262 
r 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 25, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwooii, Editor. 
I)r. Walter Van Fleet, l Aswlatp( , 
MRS. E. T. Hoyle, ^Associates. 
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 10 y 2 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 Rural 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 York. 
SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 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 farmhouse on page 246 points a 
lesson. The owner of the truck farm shows how to 
make the farm pay. The builder of the house showed 
how not to do it. What can a man be thinking of to 
put up a house of this shape? Take the same amount 
of material and labor, and put it into a cosy, modern 
cottage, and how much more comfortable the family 
would be! There is no reason why a farmhouse should 
be a mere box! 
* 
We are asked by a number of readers if a tenant has 
the right to remove manure on leaving a rented farm. 
In many cases such things are provided for in the lease 
—the landlord making sure to claim such manure. When 
nothing is said about it the law usually is that such 
manure in the barnyard, as it is thrown from the stable, 
belongs to the tenant. It is then classed as personal 
property. If it has been hauled to the field and piled, 
with the evident intention of using it on the farm, it 
is classed as real estate and belongs to the owner. 
* 
A reader asks if we are not discouraged because 
Congress adjoined without authorizing a trial of the 
parcels post. Not a bit. The parcels post never was 
nearer than it is to-day. This Summer’s work will just 
about get it. Results seldom come to the discouraged. 
But have you not noticed how the opposition to the 
parcels post is making more noise? 
Yes, we expected it, and feel glad to get it out in 
the open where it can be accurately sized. The louder 
the opposition talks the more it will wake up the 
friends of the measure. Keep right, at it, gentlemen, 
with patience and cheerfulness! 
* 
As will be seen on the opposite page, there is a 
bill at Albany whicn, if passed, will compel those who 
handle milk at shipping stations to secure a license 
and take an oath not to adulterate or skim.' There is 
much complaint about the way milk is handled at these 
stations. Both milk and cream are shipped from many 
of them, though nothing but whole milk is bought. 
The milk is skimmed just enough to enable it to test 
up to the “standard,” and the surplus cream sold as 
clear profit. Commissioner Wieting seems to think that 
this plan of licensing the handlers would stop this 
crime—for such it certainly is. We are not so sure of 
this, yet it seems to be one of the things needed to 
partly check the evil. This law would help if it could 
be enforced. 
* 
The following news comes from a Canadian reader: 
For the first time I believe in Canada the fruit growers 
and market gardeners in the Niagara district have combined 
effectually to fight the canning combine. We are holding 
out for 30 cents a bushel for tomatoes and $8 a ton for corn, 
instead of 25 cents and $7 previously given. The canners 
threaten to close down. 
! We do not know the merits of this particuar contest, 
but from long experience in studying such matters we 
know that the only hope for farmers is to hang together. 
Do not be frightened. Study the business, compare fig¬ 
ures and get a clear idea of what your produce is worth 
as compared with the canned goods, and then stand 
together firmly. 
What about that letter? 
You will remember that Senator T. C. Platt, in his 
famous letter on the parcels post question, used these 
words: 
I have received quite a number of letters from various 
people on the subject, and I should judge that the sentiment 
favorable to the proposition is about equal to the sentiment 
antagonistic to it. Those who favor it seem to reside in the 
rural districts; those who oppose it appear to be chiefly 
small merchants and storekeepers who fear that the estab¬ 
lishment of parcels post would divert trade from them to 
the large department stores. 
Our object in urging people to write Senator Platt 
was to try to help his unbelief. Though originally a 
farm boy, and with a larger debt to farmers than any 
other man now in public life, Senator Platt hesitates 
until these farmers make their wants known. That is 
his privilege, but when farmers let him know just what 
they want of course the Senator will feel himself bound 
to meet their wishes. So keep right at him—he is the 
vital mark for ink and postage stamps! 
* 
This picture shows a photograph of a package of 
“Government free seeds” after one of our readers in 
Ohio had planted it properly. See what he has done? 
He has mailed it right back to his Congressman “with 
thanks!” Here is his letter: 
Doesn’t the enclosed illustrate a very effective method of 
“postage stamp balloting?” Thousands of these packages 
returning would surely help to stiffen the backbone of our 
Congressmen to abolish this system of petty bribery. “Free 
seeds” that cost the dear people a quarter million dollars a 
year! Besides, is it a square deal? The farmer owes more 
of his prosperity to the honest American seedsmen than to 
the whole bunch of politicians. Who’s going to put a stop 
to it? If the people continue to take these “free seeds” 
with a smile, will our legislators quit this graft? 
Certainly! A few thousands of these postage stamps 
plastered on a Congressman’s spine would surely “stiffen 
his backbone.” Some of these Congressmen actually 
think country people appreciate the gift of common 
varieties of turnips, beets or mustard! We are asked 
sometimes why it is worth while to “make such a row 
about a few seeds. “It doesn’t amount to anything— 
let it go.” What is known in politics as “graft” seems 
to grow like these germs or bacteria we hear so much 
about. You need a powerful microscope to see one 
of them. Yet, let it alone under favorable conditions 
and that tiny speck of life will grow and spread so that 
it will in time spoil all the milk in a creamery, ruin a 
house or bring life and value to a great field of clover. 
Now, this package of “free seeds” is a little bacteria of 
“graft.” A voter is purchased with a few cents. It is 
“getting something out of Uncle Sam.” It is in this 
sprout that the little “graft” bacteria spread and grow 
until we hear of rascals higher up who handle this 
“graft” by the millions! Little use cutting these big 
grafters off—strike at the germ of it. Let the common 
people disdain the little “graft” and they will soon 
take care of the big grafters. 
_ * 
We have a letter from a reader who says: 
I am interested in good wire, as I want to buy some. I 
am watching to see how you come out in your efforts to 
obtain better quality for us! 
It is this man’s privilege to fold his hands and watch 
if he can to do so, but why should he not work as well 
as watch? We have tried to make it clear that The R. 
N.-Y. has little, if any, power except that which comes 
from its readers. We could go on talking for years, but 
unless earnest readers will back .up that talk by both 
words and work, our efforts will count for but little. 
If our friend wants better wire let him unfold his hands 
and help. Write to Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of 
Agriculture, Washington, D. C., and tell him how much 
we need a standard for fence wire. Ask him to tell us 
what metal and what form of galvanizing we should 
demand from the wire manufacturers. This is for the 
Government to determine for us. They tell us how 
much acid there should be in cider, how much water in 
butter and many other things about articles we buy or 
sell. They should give us a standard for fence wire, 
but they will not do it until thousands of farmers de¬ 
mand it. Begin now, and never buy another piece of 
wire until you have asked the manufacturers to guarantee 
it for at least 10 years. There is work and plenty of it 
right along these two lines. Unfold your hands, gen¬ 
tlemen, and get at it. 
* 
Some weeks ago The R. N.-Y. told of a southern 
town where the license fee for liquor selling was fixed 
at $30,000. A practical application of the benefits of this 
form of high license was recently given in a rural town 
in Massachusetts where The R. N.-Y. has subscribers. 
In Massachusetts the question of license or no-license 
is voted upon every year, each township having the right 
to decide whether liquor shall be legally sold or not. 
After a hot fight in the township mentioned the liquor 
men won by one vote. Some of them went out to cele¬ 
brate their victory, and while they were gone a local 
minister moved that the license fee be put at $25,000! 
The motion was carried, and thus, while the license men 
won, no one can afford to pay the fee, and no legal rum- 
shops can be started. There was a man quick to think 
and to act. Good for him! 
* 
Some years ago the writer lived in Colorado, in a sec¬ 
tion which depended upon irrigation. The water used 
for growing crops was taken from a river which rose 
in the mountains. The river was fed partly from little 
springs, but mostly from melted snow. During the 
Winter great snowdrifts accumulated in the forests. 
When Summer came these drifts were slow to melt, 
because the trees left them in shadow where the sun 
could not penetrate. Had they been exposed to the 
full glare of the sun they would have melted rapidly 
and turned the river into a raging torrent. One Sum¬ 
mer the weather was unusually cool, and the snow 
melted very slowly. As a result the river was low—■ 
there was not enough water to produce the crops. It i? 
hard for men to stand idly by and see their crops burned 
up. No wonder desperate measures were suggested. It 
was proposed, among other things, to send a body of 
men up to the mountains to cut the timber around the 
headwaters and burn it. It was argued that the heat 
of the burning and the opening of the forest would 
melt the snowdrifts and fill the river. It would have 
done so, but wiser councils prevailed, and the wild 
scheme was abandoned. While it would have produced 
an abundant supply of water for that one season, it 
would in the end have ruined the country. The forest 
provided a natural storage for the snow, holding it in 
reserve and slowly giving it up as needed through the 
dry season. To destroy the forest meant a fierce flood 
and bitter drought in place of the slow and gentle loos¬ 
ening of the water. It was wiser to practice self-denial 
for a time, or to suffer loss, if need be, rather than to 
disturb the slow and orderly working of Nature. We 
have often thought of this incident in its relation to 
human affairs. The city sometimes feels irritated at 
the slow conservatism of the country. In the rush and 
roar of city life men fail to realize how much the nation 
owes to the quiet, restful influence of the rural town or 
the country home. This influence is like the forest 
sheltering the snowdrifts, so that they may yield, not the 
destructive flood, but the useful and continued stream. 
The city owes its very life to what comes to it from the 
country. The city is made stronger and richer as it 
helps guard and strengthen the headwaters of this 
human stream. Another application can be made in the 
influence of farmers’ organizations. Let us take the 
Grange for example. It has a force or power in public 
matters which might be likened to the water wheel on 
the strong river. There its power is concentrated, but 
every pound of that great volume of water came orig¬ 
inally drop by drop from the little springs or snow¬ 
drifts far away in the hills. The farm homes and rural 
commmunities are the headwaters of Grange usefulness. 
There it must grow strong or weak. We have always 
felt that the quiet, often monotonous, work of the 
Grange in the homes of its members is, after all, the 
most powerful influence it possesses. 
BREVITIES . 
If now you would buy Seedless apnles 
We point out the fact like a book. 
That he who with such a thing grapples 
Must do so upon his own hook. 
At last we know what these powder-pokers can do to a 
tree—page 246. 
You never can lift a man up Into grace unless you can 
put yourself down in his place. 
No use talking, one of the truest tests of character is the 
ability to take fair criticism calmly. 
It has been claimed that castor oil bean plants will keep 
mosquitoes away. Dr. Smith, of New Jersey, tried it and 
found more mosquitoes under the beans than elsewhere. 
A reader wants to know If free rural delivery is going 
to increase his taxes ! He will have to provide a suitable 
mail box, and will probably spend a little more in slicking 
up his farm—otherwise no ! 
Here is the result of an experiment with eggs in water 
glass: “I preserved 40 dozen eggs in water glass by direc¬ 
tions in The R. N.-Y. and have saved more than enough for 
my renewal by this method.” h. c. 
This is what “The Business Hen” did for one New York 
reader : “I loaned ‘The Business Hen,’ and it has scratched 
a new subscriber for you, so find enclosed one dollar, for 
which please send The R. N.-Y’. and ‘Business Hen.’ ” 
