872 
December 28 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS EAltMEB'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Hekbeht W. Collingwood, Editor. 
nu. WALTER VAN rLEET, ( . , 
Mrs. E. T. llOYLK, (Associates. 
John J. JJillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal Postal Union, |2.04, 
equal to Ss. 6d., or 8% marks, or lOVis 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 trilling 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, DECEMBER 28, 1901. 
The House Committee on Agriculture has fixed 
Jantiary 8 as the date for taking up the oleo bill. This 
early Start indicates a desire to push the hill along, 
and we hope the force behind it will be strong enough 
to crowd it over all obstructions. 
• 
Here is a business question which will be discussed 
next season. In consigning goods (fruits or other pro¬ 
duce) to commission men in large cities, is it best 
to let one firm have it all or to divide between sev¬ 
eral? There arc many sides to the question, and we 
would like many opinions and suggestions. 
* 
Why not take a hint from that little blackboard 
on Mr. Mapes’s barn? Have you not something to 
say to the public? It can hardly be that all your 
ideas are for home consumiytion. Let the public in 
when you have anything to sell or buy. Chalk up 
your wishes, and thus make sure of the long end of 
the wishbone. 
* 
On page 839 we referred to Elmer E. Hubbard’s 
school in Quba, and the need of a gardener. Our 
readers will be glad to learn that the first volunteer 
for this place has come foi-ward! It is a great satis¬ 
faction to realize that whenever we ask R. N.-Y. 
readers for information or public service some one is 
sure to respond! 
* 
What a farmer that was (first page) who raised 
sugar beets and sold them at $5 per ton and then 
bought back the pulp at $4.50! He was—but hold on 
before we express our opinion. Let us all make sure 
that we never did anything like it. If all waited 
until that time wihat a solemn and reflective silence 
would fall over the world! 
* 
Speaking about the famous “seed oats” case re¬ 
cently aired in The R. N.-Y., a reader wants to know 
whether he can make Uncle Sam pay for the damage 
done by weed seed. This man received some onion 
seed in the Grovernment free seed distribution, and 
planted it. The onions were of little account, but 
mixed with them was a fine lot of weeds which seed¬ 
ed the whole garden! There will be small show for 
obtaining damages, for Uncle Sam has fooled himself 
into the belief that he really does a good thing by 
distributing these seeds! 
* 
We find that farmers are divided in their opinion 
of the Chinese Exclusion Act. SO'me of them favor 
Chinese immigration, as they argue that this would 
provide farm laborers and thus enable them to work 
their farms to better advantage. We think they 
would be disappointed in this, for the Chinaman is 
not likely to go to farms where he would be obliged 
to work alone. He will stay in town, or else work in 
gangs on farms large enough to employ a large num¬ 
ber. There is no doubt about the demand for good 
farm labor. Not a day passes that we do not receive 
a request from some farmer who has been worked al¬ 
most to a standstill for lack of steady helpers. The 
situation in England is even worse than here—the 
workmen crowding to town and city leaving the 
farmer alone. This seems to be one of the industrial 
taxes which the farmer in a manufacturing country 
must pay for his “home market.” The introduction 
of large numbers of Chinese laborers would not be 
likely to benefit the smaller farmer. It would be more 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
likely to increase his competition, for the cheap Chi¬ 
nese labor would be employed chiefly by the large 
western farmers, and thus increase their output. 
• 
The meeting of the New York State Fruit Growers’ 
Association at Syracuse on January 8-9 will be a not¬ 
able occasion. This Society is less than one year old, 
yet it has already nearly 600 members. It won the 
cash first prize at the New York State Fair, and a 
gold medal at the Buffalo Exi>osition. That is doing 
pretty well for a child barely out of its cradle, but it 
only suggests the possible power for helpful business 
which the Society will show when it grows up. This 
is a business organization, and in no sense a rival of 
the horticultural societies. 
• 
Let a man ride through the best dairy districts in 
New York State after an absence of 10 years, and he 
will be astonished at the number of silos. We re¬ 
cently saw nine at one time from the windows of a 
railroad train. New ones are being put up every year, 
and they are changing the character of farming in 
whole sections. Years ago the institute speakers ar¬ 
gued at length in favor of silage, and for a time they 
felt that they were making slow progress. The farm¬ 
ers often waited until the speakers had begun to talk 
of something else before they were ready to build the 
silo. The speaker must often work years ahead of his 
audience, but if his words are true he/need not be 
afraid to leave them and pass on, for they will be 
passed along by those who hear him. 
• 
The threatened famine in Russia will be very dis¬ 
couraging to the export trade in cereals, which the 
government of that country is seeking to promote. 
Only two provinces out of more than 70 are said to 
have produced a full harvest, and the area of scar¬ 
city exceeds half a million square miles. The Rus¬ 
sian government cannot, with any justice, permit an 
extensive export of cereals in the face of these condi¬ 
tions. It is like China, which the well-informed say, 
is not likely to compete with the outside world In 
agricultural products, even when vast areas are re¬ 
claimed or restored to tillage, because there is al¬ 
ways a vast and increasing population, which, unless 
cut down by war, must keep pace with the food sup¬ 
ply. It is likely that Russia will hasten to open up 
the grain-growing districts of Siberia, which are de¬ 
scribed as the granaries of the future. 
• 
We have received the following note, which we are 
glad to make public; 
Acting upon the advice of The R. N.-Y. that the far¬ 
mers of New York State write to their Representative In 
Congress In behalf of the Tawney oleo bill I would sug¬ 
gest that each and every reader of this paper, on the 
first day of January, 1902, write a letter to J. W. Wads¬ 
worth or Sereno E. Payne or both, in behalf of this bill. 
Let every friend of pure butter take a hand, remember 
the date, and let’s show them the farmers of old York 
State are watching them with a view to ‘“future refer¬ 
ence.” E. c. w. 
Bennettsville, N. Y. ffl 
That is a good plan for starting the new year prop¬ 
erly. This expenditure of four cents will bring sure 
results. Mr. Wadsworth is said to be looking into the 
future for State political honors. Therefore every 
farmer in New York is justified in sticking a postage 
stamp on his back . 
A SOUTHERN firm has been operating over a wide 
section with an endless-chain easy-work-at-home 
scheme that brought to the operators, at one time, it 
is said, $5,000 a day or more. Advertisements asking 
for girls to do steady work at home, in their leisure, 
for which they were to be paid $20 a montn, appeared 
in many papers with a rural circulation. Men were 
barred, and as there are many girls, like the one who 
recently wrote for advice to The R. N.-Y., who would 
like some paid occupation which would not interfere 
with their home duties, the responses came in great 
quantities. The applicants were told to buy 60 cherry 
trees of unstated variety and age for $12. These they 
could sell their friends at a profit if they wished. 
Then they would be paid $20 a month, and all they 
would have to do was to write five letters a day to 
friends or persons whose names they knew, extending 
the same offer, and saying the writer was earning $20 
a month. This bait attracted many a dollar that rep¬ 
resented self-denial or sacrifice. The end soon came, 
however; the Post Office Department decided that 
the firm was not carrying out its promises, and an 
indictment was found on the charge of using the 
mails for fraudulent purposes. Such despicable 
frauds as these are specially designed to prey upon 
the inexperienced, whose necessities make the ex¬ 
penditure of every dollar—perhaiis every dime—a 
matter of careful consideration. The Post Office De¬ 
partment is very energetic in exposing them, but it 
is difficult to give these swindlers all the publicity 
they deserve. The R. N.-Y. has investigated many 
hundreds of these advertisers, and it can only reiter¬ 
ate the advice to send no money to those who promise 
easy home employment. 
* 
In spite of strong protest Speaker Henderson re¬ 
appointed Hon. J. W. Wadsworth as chairman of the 
House Committee on Agriculture. The R. N.-Y. made 
its fight fairly and openly, and has no regrets to offer. 
Charles Y. Knight, of the National Dairy Union, who 
had charge of the dairy interests at Washington, 
gives this explanation; 
We found great pressure being brought to bear upon 
Speaker Henderson by the agricutural press and leauing 
farmers of the country to prevent the reappointment of 
Congressman Wadsworth of New York, chairman of the 
Agricultural Committee. The speaker was “’twixt devil 
and deep sea.” Committee promotions and chairman¬ 
ships in Congress come largely through length of ser¬ 
vice, and when a chairman drops out the ranking mem¬ 
ber, that is, the next oldest in service, takes the place. 
The next in succession In the Agricultural Committee is 
Hon. E. S. Henry, of Connecticut, a staunch and tried 
friend of ours. He assured us that while he himself 
would gain promotion through the rejection of Wads¬ 
worth he could not approve of the demands that the 
Speaker humiliate Wadsworth in that manner. The con¬ 
troversy had assumed a condition where, not Wadsworth, 
but the Speaker, was bearing the brunt of this criticism 
and these protests, and as Mr. Henderson was our leader 
on the Republican side in 1886 and fought hardest for the 
passage of the original oleomargarine law in the Hatch 
bill, we concluded that in justice to himself we should 
carry these protests no further and notified the Speaker 
that under the circumstances we should acquiesce in the 
appointment of Mr. Wadsworth. 
A good soldier should follow into battle. The R. 
N.-Y. did its share in the preliminary skirmisn. There 
never was anything quite like the way our friends 
have voted with the postage stamp. We opposed this 
compromise as a matter of principle. Still, we realize 
that it is a distinct victory for the farmers. It would 
not have been won had they not responded nobly to 
the call and made their power felt. Last year the 
Ckimmittee was carried by one doubtful vote, after 
much urging. This year it stands 12 to 5 against oleo. 
Let no man believe, however, that Mr. Wadsworth, in 
spite of the chastening he has received, has taken off 
the armor of oleo. He is still in a position to delay 
tho bill. Watch him! Keep at him with the postage 
stamps. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
PLEA OE THE YOUNG EVERGREENS. 
We hide the stony mountain side with green, 
And grow in beauty where the plain was bare; 
We cling to crannies of the walled ravine. 
And through faint valleys waft a strengthening air. 
We veil the prairies from the heat, while slow 
Across their farmsteads breathes our Summer balm. 
And shield them when the winds of Winter blow. 
And all our aisles and pleasant rooms are calm. 
Men drag us from our fragrant winding vales. 
They fell us on the mountain slopes, and bare 
The prairies unto heat, and freezing gales. 
And thinned, the chaparral plains fail unaware. 
They tear us from the wall-chinks of the glens. 
And hew us on the marsh we helped to drain, 
And where our beauty graced, the tawny fens 
Shall lapse to weeds and sworded flags again. 
Spare us!—oh! spare our youth with verdure crowned— 
Our groves return to deserts when we pass; 
The coasts which we revived in sands are drowned; 
Bare slopes but yield their stones and bitter-grass. 
Spare us! we bring you beauty, shelter, wealth, 
Oh! waste us not. Oh! keep with guiltless show 
The Holy Time; and life, and joy, and health, 
Be gifts to you, while winds of Winter blow. 
—Eliza Woodworth, in Birds and Nature. 
What is the best antidote for the devil? Hard, honest 
work! 
Ten to one you cannot compete with the windmill In 
turning wind into work. 
Yes, there are two sides to every question, but Is there 
more than one right aidet 
Do you know of anyone who Is raising any of the large 
foreign chestnuts for his own eating? Are they not like 
the Kieffer pear—for sale? 
What is the best antedate for the devil? Hard, honest 
ure to understand that they do their best work under 
the direction of some one else. 
Fruit inspectors in the State of Washington keep a 
very close watch over trees imported from other States, 
and where infected with disease or insects the whole 
lot Is destroyed. It is felt that the development of the 
State depends largely upon the fruit industry, which 
must be encouraged in every way. 
The lady who wrote the article on page 835 about cen¬ 
tralized schools means business. She now writes: “I 
know of no other way to prove my statements than for 
some one who is in favor of the school to come and 
ride around in those wagons with kids a week or two. 
I will board him free of charge!” Come, now, ye cen¬ 
tralized gentlemen, here’s your chance! 
It Is against the law to kill an eagle in New York 
State—no matter how many of your chickens he may 
destroy. Your claim for damages will rest against the 
State of New York—which in protecting the eagle as¬ 
sumes responsibility for his mischief. , 
