THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Novetaber 30 
808 
The Rural New-^Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FABLER'S PAPER. 
* I . ^ - 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Hbkbeiit W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dk. Walter Van Fleet, / 
H. E. Van Deman. Associates. 
MRS. E. T. Hoyle, \ 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCKIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to 8s. 6d., or 8% 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 guarantee 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 trans¬ 
action, 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, NOVEMDER 30, 1901. 
On page 747 a Connecticut farmer’s wife gave some 
good advice to farm girls about poultry keeping. 
Her figures were attractive, and letters calling for 
details began to pour in upon her. She could not 
begin to answer all, and so she has written the whole 
thing out in a strong article for The R. N.-Y. We 
guarantee a treat when it is printed. 
* 
The meeting of the New York State Dairymen’s 
Association at Clean, on December 11-12, will be a 
good one. We have heard many hard words thrown 
at the scrub cow and the filthy milk can. It is well 
to make dents and scars, not on cow and can, but on 
the men who are responsible for adding scrub to the 
cow and not giving it to the can. A bigger and 
blacker target than either looms up this year—oleo. 
The bull’s eye on this target is painted on the back 
of the chairman of the House Agricultural Com¬ 
mittee. Let there be no compromise with oleo at 
Olean. 
* 
The prize contest for photographs showing helpful 
devices or scenes in women’s work will close on 
December 1. Few pictures have been received thus 
far, but these are of a high order. There is still a 
good chance to win a prize. Possibly some woman 
with a camera has a husband or even a hired man 
who never permits the wood box to be without its 
fill of dry wood and who always wipes his feet on 
the mat. He would certainly be classed as a prize¬ 
taking household economy. Long years of married 
life may have convinced the farmer’s wife that he 
will never be hung for his beauty, but none of us 
wants him hung, and in this contest the useful wins. 
* 
Thebe is a little fiurry of excitement in New York 
City just now over the proposed plan of permitting 
rumshops to keep open in the afternoon and evening 
of Sunday. It is not necessary for The R. N.-Y. to 
give its opinion regarding Sunday saloons. Certain 
eminent “thinkers” and drinkers (including some 
clergymen) favor the scheme, but it is not likely to 
succeed. As one man sadly remarked last week: 
“The farmers up the State will kill a Sunday-liquor 
bill in the Legislature!” He was probably right in 
regard to that, but he was wrong when he went on to 
say this: “The farmers have no business to say 
what we shall do in this city! They have never done 
anything for us!” The farmers have a vital interest 
in what is done in this city. They have meat, fruit, 
fiber, grain and other food to sell. Take milk for ex¬ 
ample. There should be twice as much sold here as 
is now consumed, and even then thousands would be 
obliged to go without it. The one thing that does 
more than all others to prevent the sale of milk is 
the sale of beer and other liquors. Money cannot 
be spent for liquor and also for bread, meat, fruit or 
clothing. The New York saloon is as much a market 
competitor for the New York farm as the foreign 
factory is for the shop where American goods are 
made. The farmer has a perfect right to object to 
any increase of competition. He would be a poor 
stick if he did not. But what has the farmer ever 
done for the city? We may answer this question by 
asking another. What would the city be without 
the farm and the farmer? Let the farmers of the 
country decide that for one year they will raise only 
enough to feed and clothe their own families, andf^ 
grass would grow in Broadway so thick that you 
could cut it for hay. Why? Because there would be 
nothing left for city people to handle and make over. 
All that the workers in this great city do is to 
manipulate and chang^ the things which originally 
came out of the soil. What have the farmers done 
for New York? Why, without them, the city, with 
all its wealth, would not be possible. You might as 
well ask what the heart in a man’s body has ever 
done for the tongue and hand which receive the 
credit for the man’s work. 
« 
The time is close at hand when the farmer must 
once more vote with the postage stamp. How do you 
use the postage stamp as a ballot? You write a fair, 
respectful letter to your Congressman, Senator or 
State legislator, telling him in plain terms what you 
would like to have him do. The postage stamp car¬ 
ries it to him and if he pays no heed you send him 
another, and keep at him until he responds. When 
Congress adjourned many of the Senators looked like 
the figure which we printed last Spring, for they 
have been well plastered with stamps of protest 
against oleo. These stamps stuck to them well, and 
reminded them of their duty, but during their vaca¬ 
tion they have been able to scrape most of these 
stamps off. Now is the time to begin to stick them 
on again. Vote with the postage stamp. Let no dodger 
escape. 
* 
In a recent test case the California Supreme Court 
decided that a member of the Cured Fruit Associa¬ 
tion who sold his prunes to an outsider was liable 
to the Association for only the two per cent of the 
sale price mentioned in the contract; and that no 
penalty other than the payment of this two per cent 
could be infiicted upon him for disposing of his 
prunes elsewhere. The controversy arose out of dis¬ 
satisfaction with the prices obtained by the Asso¬ 
ciation. This decision upsets its calculations, and 
will render a different form of contract necessary 
in order to prevent members from dealing with out¬ 
side parties. Of course the most binding contract 
is necessary to hold an organization of this sort to¬ 
gether, though members naturally hesitate to put 
themselves so completely in the power of a board of 
directors. 
* 
There is a great and real need of fractional cur¬ 
rency. Any man who has ever done business by mail 
with country people knows what an annoyance it is 
to receive postage stamps in payment of small bills. 
People send these stamps because they have no other 
way to send small sums of money without paying au 
extra price for doing so. A good proportion of the 
people who live in the country are a long distance 
from money order or express office. It would cost 
more than the small amount of money involved to 
obtain a postal note or an express money order. As 
a result the desired small order is either not sent or 
postage stamps are put into the letter. These fre¬ 
quently reach their destination stuck fast to the 
paper. With a fair amount of fractional currency in 
circulation we are confident that these small mail 
orders would be quickly doubled. Why have the peo¬ 
ple been deprived for so many years of this useful 
and necessary money? The only answer thus far 
given is the fact that the great express companies op¬ 
pose it, because it would take much small money 
order business away from them! What an argument! 
Is this country to be run in the interests of a few big 
express companies, or for the benefit of a great many 
people outside these powerful corporations? 
« 
We have lately had further tangible evidence of 
the good work being done by the officials of our Na¬ 
tional Department Qt Agriculture. In years gone by we 
have seen the introduction of the sorghum cane; the 
best of all oranges, the Washington Navel; and more 
recently the Australian ladybird beetle, that has been 
the salvation of the Citrus fruit industry in Califor¬ 
nia. We have scarcely done reading of the introduc¬ 
tion of the fig insect, that has made fig culture of the 
highest type an assured success in the same 'State, 
and perhaps elsewhere. And now, we have within 
less than a week’s time received, through the efforts 
of the students of nature and science at Washington, 
under the encouraging leadership of Secretary James 
Wilson, three more most important friends of our 
rural industries. We have a dread enemy to our 
enemy, the San Josd scale, ready to do battle for us. 
We have a parasite of the Olive and Oleander scale 
and one of the Asparagus beetle and Grain plant- 
louse. The three latter, it is true, have not had time 
to prove their friendship, but we have good reasons 
for believing that they will do it in due time. We, 
as farmers and fruit growei’s should lay before our 
Members of Congress the necessity and wisdom of 
upholding the hands of those who are laboring in the 
Department of Agriculture. There is a plan to erect 
a new building in which to work at a cost of over 
$2,000,000, and the appropriation for it shouid be 
made without fail. This is less than some of our 
warships have cost, and there is no doubt of the com¬ 
parative benefits being in favor of the more peaceful 
use of the money. 
♦ 
REi'oxtTs come from various pai’ts of New York 
State of a so-called “Farmer’s Company” which is 
fishing for agricultural suckers with a most alluring 
bait. Promoters go about rural districts pretending 
to sell shares in a mammouth cooperative concern 
which is to control pretty much all the farm prod.\iim 
which is raised in this country. They offer j^ei;- 
cent interest on the investment, high pric^^, for all, 
the farmer has to sell, and low prices for ^,11 he buys,, 
with no middleman’s profits. They offer these shares 
at $50 each, and we are toid that $00,000 worth. w.Qffe 
subscribed for in Greene County alone. Qf 
no reader of The R. N.-Y* will touch ©4 these 
shares any more than he ’would tQU^h a creamery 
shark, a buzz saw or a Wild Qvkt We are informed 
that this conceru is th^ same Buffalo seed company 
which we e:?;pQ)Sed last year. We printed their grain¬ 
growing contract, and showed the foliy of signing 
any such document. We now repeat the warning, 
and urge all readers to refuse to sign petitions or 
requests for shares. Here is a part of the bait on 
the hooks of this company; 
Parties siguiug the petition wili be termed chart.^ ipentt- 
bers and wiii receive their shares at par value. 4,ft,er the,, 
petition is closed, parties desiring shares wiil have to pay 
the market price for the same, and it is calcv,lated that Ik 
wiil never be less than twice their par valm^ as the d.ivid.enck 
has never been less than three per cent quarterly, equaling' 
an annual dividend of Ik per cent, and this aiAOUAt,. OJt 
course, makes a good investment on shares at twice- tisieir 
par value. 
Let a farmer stop for a moment and think how 
silly it is to say that the caoperative sale of the 
products of his neighborhood will bring about any 
such result. If it were possible a good Grange or 
live creamery association would accomplish ^e. 
work for less than half the cost. As-a speclij#en of; 
pure, unadulterated “nerve,” the following is. entitlqdl 
to the blue ribbon: 
This is a National corporation of fanners, by fairtaers and 
for farmers. There is no need of IncUfTring the expeese or 
necessity for any imaginary assistance which commercial 
agencies might think they could render by a rating. 
There would be as much sense for a large railroad corpora¬ 
tion having each of its depots rated, or for a rating on th«; 
Post-office Department. 
“Imaginary assistance” is good. We are askedi iHi 
those who have subscribed to these shares can be 
forced to pay for them. We do not think so, and 
our advice would be to refuse payment after giving 
fair notice that you desire to withdraw. We have 
watched and fought these schemes for years, and we 
are convinced that while a man loses his reputation 
for hard sense by going into one of them, there is no, 
reason why he should lose his hard-earned dollars; 
also. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
Life's target—A high ideal! 
It does us good to see a bully cowed. 
The rooster sends his invoice through hig, bilk 
It's a good thing to sit down on the sittyjg hahiit!; 
One way to dry up a cow is to dry up lw;r pastwev. 
The way to empty your character sard purse is Bkj get 
full. 
Too many fat men develop a streak of leaning against the 
fence! 
A KICKING mule may be described as a practitioner of the 
heeling art. 
The man who admits that he has much to learn is.- 
usually a good teacher. 
Shelling corn with a feed cutter is a novelty, asi 
described in a poultry note on page 815. 
OuR good friend Mr. Corn Fodder is keeping the wolf from 
many a stable door this Winter. 
Now, then, eastern farmer, with your smaller farm and 
field, how near can you come to matching those western corn 
figures? 
'The farmers won a victory in that little milk war in 
Connecticut—page 809. That’s what you get by hanging 
together. 
The plan mentioned on page 815 of running ear corn 
through a cutter before feeding to hens is a good one. We 
find that our hens can easily pick the kernels from the small 
ears. 
These useful box measures may be made at home. Of 
course the figures given are for inside dimensions. For one 
bushel the box should be 24x11.2x8 Inches; and boxes 12x 
11.2x8, and 8x8x8.25 inches contain half a bushel and a 
peck respectively. 
Speaking of the cost of raising corn, a reader in Indiana 
writes: “In regard to corn raising on prairie land, it is 
likely some of the renters near here, who pay 25 bushels 
per acre rent, and are now husking 18 bushels per acre,, 
could give more pointers than I could.” 
