572 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
July 29, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850 . 
Herbert w. Collingwood, Editor. 
Du. Walter Van Fleet, I . „ 
Mrs. K. T. Kovle, f Associates. 
John J. Dillon, business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION; ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal I’ostal Union, $2.04 
equal to 8s. Gd., or ay* marks, or 10 '/j iraucs. 
“ A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement in (his 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 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 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 Id money order, express order, 
personal check or bank draft. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, JULY 29, 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. 
* 
Robert Cheatham of the Southern Cotton Growers’ 
Association seems to deserve well of his fellow men. 
He felt sure that the Government crop reports were 
helping speculators instead of farmers. When he said 
so he was rebuffed. Then he went out and made sure 
of his facts and came again—this time he made his 
point. There in a nutshell is the lesson for farmers 
We must make sure of our facts and then, as Mr. 
Mead says on page 569, hit hard! 
* 
The California Fruit Grower gets much truth into a 
few lines: 
The Spencer Seedless Apple Company of New Jersey and 
New England has been incorporated, supposedly to propa 
gale a seedless apple. If the company is as successful in 
working the fruit growers of the country as it has been in 
working tlie newspapers for free advertising, its promoters 
will be able to hire John D. Rockefeller as office boy in 
a few years. 
Whether the fruit growers can be “worked” or not 
remains to be seen. There doesn’t seem to he much 
trouble in harnessing most of the papers. The latest 
thing is to credit Luther Burbank with “originating” 
the seedless apple. That ought to please Burbank! 
* 
A character in one of Charles Reade’s stories was a 
music fraud. He drew a salary for playing the violin 
in an orchestra—yet he hardly knew one note from 
another. He rubbed soap on his bow and then went 
through the motions of playing. By watching the mo¬ 
tions of the others and putting on a solemn face he 
actually drew his salary and gained a reputation as a 
fair fiddler. Every occupation has its share of such 
men. They look wise and go through the motions, and 
get credit and pay for helping do the world’s work. 
Some of them use soft soap on their bows. It would 
startle us if we could know how much those humbugs 
consume of the people’s money. 
* 
A daily paper says that the Government crop reports 
are valuable, except that a good many are sent by 
farmers, “who are sure to favor their own business!” 
What would you have them do? Play into the hands 
of the railroads and produce dealers? Some people 
seem to think that all a farmer is good for is to work 
at producing food and fiber at barely living wages—the 
handlers in town and city to get the profit. Some years 
ago the wholesale price of apples was set by the buyers. 
It was a part of their business to begin about this time 
of the year to talk big crop and low prices. Their 
agents went about telling fruit growers that there never 
was such a crop of fruit. Farmers were not well in¬ 
formed at that time, and many of them were frightened 
into selling their crop far below what it was worth. 
The year before the New York State Fruit Growers 
were organized The R. N.-Y. collected reports which 
showed a scarcity of good fruit. As a result many 
readers held their apples and realized a handsome profit. 
These reports came from farmers who knew more than 
any other class of citizens how crops compared with 
former years. Because a railroad carries the produce 
and a broker sells it we are given to understand that 
every advantage should be turned to their credit. The 
fact is that any advantage should be given to the 
farmer, with those who serve him coming next. 
* 
1 he plain farmers of America won independence for 
this country. 1 he armies of the Revolution contained 
a great proportion of fanners turned soldier. They 
were often rough, hard men—fighters from childhood 
against wild beasts, wild men and hard soil. Now, 125 
years after these men did their work, they arc held 
up as noble specimens of American manhood. The 
strange part of it is that many people who have taken 
up the fad of honoring these old farmers have little or 
no use for the farmer of to-day. They will write poetry 
and erect monuments to the memory of farmers who 
have been dead for 75 years, but the living man upon 
the soil to-day must erect his own monument. He is 
doing it—building up honest service and contempt for 
folly. 
* 
The tobacco growers claim that Government reports 
regarding their crops have been manipulated and 
doctored.” Wheat and corn growers have not made 
serious complaint, yet there is a general feeling that if 
the cotton report was used to make money for rogues 
no one can tell what has been done with others. It is 
tin's “if” which betrays lack of confidence. We believe, 
as we have for some time past, that the Agricultural 
Department should give up the secret features of its 
crop reporting. It should also state more clearly what 
its reports mean. When it states that “corn has fallen 
off five points,” the general public should know what 
the five points amount to, and what they have “fallen 
off” from. The Government has excellent facilities for 
collecting these reports, but there is no sense in going 
to the expense of collecting them for the purpose of 
helping grain gamblers and handlers. 
* 
The demand for good apples in the South grows 
larger every year. In Florida alone there is a constant 
demand through the Winter for this fruit. More and 
more of the stores in the little towns are handling 
apples, and in time the majority of the.Florida people 
will be full fledged members of the Apple Consumers’ 
League Some curious stories are told of the way 
apples are sent to Florida. Last year a New York 
grower put fruit in bushel boxes, left little spaces be¬ 
tween the boxes in the car. and filled in with oats. 
The apples carried perfectly in this way, and the oats 
sold at a profit. Direct shipments of fruit from respon¬ 
sible parties give good satisfaction as a rule. The 
repacked fruit is often very poor—with small and wormy 
apples in the center of the package. The South affords 
one of the best markets for good apples, and whenever 
the southern people have money they will buy. 
* 
The following advertisement is said by the Atchison 
Globe to be running in a good many newspapers: 
If your corn crop fails, there’s another way. Remember 
in case of crop failure you can virtually raise a crop of 
wheat or corn on the Board of Trade. If you intended 
raising 5,000 bushels of corn this season, and unfavorable 
conditions cause the crop to fail, you can buy 5,000 bushels 
of corn or wheat through us, and without the care and 
trouble of handling the grain you can reap the same benefits. 
On the other hand, if you wish to take advantage of a bulge 
in tlie market, and sell your grain at a top figure, you can¬ 
not do it by the slow method of sending the grain in car 
lots. Watch our market closely, and when there is a bulge, 
sell through us the amount of grain you have to market, 
and deliver it on this contract. It is the modern, up-to- 
date method of marketing your farm products, insuring you 
the highest market price and no expense, delay, or dis¬ 
agreeable work connected with the shipping. 
What a demoralizing invitation for the lambs to come 
in and he shorn ! Yet it will attract many who would 
ignore other forms of the get-rich-quick fraud, and it 
means a little less of comfort, and a good deal more 
of care, to many a hard-working family. Lean years 
come at times to the best of farms, but the leanest of 
years to the farmer are those in which he tries to 
gamble at long range in some speculative field. 
* 
We still receive questions about “creamery sharks,” 
though not so many as formerly. The “shark” operates 
on about the following plan. A smooth-talking agent 
appears in a neighborhood where there is no creamery, 
and goes about among farmers arguing in favor of 
one. He is usually introduced by some “well-known 
citizen.” The usual plan is to hire some farmer to 
play the part of Judas by helping “work up the scheme” 
and taking stock in the creamery as payment for 
services. The plan is to form a co-operative company, 
each farmer taking one or more shares at $100. the 
agent agreeing to erect and equip the building for a 
stated sum. In the majority of cases the agent charges 
40 per cent or more above the cost of a creamery larre 
enough for the needs of the patrons. It is usually too 
large. It is not possible to obtain enough milk to keep 
it going, and in the majority of cases the enterprise is 
a failure, and the building is abandoned. There have 
been so many failures where creameries were organized 
in this way that we think it safest to advise readers to 
have nothing to do with a scheme engineered by a 
stranger. I lie principle of co-operation is right in 
theory but it is hard to see how an outsider can come 
to a neighborhood and do what old neighbors have 
failed to do. We should let the creamery shark alone. 
* 
1 here are people in this country who believe in the 
“brown peril”— that is, the fear of what the victorious 
Japanese may do. It is not likely that the little brown 
men will be satisfied to settle on their small islands. 
J hey feel that Togo and Oyama have made Japan a 
“world power,” and the world will at least feel the 
effects of their efforts to prove this belief. The Pacific 
Rural Press states that on the whole the Chinese have 
proved better farm laborers than the Japanese, and even 
m California there are people who believe in excluding 
the Japanese and giving free entry once more to the 
Chinese. It seems that the Japanese are preparing to 
grow rice on a large scale in Texas. Reports are that 
they have secured 9,800 acres of suitable land already. 
I he head of tins enterprise is reported to have said: 
Farming is the only enterprise that it seems can he 
profitably undertaken in America by the Japanese. In the 
manufacturing industries the Americans ate using large 
capital and extensive machinery and are making every effort 
to reduce the cost of production. The progress in the eco¬ 
nomical use of machinery is very conspicuous, hut in agri¬ 
culture they ate unable to employ Ihesse methods, and there¬ 
fore do not: question the comparatively high prices for 
vegetables and grains they consume. The reason seems to 
be their absolute devotion to the manufacturing industries, 
which leaves them no time to consider other enterprises. Tt 
is, theiefore, in agriculture that the Japanese in America 
are most likely to meet with success. 
The Japanese are a frugal, hard-working people and 
would see Lieut possibilities for profitable farming in 
conditions from which Americans have run away. It is 
true that manufacturing has been placed above agri¬ 
culture in public estimation. In one way farmers them¬ 
selves are responsible for this, for they have rushed to 
invest their savings in other industries instead of putting 
a fair amount of money in their own farms. We believe 
that now the tide is turning, and that each year will 
see a steady gain for agriculture. T here is every reason 
why this should be so. I hink of a future in which 
Amprioann art .•diut in ruciuries and cities, while art 
inferior but more patient race produces food and fiber! 
BREVITIES . 
The general hay crop seems to be good quality, hut light 
yield. 
The profits of squab raising seem to he put into a pigeon 
hole—or the squab’s mouth. 
On page 568 Prof. Alwood defends the use of white 
lead and linseed oil for painting young trees. 
“You often speak of ‘philosophy—what do you mean by 
it?” “Well, a good definition is ‘self-control.’” 
The income from a hen, page 578, calls for further 
figures. What do hens say in your neighborhood? 
Philosophy for the homely man—the peacock’s tail 
has beautiful colors, but who wants to carry it around? 
British engineers say that with a proper system of irri¬ 
gation Mesopotamia, the ancient granary of the world, can 
be made into a great cotton-producing section. 
Secretary Shaw says that a deficit of $25,000,000 in the 
National Treasury would not be at all alarming. Still, we 
should hardly regard it as a matter for congratulation. 
When a man takes an ignorant farm hand, gets him well 
trained and careful, endures his mistakes— and then some 
farmer takes him away at a higher figure—then one needs 
to he a philosopher. 
In a dry season no one can hope to grow a full crop of 
corn when lie sows cow peas or Crimson clover at the last 
cultivation. The gain in the catch crop Is made at the 
expense of the corn, yet it may pay. In a wet season the 
catch crop will not hurt tlie corn. 
A Spanish poet wrote a poem In praise of little women. 
A farmer writes this in favor of small horses: “I have 
found the small horses on the farm are much like one of 
the old sayings, strong medicines are done up in small 
packages, as they can be adapted to almost any work, and 
are longer lived than the overgrown ones.” 
According to press reports the town of Merriwa, New 
South Wales, is disturbed by a plague of mice. Food, water, 
and bedding are contaminated; in four nights 10,000 mice 
were killed in one store and the people are fighting the terri¬ 
ble little vermin night and day. Apparently they have no 
hope of relief unless they can locate the Pied Piper of Ilam- 
elin. 
The recent discussion of mules and their virtues may cause 
one to wonder why a mule team is a rarity in New’ York 
streets. The explanation is given, however, that mules are 
not suited to paved streets. Their small hoofs do not ap¬ 
pear able to withstand cobblestones and Belgian blocks for 
any length of time, and their most effective work is done on 
dirt roads. 
During one week recently 125 persons died in this city 
from organic heart disease, while the death rate from this 
cause the corresponding w r eek in 1904 was 50. Physicians 
say that the hurry and high pressure of city life are causing 
a great increase in heart disease and similar ills. American 
“hustle”’ and the quick lunch are held to be twin agents of 
destruction. 
