552 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
August 10 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE B USINESS FARMEB'S RARER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
to pay his expenses and develop his business. The 
loss of the water ruins the farm, throws the farmer 
out of a job and destroys his earning capacity on 
that spot. / 
Herbeut W. Cor.i,i>'GWOoi), Kditor. 
Pb. Wabteh Van Fleet, / 
H. E. Van Peman. VA-ssoclates. 
Mrs. E. T. Koyle, 1 
JOUN J. PiLLON, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8s. Gd., or 8)^ marks, or lOJjj frsLCs. 
“A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper Is hacked 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 trifling differences between subscribers and honest, 
responsible adveiUsers. 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 TuK Rural New-Yorker when writing 
the advertiser. 
Name and address of sender, and what the remittance is for, should 
appear In every letter. 
Itemlttances may be made In money order, express order, personal 
check or bank draft. _ 
THE RUKAL NEW-YOKKER, 
4W Pearl Street. New York. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 1901. 
To January 1, 1902, for 25 Cents 
The time for subscription work is again with us. 
During August and September we shall send The R. 
N.-Y. every week for the remainder of the year for 
25 cents. You can get up a little club in your neigh¬ 
borhood. Do what you can. Keep 10 cents and send 
us 15 cents with each name. If you can send a club 
of 10, keep 15 cents for each, and send us 10 cents 
with each name—^t'he 10 for $1. Experience has 
taught us that it is the small clubs of this kind sent 
by our old friends that are most valuable. If you 
want samples, blanks or other supplies, write for 
them. They will be sent promptly and gladly. The 
sooner you send now the more papers your neighbors 
will get before January 1. Act as soon as possible. 
* 
'No sooner was the drought broken in Kansas and 
Missouri than the farmers hurried to town and began 
buying seeds for forage crops. Turnips, sorghum and 
rye will be largely planted. They have ceased to se.l 
oif their stock, and in spite of all the pessimistic re¬ 
ports we have received, the drought-stricken States 
are very far from agricultural ruin. One of the most 
encouraging features is the attitude of the farmers 
themselves. They do not sit down to lament the hard¬ 
ships of the season, but take hold willingly to fill up 
the gaps in their ordinary farm practice. This year 
will see a good many very practical experiments in 
1 ' all forage crops. 
* 
We should judge that the Summer boarder crop is 
growing well this year. On the farms within 30 miks 
of New York and many other cities, the business of 
fattening a city family pays better than putting flesh 
on the ribs of a middleman. These people with brick 
and stone in their pedigree may not know much about 
farming, but they usually have remarkably healthy 
appetities. They make good customers for milk, 
chickens, fruits and vegetables, and if a farmer knew 
how to handle them he can make the crop pay. It is 
a job, though. The man who taketh a city is said to 
be great, but ne is a dwarf beside the man who can 
take a reef in his patience in the face of the questions 
of the city man and the pranks of his children! 
On one of the tables of the fruit exhibit of the State 
of Washington at Buffalo we found the following 
written notice conspicuously displayed: 
As the children of Lebanon passed through the land 
on that day, they saw the fruit, but according to the 
law of the land they ate it not. 
And the Lord said unto Moses: Thou mayst behold the 
land, but thou shalt not enter therein, nor shalt thou 
eat the fruit thereof. 
The New York State Fair, to be held at Syracuse, 
September 9-14, promises to be one of the best ever 
held. It was feared at one time that there might be 
some conflict with the Pan-American Exposition over 
the exhibits of live stock. The matter 'has now been 
fully arranged, and a fine show is guaranteed. With 
ample funds to back then! the commissionei’s have 
made abundant arrangements for entertaining a great 
crowd, and it is to be hoped that the grounds will be 
crowded. 
* 
A FIELD meeting of the New York State Fruit 
Growers’ Association will be held at Olcott, Niagara 
Co., on August 14. The principal address will be made 
by Hon. W. H. Blodgett, of Worcester, Mass., on 
“Fruit Packing and Marketing.” This will be a good 
meeting. All farmers who can do so should attend. 
It pays to rub elbows with your fellows. Cooperation 
ought to fatten on “elbow-grease,” and now as never 
before do New York State farmers need a strong 
organization. 
* 
The fearful heat which swept over the West blasted 
the meadows and pastures as by fire. In some cases 
it is reported that Timothy and similar grasses have 
been destroyed, root and stem, so that reseeding will 
be necessary. Here and there, green amid these dead 
meadows, are patches of Alfalfa still alive and ready 
to grow at the first fair rain. This wonderful plant 
needs just such a trying time properly to advertise 
itself. It sends its long roots deep into the soil, fol¬ 
lowing the water level as it retreats before the sun, 
and keeps on pumping water, while the shallow- 
rooted plants are dying. Great is Alfalfa—where the 
soil suits it. 
The Borough of Brooklyn, City of New York, ob¬ 
tains a good share of its water from wells driven in 
various nearby parts of Long Island. Water is 
pumped from these wells, and so much is taken that 
the farms have been sucked dry, and crops are ruined. 
Farmers have brought suit against the city for dam¬ 
ages and have usually won. The principle is clear 
that an outsider cannot deprive a farmer of the sur¬ 
face water that runs over his farm. The underground 
water is of even more importance. A farmer owning 
a farm worth $6,500 recently claimed damages for 
$75,000. Justice Marean, of the State Supreme Court, 
says that no farm land on Long Island, with or with¬ 
out water, is worth for its annual use, more than five 
per cent of its sale value! What nonsense that is 
when we reflect that the farm represents the farmer’s 
capital, which is to give him a job, pay his bills, pro¬ 
vide for his family and give him any possible profit. 
A merchant with $10,000 may be forced to do a trade 
of six or seven times that amount in a year in order 
The last quotation does not strike us as a very 
strong immigration document, but it is a good hint to 
the people w’ho seem to consider the fruit on an ex¬ 
hibition table and in a farmer’s orchard as common 
property. Why not try one of these texts on a board 
as an orchard sign? 
* 
We are having quite a little discussion over the 
wisdom of spraying potatoes with Bordeaux Mixture. 
Thus far the discussion has been confined to the prac¬ 
tical men. After all, such questions must finally be 
settled to suit the conditions of the man with only 
one team and one pair of hands. In our own ex¬ 
perience we have found that the use of copper on the 
vines will pay, provided you can get it on at the right 
time. The trouble is to apply it just when it is 
needed. We can see how a field or a plot at an ex¬ 
periment station can be kept “copper-plated.” Where 
a man is growing potatoes as a great special crop, 
with few others to interfere, he ought to be able to 
use the Bordeaux in time. The average farmer often 
has too much on his hands, with hay or corn or grain 
all demanding immediate attention. 
* 
Last week we referred to the statements made by 
Dr. Koch, the great German scientist. He says that 
bovine tuberculosis is not transmissible to humans. 
Dairymen are hailing this statement with great joy, 
for they have long felt that much of the warfare made 
against the cow by inspectors and radical scientists 
was unjust. While this statement by Dr. Koch will 
probably do much to stop the so-called testing and 
“stamping out,” there is another side to the matter 
that should be remembered. This quotation from the 
New York Journal gives the opinions of many con¬ 
sumers: 
The theory of Professor Koch that consumption cannot 
be transmitted from animals to human beings is cheer¬ 
ing, but its publication at this time is perhaps a little 
indiscreet. Even Professor Koch is not infallible. Lord 
Lister and other distinguished experts disagree with 
him. His views do not meet with favor from the ma¬ 
jority of the members of the Congress of Tuberculosis. 
But his name is quite sufficient to confirm unscrupulous 
dairymen in working off diseased milk upon the public. 
Such conscience as they may have would be put to sleep 
very readily by his authority. And he will naturally 
secure disciples among health officials, who will accord¬ 
ingly relax the rigor of their inspection. If, after all 
that, it should turn out that Dr. Koch was wrong—as 
many distinguished specialists vehemently assert he is— 
what irreparable damage might be done! And how pain¬ 
ful the situation would be for Dr. Koch! 
Such city people fear that in some way the milk 
will be more dangerous, and that sanitary inspection 
will be relaxed. Nothing of the sort will happen. 
Farmers understand that the city’s consumption of 
milk ought to be doubled, but that it cannot be until 
city people are convinced that it is pure and healthy. 
There will be no backward step in consequence of 
this new argument in favor of the cow as our great 
National wet nurse. It will, in time, save the dairy¬ 
man much trouble and annoyance, but there will be 
a rapid and steady improvement In the methods of 
making and handling milk. The middleman does far 
more damage to the milk than the old cow ever did. 
* 
Much is said about getting down to the common 
people in speaking and writing, and some seem to 
think that this means to talk or write about only the 
most simple or childish things. Just the reverse is 
true. A man not versed in Latin or Greek does not 
enjoy a discussion peppered with words of this class, 
but no mystery of nature is too deep for him to en¬ 
joy if presented in understandable language. Thos? 
who talk to audiences of children sometimes make 
the fatal mistake of thinking that they must be child¬ 
ish in their talk. A look of disgust may be seen on 
the faces of the bright small boys, when they are 
obliged to listen to wishy-washy baby talk indulged 
in by the speaker under the impression that he must 
do this to interest the children. He ought rather to 
pick out some topic big enough to appeal to grown 
people, and talk about it, leaving out unnecessarily 
big words. Then both old and young would be in¬ 
terested. 
* 
There has been a long contest in New York State 
over the right to transfer to a second or third party 
the unused part of a railroad ticket. Laws were 
passed prohibiting the sale of such tickets, but the 
Court of Appeals has declared the last law unconsti¬ 
tutional. Here is tlie pith of it: 
It is evident that whatever may be the nature of the 
arrangement which is evidenced by the ticket, whether 
it be a token or prima facie evidence of a contract, 
when the ticket is sold it belongs to the person who buys 
it, and unless its use Is in some way limited it has the 
same quality as every other kind of property. 
In other words, suppose I buy a ticket which en¬ 
titles ?ie to a ride from New York to Syracuse and 
return. When I reach Syracuse for some reason I 
do not wish to return. I have paid for the return 
ride and unless I have made some special agreement 
I have a perfect right to sell or give away that ticket. 
It seems to us that this decision may be regarded as 
good law and good sense. 
BREVITIES. 
Just take your good old mother, boy, and put her side 
by side 
With neighbor Johnson’s daughter, whom you hope to 
make your bride. 
The work-worn, faded mother and the girl all fresh and 
bright— 
No doubt the younger woman is more comely to your 
sight. 
We wouldn’t have it otherwise—yet here’s a thought, 
young man; 
Old neighbor John.son’s daughter never did and never can 
Do for you what your mother did long years and years 
ago; 
A note is written on your heart that you will always owe. 
Of course, a man should give lirst place and honor to 
his wife; 
That’s right, my son, make that resolve the rudder of 
your life. 
But give the good old mother, too, a corner in your heart; 
Your wife will never miss the space for mother set apart. 
Let the potatoes ripen this year! 
Your lot is not the hardest in the world! 
In April the hen lays often—in August she lays off. 
What shall we do for Winter apples? Force rhubarb. 
Burn wood, and as little of it as possible this hot 
weather. 
Goes without saying—the fellow who minds his own 
business. 
Theory is a thing that should not be purebred. Cross 
it with practice. 
It is not likely that a crowing season will follow the 
growing season this year! 
The way to get favors is to give them to others. “He 
that humbleth himself shall be exalted.’’ 
When does life become not worth the living? When 
there is nothing that you are willing to toil and deny 
yourself for. 
How many farmers who do not like the experiment 
station bulletins have ever written the directors telling 
what they want? 
Dr. Bordeaux Mixture does not pretend that he can 
cure sick plants. He can prevent disease if you let him 
get ahead of it. 
There seems to be some controversy about the merits 
of the various moth traps on the market. We would 
like to have readers who have tried them tell us what 
in.seots they catch, and whether they are worth buying. 
According to the census returns of Alabama, the col¬ 
ored voters of that State have gained 7.3 per cent in edu¬ 
cational progress, while the whites have advanced only 
2.1 per cent. This speaks well for the influence of Tuske- 
gee Institute. 
Farm laborers seem to be learning how to strike. On 
an Indiana melon farm the pickers and haulers struck 
for fair wages. The county was scoured for other work¬ 
men without avail, and the strikers got their price. 
Suppose the farmers of the land were to strike for a 
year! 
