hold him, and he will duplicate no wasted 
moment. 
* 
The recent pigeon-shooting tournament at Inter¬ 
state Park, N. Y., during which 20,000 birds were 
butchered to gratify cruel ambitions, has been fol¬ 
lowed by such a clamor of public execration that a bill 
to outlaw the inhuman sport has been forced through 
the New York Legislature, and only awaits at this 
writing the Governor’s signature to become law. Great 
opposition was manifested to this salutary bill, which 
places pigeon shooting on a legal par with prize fight¬ 
ing and some other brutal pastimes. It is said that the 
most formidable opposition came from powder manu¬ 
facturing companies, which find their business inter¬ 
ests imperiled, but it is to be hoped that their infiu- 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
ence will not finally prevail. While such exhibitions 
are always degrading to participants and spectators, 
if the pigeons or other live birds were all killed out¬ 
right it would not be so revolting, but many of the 
helpless victims flutter out of reach after receiving 
ghastly wounds, and slowly perish in agony. The 
necessary skill can be shown in shooting at the va¬ 
rious ingenious mechanical substitutes for living 
birds now on the markets. Such an exhibition of pub¬ 
lic conscience and sympathy as preceded the passage 
of the bill is most gratifying in view of the flood of 
“strenuous” talk let loose on the community during 
the late political campaign by persons who think it 
the acme of manliness to kill or maim some helpless 
creature under the guise of sport. While this law, if 
approved by the Governor, will stop the cruel pastime 
in New York it is still free to go on in neighboring 
States like New Jersey. It is to be hoped that no 
R. N.-Y. reader will countenance live-bird shooting 
in any locality, nor be instrumental in supplying birds 
for such purposes. 
* 
So great has been the demand for rural free mail 
delivery that nearly all of the $3,500,000 appropria¬ 
tion has been provided for. Unless Congress votes 
more money at its next session many new applica¬ 
tions for routes cannot be considered. There are now 
about 3,000 routes in operation, and 500 more have 
been ordered by July 1. There has been nothing in 
recent years quite like the growth of this demand for 
better mail service. Most of us remember how gin¬ 
gerly the Government handled it at first. The au¬ 
thorities seemed to be afraid that farmers would not 
appreciate the business and social advantages of this 
service. So they went about it in a sort of half¬ 
hearted way. They ought to have known better than 
to lose faith in the good sense and intelligence of the 
American farmer. Such a demand for an increase of 
the service came rolling in that no one now thinks of 
giving it up. The only question is—how rapidly can 
it be extended? The American farmer will obtain his 
share of benefits when he wakes up to the fact that 
public rights result from demands, not from begging! 
• 
The Kiowa and Comanche Indian reservations are 
soon to be opened up for settlement. Such “open¬ 
ings” in the past have meant a mad rush and gamble 
in which the actual home-seekers usually had the 
worst of it. This land is supposed to belong to all the 
people—why should a few be permitted to grab and 
gobble it? There are 1,400 quarter sections of this 
land, and it belongs to eastern people as well as to 
those who live west. One of our readers in New Eng¬ 
land suggests the following plan: 
It seems as though we, who live so far from the line 
lands of the West, and most of us In New England, for 
instance, farm rather poor land, ought to have as good 
a chance, if only by lot, as those fellows in the West 
who make land speculation a business. There is little 
good land left. Is there any reason why all could not 
have share alike? V/hy could not lots be drawn for all 
of it, and men iir Oregon, or Florida, or Vermont, all 
stand on the same footing? I know it is objected that 
such a distribution would be contrary to the law against 
lottery, but such a law was aimed at concerns which 
have for their object the fleecing of the many for their 
own benefit, and incidentally the demoralizing of a few 
by the expectation of big or little prizes. Where nothing 
is paid by the citizen, and no demoralizing influences are 
present, how can the law be infringed any more than 
drawing a jury by lot? It would be absolutely fair for 
all, and under the supervision of the Government, these 
lands would be allotted to citizens, who might apply, 
from all over the country. 
« 
We know a man who a few days ago sold his seat 
in the New York Stock Exchange for $65,000. About 
20 years ago he bought this seat for $1,000! What can 
there be about such a thing that can command this 
value? This “Exchange” is limited in membership. 
Only those who are members may go upon the floor 
during business hours and buy or sell stocks. As the 
vast proportion of sales or transfers are made at the 
Exchange, and go through a system of recording and 
transfer, it is easy to see what a tremendous advan¬ 
tage such membership is. Just now a member can 
probably make at least $1,000 per month by simply 
becoming a partner in a firm of brokers, thus giving 
them a chance to handle stocks on commission. We 
speak of these figures to show the immense advantage 
conferred by this great business organization. The 
whole system is more or less of a gamble, though it is 
fair to say that were there no such “Exchange” the 
frauds and bogus concerns would have a better chance 
to fleece the public. So far as the farmers are con¬ 
cerned all this stock gambling is opposed to their in¬ 
terests—for they pay every dollar of the cost in the 
end. No one can object to actual sales or transfers of 
stocks or of grain or produce. There would be little 
gambling about such transactions. The actual stocks 
or products are not sold at all in many of the trans¬ 
actions, which are really bets on the price of the 
stocks. As the prices are forced up or down the in¬ 
vestors win or lose. The man who gambles in a game 
of cards has at least a chance to play his own hand. 
The stock gamblers know nothing about the workings 
of the game. We believe that National legislation is 
needed to prevent dealings in “options” or gambling 
in prices. The Washburn bill, which was aimed at 
this abuse, was killed in the United States Senate sev- 
eial years ago. It should be revived! 
* 
The Hope Farm man has been pleasantly criticised 
because he is hunting for something that will provide 
a profitable Winter job for a large family. One trou¬ 
ble on many farms is the fact that the labor which 
produces actual money is crowded into a few months. 
The rest of the year is occupied with chores or odd 
jobs which produce little cash. We all understand 
the evils of such a system of incomes. Near towns 
and cities one result is that cold weather freezes the 
hired man out of his job, and sends him to town—too 
often to join the ranks of the idle or half employed. 
The effect on the farmer’s own family is often bad. 
They are overworked during the busy season and do 
not always use the Winter to the best advantage. It 
is usually hardest for the women, as they have few 
of the things they need when the farm income is 
small. We feel sure that personally most large coun¬ 
try families would be better off for some attractive 
Winter job that would pay fair wages. The farmer 
would be able to keep a good man through the entire 
year. His own family would be happier and more 
hopeful, for attractive and profitable labor is the great 
sweetener of human life. Discontent is bred by heavy, 
underpaid drudgery or unprofitable idleness. In a 
public way, too, a good solution of the farm Winter- 
job question would benefit the country. It would help 
spread industry and population, taking them away 
from the crowded towns where they are as great an 
evil as an overcharge of blood in certain organs of the 
human body. There are good arguments in favor of 
the farm Winter job and but little to be said against ir. 
• 
BREVITIES. 
Just take your learned scientist, 
Put in his hand a hoe. 
And lead him out into the field 
And point him to his row. 
What living, think you, he would dig 
Out of the richest dirt? 
His stomach would show lack of food. 
His back would lack a shirt. 
You take the farmer from his plow 
And put within his hand 
The test tube and the microscope 
Where, think you, he would land? 
What living, think you, he could earn 
In such an awkward place? 
What truths would his untrained eyes find. 
In Nature’s heart and face? 
Why should we blame the scientist 
Because he finds the hoe 
An awkward tool and only knows 
The why of how things grow? 
And why despise the man of soil? 
To this all must agree 
Without his work your science would 
Remain a theory. 
What is the outlook for hay and fruit? 
Those who bridle sin provide a mount for the evil one. 
The tomato is fast growing away from vegetable into 
fruit. 
Now, gentlemen, what will keep rabbits away from 
young trees? 
A MOLE becomes nearest to being a mountain when on 
a human nose. 
He who will not master common things, must take his 
place among the underlings. 
To put the kick ’ inside your hatching eggs—induce 
your hens to scratch and use their legs. 
When time lays bare the motive how ashamed some 
of us will be—who have been judging the deed alone. 
Some people spend life trying to reach what they would 
like to be with little thought of what they should be. 
Yes, some of those who are trying to boom the Angora 
goat will surely go among the goats at the last sorting. 
One of P. D. Armour’s rules of business was: “Don’t 
talk too much.” Let farmers’ institute workers know 
how dangerous their position from becoming talking 
machines. 
A remarkable old horse has just been turned out to 
grass in Newark, N. J. He has been used for producing 
antitoxin for diphtheria. He cost $15 originally and has 
produced $9,000 worth of the antitoxin. 
Dr. j. j. Black says that the boy’s green-apple stomach 
ache Is as likely to result from “the pathogenic germs 
that go down with the apple” as from the fruit Itself. 
It’s lucky our ancestors did not have a knowledge of 
germs added to their other troubles. 
A reader gives the following as a "sure cure” for 
scours in calves: Boil corncobs in water for an hour— 
give the liquor warm. Medical men find little in corn¬ 
cobs that would have any such effect. Probably simple 
boiled or sterilized water alone would help. 
We have a dozen questions about to how handle seed 
corn so that the crows will not pull it. Our way is to tar 
the corn. We use the ordinary thick tar. Add a little 
water so that the corn will become fully smeared. Then 
dry by sifting ashes over it. The crows in our part of 
the country will let such corn .severely alone. 
