66 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 28, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850 . 
Herbert W. Colling wood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, . 
Mrs. k. t. Boyle, i Assoc i aMJ » 
John J. DILLON, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. $2.04, 
equal to 8s. 6d., or 8% marks, or 10Va 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 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 to us within one 
month of the time of the transaction, and you must have 
mentioned The Rchai. New-Yorker when writing the adver¬ 
tiser. 
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 Y'ork. 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 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. 
* 
When we denounce any branch of education because 
it does not lead directly to money-getting, we would do 
well to remember that our greatest pleasures come from 
knowledge or accomplishments not directly of commer¬ 
cial value. Learning to make a living is quite incom¬ 
plete unless we learn how to live also. 
* 
Gov. Murphy of New Jersey made a sensible sugges¬ 
tion about automobiles in his parting message, lie 
suggests a law prohibiting the use on the public high¬ 
ways of autos geared to run faster than 20 miles an 
hour. Any man who wants to travel faster than that 
in public should get on a railroad train or build a road 
of his own! In order to enforce any such law imprison¬ 
ment must be substituted for a cash line. Put the 
“scorchers” behind the bars. That will cool them off! 
* 
There can he no doubt about the increase in value of 
good farm lands at the East. Naturally some sections 
are feeling this before others do. The productive power 
of land is what gives it value as an investment. When 
monied men sec that a good farm is paying as large 
and as sure an income on $100 as a bond or share of 
stock will do. they are going to the soil for investment. 
Good orchard lands just now are as “safe as a Govern¬ 
ment bond” when handled with skill. I bis better feeling 
in regard to farm land is sure to spread. The wheels 
on which to push it along are confidence and pride in 
•lie business. 
* 
The papers tell of “Gospel seed" and “Seed and Soil’’ 
trains running over the railroads in western States. 
These trains carry samples of seeds, apparatus and good 
lecturers, and go into places where farmers can he 
called together. Meetings are held either on board the 
train or in some nearby hall, and the train goes on, 
apparentlv with a good imitation of the progress of a 
political candidate. We are told that this is an excellent 
way to reach farmers who, perhaps, could not be at¬ 
tracted to a farmers’ institute. Is it possible to do such 
work in New York? Conditions are different in the 
West, hut why not try it here? 
* 
Few people understand the wonderful increase in the 
use of cement for building. From the fence post on the 
farm to the skyscraper iu the city this cheap and handy 
material is doing service. We are sometimes asked how 
cement or concrete will stand fire. There is a notion 
that it will crack or crumble under fierce heat. In a 
recent article in the Forum, one of the ablest architects 
in the country says: 
When the heat increased (the Baltimore fire) to 3.000 
degrees, almost all buildings, the best of them included, had 
to succumb, terra cotta parted from steel, granite split, sand- 
si one crumbled, and marble calcined. Well-baked brick and 
steel encased in concrete were the only materials that suc¬ 
cessfully stood the caloric test. Among the dismal ruins 
visible as far as the eye could reach, the fireproof home of 
the Continental Trust Company, built of concreted sleel, 
loomed tip in solitary splendor, to teach Baltimoreans the 
lesson of a better construction of their future “Monumental 
City.” 
Every use of concrete, when properly made, seems to 
prove it more worthy of a place on the farm. 
There is something really pathetic in seeing a farm 
er toil early and late, in sunshine and storm, through¬ 
out a long season to harvest a crop, and after running 
all the risks attendant upon the crop, fighting all its 
enemies and conquering them, at last run up against an 
agreeable sort of a man in town whose only capita] is a 
little box-like office near the railroad station where he 
buys the farmer’s produce at the lowest possible price, 
and makes three to ten times as much as the farmer 
did. As one young man recently told us: “There are 
two of those fellows down there, and they are skinning 
the lives out of the farmers. They are sharp as light¬ 
ning, and are buying for a song lots of stuff that the 
farmers raise.” 
* 
Not long since we saw a man take a cigar from his 
pocket and give it to a boy who had done him some 
little service. The boy had not finished growing. He 
was too young to use tobacco. 
“Why did you do that?” we asked. 
“Well, I had to give him something, and what is there 
besides a cigar for such a gift?” 
“Why not give him a good apple?” 
“Why, I never thought of that!” 
The idea struck him at once. It ought to hit others. 
Most boys or men who accept such a gift would prefer 
a good Baldwin apple to a cigar, ll would certainly do 
them more good. Here is another chance for the Apple 
Consumers’ League to combine business with reform. 
Come, gentlemen—let’s "have something”—an apple ! 
4 
In all the pride of our National prosperity, we would 
do well to remember these facts also, summarized in 
Robert Hunter’s book, "Poverty”: 
There are probably in fairly prosperous years no less than 
10,000,000 persons in poverty; that is to say, underfed, 
underelothed. and poorly housed. Of these about 4.000,000 
persons are public paupers. Over 2,000.000 workingmen are 
unemployed from four to six months in the year. About 
500.000 male immigrants arrive yearly and seek work in the 
very districts where unemployment is greatest. Nearly half 
the families in the country are propertyless. Over 1.700.000 
little children are forced to become wage earners when they 
should still be in school. About 5.000.000 women find it nec¬ 
essary to work and about 2,000,000 are employed in factories 
and mills. Probably no loss than 1,000,000 workers are in¬ 
jured or killed each year while doing their work, and about 
10.000.000 of the persons now living will, if the present ratio 
is kept up, die of the preventable disease, tuberculosis. 
There are always two sides to every question. If we 
could make the 10 , 000,000 prosperous enough to buy 
needed food and clothing we should add to our own 
prosperity. 
+ 
We are often asked why the ordinary farm windmill 
cannot be used to generate electricity for lighting or 
working. In theory this cheap and simple power ought 
to do such work well. Every attempt to produce cheap 
light in this way has failed. Wind power is too unre¬ 
liable. The mill stands still just when you want it to 
go. With a steady wind and a good governor the light 
may he produced, but at high cost. When the wind fails 
storage batteries are needed, and these cost too much. 
From time to time reports come of a new storage bat¬ 
tery which Mr. Edison has invented. It is said to be so 
simple and effective that it will solve the problem of 
cheap farm power. We understand that this device is 
not yet ready for work. 
=t= 
A popular subscription has been started among gar¬ 
deners of both continents for the erection of a monu¬ 
ment in Paris, France, to the famous Vilmorin family 
of seedsmen that for four generations, covering over 
150 years, has in every honorable way promoted the 
interests of advanced agriculture and horticulture. It 
is said that while the Vilmorins may not have succeeded 
in making two blades of grass grow where only one 
grew before in all parts of the world, there certainly 
would be without their long-sustained efforts less grain 
in our fields, less sugar in the beet and fewer flowers 
m our gardens. France has ever led in the refinements 
of true civilization, and in no way can universal 
gratitude for her achievements in the arts of peace be 
better expressed than by aiding the proposed testimonial 
to this most useful family, whose name has become a 
household word wherever reliable seeds are planted. 
* 
We have letters from readers in Kansas who live in 
sections where gas or oil has been found. Oil men 
desire to lease farms so as to begin boring. For the 
benefit of these farmers we have obtained statements 
from readers in Ohio and Pennsylvania who have leased 
such land. We shall publish the facts as soon as we 
obtain a little more information. It seems that many 
farmers have been “caught" by contracts which gave 
nearly all the advantages to the prospector. It is not 
safe to give a long lease—few such farms are sold 
outright. Two years is long enough. Always reserve at 
least 200 feet around buildings on which no well is to 
be drilled. Have it clearly stated in the lease that the 
drilling is to begin at once and the well completed in 
specified time—after which if no gas or oil is 
found a definite rent per acre is to be paid. If this 
is not stated the prospector may do nothing but simply 
hold the lease open and try to sell it to some one else. 
Speculators attempt to do this, and such a clause will 
shut them out. The lease should also have a forfeiture 
clause, so that if the prospector fails to live up to his 
agreement the lease is forfeited. A farmer cannot be 
too careful about making an arrangement of this sort. 
1 he price paid for oil is usually one-eighth of the 
product piped to the tank. The payments for gas run 
from $200 to $500 for each well, payable quarterly in ad¬ 
vance. Do not sign a lease giving the right “to convey 
oil or gas obtained on this or other land" without extra 
compensation. With such a lease they could cover your 
farm with pipes and carry all the oil or gas they de¬ 
sired over it free. In some States hundreds of farmers 
are drawing comfortable incomes from these oil and gas 
rentals. They are profitable for the farmer, but not 
very good for the farm. 
* 
There is a mix-up over the scheme to enlarge the 
Erie Canal that will be hard to straighten out. The 
people of the State voted by a majority of over 250.000 
to enlarge the canal so that large barges can be floated 
through it. This is to be done at State expense at an 
estimated total cost of nearly $300,000,000. With the 
exception of those living in a few counties in western 
New York, farmers of the State were almost a unit 
against the enlargement. Most of the vote in favor of 
the scheme was piled up in Buffalo and Greater New 
^ ork by voters who have no real estate and pay no 
taxes. It is safe to say that the great-majority of those 
who voted against the canal enlargement are taxpayers 
and freeholders. Naturally they feel that a huge debt 
and a useless encumbrance has been saddled upon them 
by the vote of irresponsible people. They feel justified 
under the circumstances in attempting to secure another 
vote or delay the work. They will try to prove that the 
law under which the Legislature authorized canal en¬ 
largement is unconstitutional. Failing in this they will 
attempt to have the Legislature call for another election 
by submitting the question to the people again. Contracts 
for work on the canal are ready for awarding, but they 
are being held up until the Attorney General can give 
an opinion regarding the law. Delay is in the interest 
of those who oppose the canal. The R. N.-Y. opposed 
the canal enlargement at State expense. We felt that 
all the moral arguments are to be found on that side. 
We do not, however, share in the opinion of some 
enthusiastic people that another election would make any 
change in the result. The so-called “labor vote” in this 
great city will always be cast solidly in favor of any 
scheme to pay out money for work. This vote cannot 
he changed, and all the arguments on the other side 
will only make this vote larger. We regret that this is 
so, hut farmers might as well look the facts in the face. 
BREVITIES . 
If you can’t be cheerful—lie cheer half full. 
“You’re another!" is no argument even if true I 
Do not pay your “tin" for a galvanized iron sap evap¬ 
orator. 
We never had so much correspondence about pigs. Mr. 
Hog has his friends and enemies. 
“Mb for New England,” writes the Michigan man on page 
55. Mead for New England—-with reservations! 
It is interesting to find a man in Nova Scotia and one In 
Seattle, Wash., asking the same question, page 58. 
Necessity is a good teacher, lint who would erect a mon¬ 
ument to his memory while the teaching is going on? 
When will housewives learn to judge the contents of the 
package rather than by the outside label? When they rec¬ 
ognize the color of a Ben Davis apple! 
A Chicago man with a wife and 19 children owns up to 
Supporting them on $9 a week. We think lie could give val¬ 
uable points to. the author of “The Simple Life." 
The Rhode Island Experiment Station lias secured a quan¬ 
tity of limoid. and will make experiments with the K.-L. 
mixture for those who would like lo try it. This is first-rate 
work. 
The recent action of the National Live Stock Association 
in barring railroads from membership In that body is an out¬ 
come of the resentment felt by cattlemen against unjust 
discrimination in rates. 
It is reported that there is trouble at the custom house 
over tlie importation of sugar beet seed for feeding purposes, 
which is dutiable, while when the seed is imported for sugar 
purposes it is on the free list. 
One reader finds fault with "The Business lien" because 
he says lie already knows all there is in it with one excep¬ 
tion. The hook was not intended for the expert. We have, 
however, been able to obtain the information this man lacked. 
A directory of American institutions dealing with tuber¬ 
culosis has been published by the New York Charity Organ¬ 
ization Society and the National Society for rite Study and 
Prevention of Tuberculosis. Its 250 pages include much 
that will he of value to those Interested in the "white 
plague.” 
Private advices from Panama give prices for some fruits 
as follows: Figs, per pound, 00 cents silver, 30 cents 
gold: grapes, $1 a pound silver. 50 cents gold: apples, three 
for 20 cents silver, and poor at that: bananas, eo.coanuts and 
oranges dearer than in New York. We fear that the Amer¬ 
ican Apple Consumers’ League will lie under a cloud on the 
Isthmus. 
