8 
January 7, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TUB BUSINESS FARMER'S PAVER. 
A National. Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert w. Co LUNG WOOD, Kditor. 
Du. Walter Van Fleet,) 
Mrs. K. T. Kovle, ^Associates 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal 1’ostal Union, $2.04, 
equal to 8s. (id., or 8marks, or UJ>/j 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 col¬ 
umns, and any sucli swindler will be publicly exposed. We 
protect subscribers against rogues, but we do not guarantee 
to adjust trilling differences between subscribers and lionest, 
responsible advertisers. Neither will we lie responsible for 
the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by tbe courts. 
Notice of tlie complaint must lie sent to us within one 
month of the time of the transaction, and you must have 
mentioned The Rural New-Yorker when writing the adver¬ 
tiser. 
Name and address of sender, and what tbe remittance 
is for, should appear in every letter. 
Remittances may be made in money order, express order, 
persona! check or bank draft. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 7, 1905. 
TEN WEEKS FOR 10 CENTS. 
In order to introduce The R. N.-Y. to progressive 
intelligent farmers who do not now take it, we send it 
10 weeks for 10 cents for strictly introductory purposes. 
We depend on our old friends to make this known to 
neighbors and friends. 
♦ 
The picture of the one-horse farmer on the first page 
will not appeal to the men who do business on a large 
scale. Yet there are thousands of one-horse farmers 
who work a small piece of land well, make a fair living 
and rank as good citizens. They often teach the possi¬ 
bilities of the soil to better advantage than men who 
work 1,000 acres and hire a dozen men. The R. N.-Y. 
has hundreds of one-horse farmers on its list—every one 
of them a full team. 
* 
The President has suggested some form of Govern¬ 
ment supervision of the affairs of the great life insur¬ 
ance companies. This ought to be carried out. Millions 
of women and children have no provision made for 
them except what these insurance companies have agreed 
to pay on the death of husband or father. If Govern¬ 
ment supervision is a safeguard for National bank de¬ 
positors it would be the same for policy holders. Every 
great insurance company seems to be connected with a 
trust company, and through it to invest its money so 
as to secure large earnings. Some of these insurance 
companies are supposed to be “mutual” in their opera¬ 
tions—that is, - policy holders expect to share in the 
profits. Few people believe that the policy holders actu¬ 
ally receive what their money earns. An investment in 
the large companies is probably as safe as an investment 
can be, yet by means of loans or manipulations of the 
stock market the vast sums of money which these com¬ 
panies control might be used against the interests of the 
man who thinks he is secured. We would like to know 
more about what is done with our money. 
* 
Among other reasons for declining to help in the cam¬ 
paign for better fence wire we have the following from 
one of the ablest agricultural editors in the country: 
The poor galvanizing is Hie result of Hie incessant demand 
of our American people for cheapness in price. Of course 
they get cheapness of products. 
At least 10 wire manufacturers and fence makers have 
advanced the same argument, so that its origin is pretty 
well understood. To test the strength of this argument 
it is only necessary to try to buy guaranteed wire—offer¬ 
ing to pay the extra price for it. Just see how much of 
such wire you can buy! Several firms are really try¬ 
ing to make superior wire. They will not guarantee 
it to last as the old-fashioned wire did, but it is far 
better than the average. There are thousands of- farm¬ 
ers in the country who stand ready to pay an extra 
price for an extra quality of wire, just as soon as the 
manufacturers will offer a guarantee. It is a slur 
upon the Intelligence of men who distinguish between 
poor and good quality in lumber, fertilizers, machinery, 
or nursery stock to say that their desire for “cheap¬ 
ness” is responsible for the present low quality of wire. 
But what can these man ask for until the experiment 
stations or some other recognized authority tell them 
what good wire should be made of? Is not the principle 
the same as that employed in testing fertilizers? We 
cannot ask a fertilizer dealer to guarantee that a ton 
of his fertilizer will produce 500 bushels of potatoes 
or three different crops of grass! We ask him to 
guarantee a certain mtmber of pounds of nitrogen, phos¬ 
phoric acid and potash. We are on the wrong track 
vhen we ask a wire manufacturer to guarantee wire 
I >r 10 years, because he cannot control the conditions 
under which the wire is used. We should know what 
metal and what “galvanizing" the wire ought to con¬ 
tain, and then call for a guarantee of that! If the ex¬ 
periment stations are not to help us in this who or what 
is to do so? Some one asks if we are not discouraged 
at the lack of support given in this campaign. Bless 
your heart, no! We don't know what it is to be dis¬ 
couraged in a worthy cause. If the other papers are 
lukewarm their readers are red hot, as we know by cor¬ 
respondence. As for The R. N.-Y. readers—they are 
going to wip the fight for better wire. Keep at it! 
* 
The trouble about farm labor begins earlier than 
usual this year. Already there are calls for foreign 
help. Farmers seem to think that a fair proportion of 
the immigrants who come to New York desire to find 
homes in the country, and will do farm labor at a fair 
price. The fact is that comparatively few of these 
foreigners care to go singly to work on farms. Many 
of them have friends in this country, and wish to locate 
near them. Many more never leave the large cities. 
They cannot speak English, and fear to go among 
strangers alone. In the city they are among their 
own countrymen, hear their own language, and live 
much as they did in the old country. If we will think 
tor a moment we can see how hard it is to get such 
people to break away from their friends and leave the 
city. The Italians usually go in squads, and where a 
farmer has work for several of them they give fair satis¬ 
faction—especially those from the north of Italy. The 
best farm hands we have found are Scandinavian, but 
they are hard to find. If the farmers of a neighborhood 
could club together and send one of their number here 
to pick out a dozen or more men they might obtain fair 
helpers. This plan was tried by some parties last year 
with fair results. There is not much use sending here 
for a single hand that is expected to prove satisfactory. 
* 
Mr. Mead gives another side of the abandoned farm 
question on page 3. He does not think the New Eng¬ 
land hill farms are worth bothering with, because their 
prosperity belonged to an age which has now passed on 
forever. He would let them go back to forest, and con¬ 
fine New England farming to the valley lands, or near 
the towns. There is much truth in what Mr. Mead 
says, though we know a number of farmers who have 
taken these hill farms and who will not agree with him 
The little factories that were once found at the hill 
water powers did not leave the hills for the same rea¬ 
son that farmers did. It is not possible to concentrate 
farming as it is to crowd manufacturing into towns 
like Lowell, Brockton or Springfield. As a boy the writer 
pegged shoes in one of the thousands of little shoe 
shops that were scattered over Massachusetts farms. 
These shops have now been turned into henhouses or 
abandoned, and Brockton alone produces 50 times as 
many shoes as they all turned out. This has been a 
good thing for the shoe business, but there was no 
way in which the product of the farms could be con¬ 
centrated in like manner. We still believe that if the 
older generation of farmers had invested more of their 
savings in their farms, as Mr. Mead himself has done, 
thousands of the hill farms would now be prosperous. 
When Mr. Mead talks about carrying children away 
from the rural districts to be'educated in towns he 
hits one of the sorest spots in society. With one set 
of men advocating the teaching of agriculture in rural 
schools, and another trying to haul all children in “kid 
wagons” away to town, there will be a strange kind 
of yeast in the “rising generation.” 
* 
In a recent conversation with a railroad man the fol¬ 
lowing statement was made: “You cannot name a 
single ‘right’ which the farmers of this country are 
denied. They have more than belongs to them now. 
They have received more direct benefit from legislation 
already than any other class of citizens.” When asked 
what this great direct benefit is our friend could only 
mention the agricultural colleges and experiment sta¬ 
tions. When asked to compare this with the tariff, 
land grants and other special privileges to manufactur¬ 
ers and railroads, he had no argument. The fact is that 
agriculture covers the largest business in the country. 
There are more people engaged in it than in any other 
two industries, yet farmers have demanded less legis¬ 
lation that may fairly be called selfish than any other 
class of citizens. Whatever benefits farmers must of 
necessity benefit others. It will either make food and 
fiber cheaper or more easily obtained, or put more money 
into circulation by giving the farmer more to spend. 
As for “rights,” we will mention first the right to have 
something to say about handling and transporting the 
crop. At the present time the business of buying and 
manufacturing food—such as grain, meat, etc.—is large¬ 
ly monopolized. So is the transportation of this food 
either crude or manufactured. A grain farmer in Mis¬ 
souri, a stock farmer in Illinois, a corn farmer in Iowa, 
or, to a less extent, an apple farmer in western New 
^ ork, or an orange grower in the South, will find th! 
out if he attempts to ship and sell independently. Prices 
are not regulated entirely by supply and demand, but 
very largely by the desires of the various monopolies 
which control the market. A small farmer who under¬ 
takes to ship produce to a distance market finds prices 
made to order—not on the basis of what the consumer 
has to pay but what the monopoly sees fit to offer. 
Some years ago some farmers in Connecticut wanted 
to buy several carloads of corn direct from western 
farmers. We found a place in a Western State where 
farmers had the corn and were willing to sell it direct 
at a price which would mean several cents more 
per bushel to them, and several cents less to the 
farmers m Connecticut. Yet the sale was not made, be¬ 
cause the western farmers knew that unless the corn 
went through the local elevator and paid charges and 
tariffs to various commission men there would be so 
many delays tl*t the corn could not be delivered accord¬ 
ing to contract. Trace up any case of this sort, or 
go down to the bottom of any monopoly, and you will 
find it based on unjust railroad rates or a system of 
“rebates” which favors the larger shippers. In this way 
farmers are denied the right of fair transportation for 
their produce. The railroads are really public rather 
than private institutions. They have been given special 
privileges, such as right of way, exemption from heavy 
taxation and even large tracts of public land. These 
gifts from the people make them public servants, and 
give the Government the right to demand fair treat¬ 
ment for the public. The most important measure now 
before Congress is the bill giving increased power to 
the Interstate Railroad Commission. If it could be 
passed the first step would be taken toward break¬ 
ing up food monopolies. Every farmer and every con¬ 
sumer should Support it. 
* 
I he southern people should be foremost in demanding 
a parcels post. They are largely at the mercy of 
the express companies in shipping small packages, and 
the rates arc beyond reason. We recently sent a pack¬ 
age weighing 28 pounds to Florida, and were obliged 
to pay $2.05 expressage. The southern people are far¬ 
thest removed from manufacturers or dealers in goods 
that could be sent by mail, and with a parcels post 
with fair rates of postage they would use twice the 
mailable merchandise which they now obtain by express. 
No one can give a good reason why the southern people 
should help keep up the monopoly at present enjoyed 
by the express companies. The express agents are, as 
a rule, poorly paid, and but little of the money the people 
pay remains in their own section. It may be said that 
a parcels postage law would be revolutionary, since it 
is admitted that it would injure the business of the ex¬ 
press companies. The answer to this is that the methods 
of these companies have been revolutionary. Their rates 
are extortionate. They take advantage of a monopoly 
to compel the public to pay more than it should. They 
have crowded out weaker companies as the other great 
corporations have done, and thus destroyed competition. 
In such a state of affairs we hold that it is the privilege 
and duty of a government like ours to protect the 
people from extortion. While the southern people are 
just now in greatest need of a parcels post, all Ameri¬ 
cans, and e c pecially country dwellers, would be helped 
by it. Keep at it till we make Congress see the point! 
BREVITIES. 
“As a man tliinketh so is he”—that applies with special 
force to the deaf man. 
There is nitrogen In snow, but some of us would like 
to receive it as a gift in some other form ! 
Read tlie fumigation notes on page 3. They represent 
applied science from the bread-and-butter point of view. 
That question about feeding grain to dry cows in Winter 
(first page) is one that gets down close to first principles. 
Manufacturers of wooden vehicles are alarmed over the 
scarcity of hickory. They say the tree is now attacked by 
borers, which threaten total destruction. 
Mr. White says: “Company always cuts down our egg 
record by going out to look at the hens." Biddy is not 
the only worker who is upset by excess of social dis¬ 
tractions. 
Farmers’ Bulletin No. 208, issued by the U. R. Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture. “Varieties of Fruits Recommended for 
Planting," will lie found very useful to anyone who desires 
fruit for home or market. 
The Department of Agriculture found by tests that no 
corn planter will drop evenly unless the grains are graded 
to size. This lias led to the invention of corn graders. 
When they are used the planters do accurate work. 
It is not generally known that 50 years ago the War 
Department imported a number of camels and started a 
camel breeding farm in Texas. The camels did well and 
were useful, but "they frightened horses,” and the railroads 
through the deserts put them out of business. 
In view of the discussion over the value of Calloway 
hides for tanning purposes we may repeat a verse printed 
15 years ago: 
“Young man, your kind attention—I'd suggest, if not too 
bold. 
You raise the Galloway for its hide. 
It will serve as a prevention from the Winter’s bitter 
cold. 
When you take your gai-away for a ride!" 
