76o 
November 9 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER’S PAPER, 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Hkhbkkt W. Colling wood, Editor. 
Dil Walter Van Fleet, I 
H. E. Van Oe,man. VAssoclates. 
Mrs. E. T. Xlov LE, I 
John J. Dillon, Buslnoss Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $ 2 . 04 , equal to 
Ss. 6d., or 814 marks, 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. We 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 ns 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 
K^pear in every letter. 
jBemlttances may be made In money order, express order, personal 
check or bank draft. 
THE RURAL NEW-YOBKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1901. 
10 Weeks for 10 Cents. 
We are asking every reader to interest himself in 
this proposition. We want The R. N.-Y. to visit 20,000 
new homes by New Years on this proposition. If 
every subscriber sent just one new name we would 
more than double that number of homes. Cannot you 
who are now reading these lines get just one farmer 
of your acquaintance to give you 10 cents for 10 copies 
of The R. N.-Y.? We keep mentioning it because we 
want you to have it in mind when you meet your 
farmer friends. 
We find that the “Chemicals and Clover” system 
of farming appeals to many of our readers. We refer 
to the plan of maintaining the fertility of the land by 
means of green manures, or the roots and stubble of 
hay and grain, with chemical fertilizers. Will those 
who have followed this plan of farming without 
stable manure tell us about it? We know that the 
plan is practical under many conditions. We need 
reports of wide and varied experience to determine 
just what those conditions are. 
* 
Farmers are apt to forget—if they ever knew—^that 
there is a seed laboratory in connection with the Na¬ 
tional Department of Agriculture, where seeds will 
be tested free of charge. If you send on a sample of 
seeds the experts will tell you what proportion of 
them will grow and how badly they are mixed with 
weed seeds and trash. Such a laboratory ought to be 
very useful to farmers who buy seeds, but thus far 
the seedsmen have received most of the benefit, be¬ 
cause the farmers have not asked for help. This 
laboratory ought to help buyer as well as seller, and 
it will just as soon as the buyers ask for the service. 
You should write to A. J. Pieters, Oflice of Botanist, 
Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
« 
A STORY going the rounds of the press is how the 
President of Mexico killed a trust or injurious trade 
combination. It is said that the Mexican corn crop 
was short, and that certain dealers undertook to cor¬ 
ner the crop, and thus force the people to pay exorbi¬ 
tant prices. The President saw through the game, 
and at once proceeded to have the high Mexican tariff 
on corn removed. This being done, a fiood of Ameri¬ 
can corn was imported, prices dropped to a natural 
figure, and the gamblers presented a gamboling 
ground for the lambs tney had expected to shear. We 
are not familiar with the Mexican tariff laws and do 
not know what power the President of that Republic 
has to change them at will. This would be dangerous 
power to place in the hands of most men. In France, 
we understand, most tariffs are arranged upon a slid¬ 
ing scale. If the French wheat crop is heavy it is 
made easy for the authorities to increase the tariff 
and thus maintain prices. Should the crop be light 
it is just as easy to reduce the tariff, increase imports 
and thus equalize prices. In theory this would seem 
a desirable arrangement, and it points to one way of 
overcoming the evils of the trusts which destroy home 
competition. We have felt that one great trouble 
with our American tariff laws is the fact that any 
change in them requires a long and bitter political 
fight. It is now reported that President Roosevelt 
favors a tariff commission. As we understand it, this 
means a strong non-partisan body of men who may 
hear evidence and make such changes in the tariff as 
seem best for all classes. The details of the plan are 
not yet clear, but as a general proposition we think 
such an arrangement would be much better than the 
present system. 
THE RURAL NE W-Y O R K E R. 
The Supreme Court of New York State has de¬ 
cided that it is against the law to put so-called “pre¬ 
servatives” in milk. The question considered was 
whether a law prohibiting the use of these drugs was 
constitutional. Such a law was passed, and the Agri¬ 
cultural Department undertook to enforce it. A clear 
case was made against a milk dealer, but the court 
decided against the Department on the ground that 
the law was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court 
now declares that the law is sound. It would be in¬ 
deed surprising if the use of drug.i which undermine 
the human constitution is to be permitted on con¬ 
stitutional grounds! 
« 
Last week an Ohio man gave his experience with 
cow peas. At first the crop seemed disappointing, as 
the farmer expected it to pay him in seed. Finally 
the vines were raked up to be burned, which would 
have been the most wasteful use that could be made 
of them! Then they were hauled to the barnyard to 
be tramped in with the manure, but the cattle and 
hogs began to eat them! ’This is not the first time 
that the cow and the hog have taught the farmer a 
new wrinkle in his business. If they could only talk 
they would say about thus: “Why do you go to all 
this trouble of cutting, raking and hauling these 
vines? If you think you must have them eaten up 
why not let us do it for you? Pick what seed you 
want and then turn us into the field. We will cut 
and carry and turn these vines into meat and milk 
while you are doing something else—and what a pol¬ 
ish we will put on the crops that follow!” It is a 
pity, isn’t it, that some of our dumb brutes cannot 
talk so that all can understand them? 
* 
The viscogen treatment devised by Dr. Babcock to 
thicken Pasteurized cream was intended to aid the 
labors of the cook or housekeeper. As he says on 
page 754, Pasteurized cream is thinner than natural 
cream, because the fat globules are uniformly dis¬ 
tributed, instead of being grouped in masses. Vic- 
cogen restores this grouping; it is quite harmless, 
and there is no reason against its use, so long as the 
wishes of the consumer are consulted. But now we 
are told that this innocent cream stiffener is being 
used to give fictitious richness to attenuated milk, in 
an effort to make it appear the thing that it is not. 
It seems that a parallel may be drawn between stif¬ 
fened cream, that is cream, and honest Winter butter 
to which a little coloring is added, as compared with 
watered milk thickened with viscogen and hog or 
steer fat tinted to look like June butter. The fraud 
consists, not in the stiffening or coloring, but in the 
cheap or adulterated substance which masquerades 
as something different and better. 
• 
The writer once made the statement before the 
Connecticut State Grange that but for the New Eng¬ 
land water powers and the Yankee’s love for his 
home the greater part of the New England hills would 
have remained a cow pasture. The veteran T. S. Gold 
replied that even had this happened New England 
would still remain a prospei-ous country. He was 
right. The figures of the last census make a remark¬ 
able story. We look upon Arizona as wonderfully 
rich in live stock—yet compare these figures: 
Total Value of 
value of one year’s 
live stock. product. 
Arizona .$15,458,717 $4,522,801 
Connecticut . 10,932,212 11,651,359 
While Arizona stockmen keep $15,000,000 worth of 
stock to produce $4,o00,000 worth of meat, butter and 
milk, those Yankee farmers get a yearly income of 
$11,000,000 from $10,000,000 worth of stock! That is 
one advantage of living close to good markets. There 
are thousands of acres still left in New England, well 
suited to dairying and sheep breeding. They are also 
suited to the production of fine apples. The hill farms 
will yet be I’edeemed, and become literally a land 
fiowing with milk and fruit. 
* 
An illustration of the slow growth of prohibition 
sentiment or the effort to stop an objectionable prac¬ 
tice is seen in the public signs against spitting on the 
fioor in public places. During the past 10 years we 
have observed the following development of such 
notices in ferryboats and street cars: 
1. Please do not spit on the fioor! 
2. No gentleman will spit on the fioor. 
3. Spitting on the fioor not allowed. 
4. Spitting on the floor is a misdemeanor, $500 fine 
or imprisonment for one year or both may be the 
punishment therefor. 
Here we have the story of a slow growth which 
kept pace with public sentiment and education. For 
many years the scientists and physicians have known 
that probably the greatest source of infection for 
tuberculosis comes from the habit of spitting in pub¬ 
lic. They started the crusade against the habit, but 
the public seemed to consider it an infringement of 
“personal liberty.” Hence the first notices included 
the word “please.” Slowly the people are learning 
the truth about the cause and spread of consumption. 
As they understand the danger the authorities are 
able to use stronger and stronger regulations against 
it. In a few years they can substitute “will” for 
“may” in the last notice! Reforms grow in about 
that way. They must be backed by public sentiment 
before they can be enforced. That is all the more 
reason why some one should keep pounding away at 
unpopular necessities. 
* 
We do not care to talk much about what we are 
going to do, for, in journalism, nothing is really done 
until it is printed and digested. Among other things 
in hand, however, are the following: 
Barn Building, by H. E. Cook. The barn is the 
dairyman’s factory, and Mr. Cook knows what is 
needed. 
Refitting the Old Orchard. Prof. F. W. Card. 
Prof. Card will give among his “Nature Study” ar¬ 
ticles some valuable hints on the old orchard tree. 
Testing Grass Seeds. Prof. A. J. Pieters. Prof. 
Pieters has charge of the Government seed laboratory 
at Washington. 
The Model Dairy Test, by E. Van Alstyne. Mr. 
Van Alstyne had charge of the cows during the great 
test at Buffalo. He will tell us some of the odd and 
striking things which were observed. 
It is our business to crowd into every issue of The 
R. N.-Y. all the sense, science and sunshine we can. 
That is our business, and we are not hunting for an 
easy job. 
* 
In a city like New York, where there are savings 
banks which are firmly founded, and have been In 
business for a long time, people have little difficulty 
in disposing of their savings. They use these banks 
with confidence, and scarcely give the matter a 
thought. Throughout the country districts, however, 
the conditions are different, and there are large sec¬ 
tions either with no savings banks or with those 
whose records do not tend to give depositors confi¬ 
dence. That it is not safe to keep large sums of money 
in farmhouses is evident from the numoer of murders 
that have resulted from an attempt to protect prop¬ 
erty from robbers. The Government might relieve 
this condition by receiving money on deposit. The 
postal savings bank system has worked successfully 
in other countries, and some such arrangement would 
be welcomed by many. Cases have been known in 
which people have invested their savings in money 
orders payable to themselves, being willing to pay 
the extra fee and do without interest in order to feel 
that their money was safe in these Government 
checks. 
BREVITIES. 
Bred and meat—the purebred steer. 
Go slow on experiments if your money is tied fast. 
The man who wiii not be sobered by responsibility is 
a dangerous citizen. 
Read the articies on cow peas—aii ye that have lean 
land to fatten at a low figure. 
Canning dry fodder in the silo, page 754. Who has 
followed this pian year after year? 
It’s harder than puiling teeth to find out the weak 
points of the things we want to buy. 
In hunting for suitabie varieties of fruit we would al¬ 
ways seek the advice of the best local growers. 
“The thorough head 
That thoroughbred 
And thoroughfed.” 
SKiM-mllk paint may be made with sweet or sour milk, 
or buttermilk. Use one-half pound water lime to a pound 
of milk. 
Be sure to keep windows and doors where apples are 
kept well screened. Thus Codling moths hatched in the 
cellar cannot escape. 
In 1900 there were 1,073,026 hens, 7,717 turkeys and 14,100 
ducks in Connecticut. The year’s income from eggs was 
$1,523,319, and from poultry $984,207. 
Prof. Plumb does not like shredded fodder for sheep 
as well as for cattle and horses. The sheep’s mouth is 
pretty small for the work of grinding stalks. 
Of course we do not pretend that the commission men 
on page 761 settle the Kieffer pear business for good. If 
others think differently we want to hear from them. 
Can any farmer “have cake and eat it, too?’’ One of 
the nearest things to it is to sow cow peas early, cut the 
vines for hay before “dog days,” and let the second 
growth stay until frost for green manure. 
A REFORMED dyspeptic says he cured his ailment, after 
all other specifics faiied, by taking small doses of fine 
dry sand. This recalls the statement of one sufferer who 
asserted that the only cure for hay fever is six feet of 
gravel. 
These scientific men have proved that mosquitoes carry 
malaria and yellow fever. As one result of this knowl¬ 
edge a New York man has brought suit against his 
neighbor to recover damages for “discomfort” resulting 
from mosquitoes bred in a pond! 
