620 
August 19, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850 . 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Hr. Walter Van Fleet, ( , . . 
Mrs. E. T. Koyle, ^ Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal Postal Union, S2.04. 
equal to 8s. Gd., or 8V& marks, or 10Vi 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 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 in money order, express order, 
personal cbeck or bank draft. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 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. 
* 
1 he prizes for garden plans have been awarded as 
follows: 
Mrs. P. M. Osborn, Connecticut, $5. 
Mrs. Clias. Fiske, Missouri, $3. 
J. W. Johnson, West Virginia, $2. 
Some of the plans were excellent. It seems that a 
fair proportion of farmers know what it is to have a 
good garden. Others have a poor supply of vegeta¬ 
bles because they do not know how to utilize time and 
land to the best advantage. When these plans are 
printed we shall have some of the most useful hints 
on gardening ever printed. 
* 
Just as we expected, the apple buyers are already 
talking "large crop.” They claim that there is more 
than enough to supply all needs and that farmers ought 
to sell at a low figure. A more ridiculous statement 
than this has never been made. Every sensible report 
shows a decrease in yield from last year, and also that 
scab has affected many apples. 
* 
Some of the peach growers who cultivate excessively 
sow Crimson clover or turnips in the orchards in late 
July. The object is to add humus and nitrogen to the 
soil, and to check the growth of the wood on the peach 
trees. I his year in dry sections this growth of Crimson 
clover hurts the peach crop. There is not moisture 
enough in the soil for both clover and peaches and the 
fruit does not develop as it should. 
* 
On page 621 we print the opinions of various experi¬ 
ment station directors on the suggestion to use poor 
farms for experiment work. The conclusion seems to 
be that the plan is better for the West than for the 
East. To one who has ever seen a New England town 
farm the success of such work seems dubious. Still, 
there would he a great lump of the right sort of glory 
to one who could graft agricultural science upon a poor 
farm! 
* 
For years it has been claimed that a good share of the 
maple sugar and syrup on the market is adulterated. In 
some cases the fraud is so evident that detection is easy. 
In others it is almost impossible to tell when ordinary 
cane sugar has been flavored with maple. The first 
step therefore was to learn how to detect this skillful 
fraud. The Vermont Experiment Station is at work 
upon a test, and will find a true one. Naturally, such 
work is slow, and there can be no direct results until 
there is some way of surely telling the difference be¬ 
tween pure maple and adulterated goods. An impatient 
farmer, who feels the injustice of being obliged to com¬ 
pete with adulterated goods, might say that all this 
work of seeking for a sure test is so much useless delay. 
He would be wrong. This slow work of preparing a 
test may seem useless, but it is the most important part 
of all. Much the same is true of the effort to obtain 
better fence wire. We must first knoiv what to order 
and how to be sure of it. The slow, patient work 
which the Government chemists are doing may seem 
dull enough to many who see their fence wire rotting 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKE1 
from the posts. Yet this work must be done, and well 
done first of all. While the chemists are working 
out this problem for us let us do our part—demand 
better wire and offer to pay a fair price for tested 
goods. 
* 
On September 1 the State of Texas will sell 6.000,000 
acres of school lands. We can imagine what this means 
when we realize that this sale represents a tract larger 
than the entire State of Massachusetts, or four times 
the size of Delaware. It is not likely that ever again 
will homestead land be offered in large quantities by 
State or Nation, T lie State of 1 exas will endeavor 
to have them disposed of in such a way as to induce 
worthy home-seekers to enter the State. Cattlemen 
will it is said, attempt to bid for the land in the name 
of cowboys, who will refuse to qualify, and thus throw 
the land back to the large cattle owners. Efforts will 
he made to prevent this. The minimum price is $1 per 
acre on 40 years’ time and five per cent interest. Only 
160 acres will be sold to any one settler, and he must 
actually occupy it within 90 days. There will probably 
be some dishonest dealing in spite of all efforts to pre¬ 
vent it, but the State of Texas is trying to dispose of 
this land in the most useful way. Most of the soil 
thus offered is rich and capable of high production. It 
would be a great mistake if Texas were to permit this 
mighty domain to fall into the hands of the great cattle 
owners or others who could and would monopolize it. 
The land should go to make homes for smaller farmers, 
for Texas needs these rather than great land enter¬ 
prises. The greatest need of every State is an increase 
in the number of small freeholders. T he great corpora¬ 
tions and great enterprises may bring one form of 
•wealth to a State, hut the best asset after all is the in¬ 
dependent small farmers, without whom the country 
will decay. 
* 
Some farmers have developed quite a business in 
selling soil out of their Alfalfa fields—to he used for 
inoculation. It would be possible for a man who knows 
how to do it to sell $1,000 worth of soil from a single 
acre. We learn of cases where such soil has been or¬ 
dered in carload lots. I his business gives a rogue a 
chance to sell many a gold brick. He could dig soil 
from a cornfield if he was mean enough, and sell it for 
soil inoculation. We know a man who has about as 
good a field of Alfalfa as we have seen this year. When 
asked if he will sell the soil he writes:— 
While I may have the necessary inoculation in my Alfalfa 
plot, 1 am not willing to use it on my own soil. I would 
not put out what I am not willing to risk myself. I have 
gone to the College Farm to get my inoculated soil. 
It would be a good thing for the world if there were 
more of such old-fashioned honesty—and there is a 
good deal of it. too. This man has the Alfalfa, above 
ground, but has it the underground power of starting 
the bacteria? It would he easy to infer that it has, 
but this man will test it himself and make sure before 
he puts a price on it. 
* 
Will readers who have bought the bacteria or “ni- 
tro-culture” for inoculating seed or soil please tell us 
the result of their experiment? As a commercial, dol- 
lar-and-cent investment, does this method pay? We 
have never felt that the results of those who received 
the free cultures from the Government were conclusive. 
They did not justify the great parade made by the 
Department of Agriculture. The reports from those 
who use soil taken from a successful Alfalfa field arc 
generally favorable. The bacteria in the “cultures” 
evidently “wake up” and grow when put into water 
with their food, but are they as sure to live when put 
on the seed as those which come in the new soil? We 
doubt it. Now that farmers are paying money for the 
cultures it is time they observed carefully. What do 
they say? 
* 
Secretary Wilson is reported to have said that the 
Agricultural Department will be thoroughly overhauled 
and investigated. While this should have been done 
some years ago it is not too late to remedy the defects 
in the Department. We feel disposed to take Secretary 
Wilson at his word and wait to see what his overhaul¬ 
ing will amount to. We want no further proof that 
something is wrong in the Department. After doing 
about all it could to exploit “nitro-culture” the De¬ 
partment through its officers now advises farmers to 
go slow and wait for fuller investigation. Now let us 
see what Secretary Wilson will do. What will he do 
about the crop reports? We can safely tell him that 
a majority of farmers believe that as at present made 
out they benefit only the produce gamblers. There is 
no need of the secret feature of these reports. Will 
Secretary Wilson have it given up? If not, why not? 
It is believed by practical fanners that there are 
too many junkets abroad, and too many useless 
trips about the country to “study” various methods 
or matters. Some of this work is useful—some 
of it is not even ornamental. While pruning out 
other dead wood Secretary Wilson might well use his 
knife on the bluff and airy superiority which character¬ 
izes some of the Department work. The Department 
should in some lines, at least, get down closer to ordi¬ 
nary farmers. It is a fair criticism which we have 
formerly applied to some of the experiment stations, 
that scientific agriculture seems to prefer to cater to 
the wise and strong—the people who are best able to 
take care of themselves. These few suggestions are 
made fot Secretary Wilson to consider during his 
investigation. If he will get out among plow and hay- 
rake farmers lie will find that they have others. “Graft” 
in the Department will destroy its value like a cancer. 
Catering to privileged classes, extravagance, bluff and 
airy superiority are like worms which destroy the solid 
foundation. 
* 
We have received a number of letters from people 
who accuse Chief Chemist H. W. Wiley of the Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture, of being in sympathy with the 
oleo manufacturers. The charge is that Dr. Wiley is 
opposed to the use of any form of coloring matter in 
butter. The oleo men threaten to put a hill prohibiting 
the use of color through Congress if they can. and they 
evidently expect Dr. Wiley’s help. What are the facts? 
No one should judge a man on mere hearsay evidence. 
We wrote Dr. Wiley, asking him to state his position, 
hut find he has gone to Europe. His secretary sends 
us extracts from two addresses before medical and 
sanitary societies. In those Dr. Wiley argues against 
the practice of coloring butter on the ground that with 
the exception of annotto butter colors or dyes contain 
poison. In an address before the Philadelphia Medical 
Society Dr. Wiley said: 
I am glad to report to this assembly that there is to-day 
a growing tendency among the farmers to believe that uneol- 
ored butter is better and will bring a higher price in this and 
other countries. The moment the dairymen understand this 
there will be no more difficulty about coloring butter. The 
farther south you go the deeper the people want the color 
<>t the butter. I don't know why a high temperature and a 
desire for high color in butter go together, but it is a fact. 
Demand that the butter you eat shall be uncolored, and in 
two or three years, without trial by jury, you will get 
what you want. 
It seems clear therefore that Dr. Wiley is opposed 
to the use of colors. We do not believe that farmers 
are making more uncolored butter than formerly. The 
creameries certainly are not doing so. Certainly if 
people will demand white or uncolored butter they will, 
in time, get it. hut at present the demand is for colored 
butter, and, as Dr. Babcock has pointed out, this color 
is the most practical test for pure butter as compared 
with oleo. Even if we grant that Dr. Wiley’s position 
is based upon a desire to prevent the use of poisons, it 
is an unfortunate position at this time, when the un¬ 
scrupulous oleo men are trying to destoy the color 
test for butter. They will find their strongest argu¬ 
ment in Dr. Wiley’s opinion, because it will appear as 
if the Department of Agriculture were back of them. 
Yet, what folly such an argument is! They will oppose 
die use of color in butter for fear that the people will 
be poisoned—when they fought for years—through every 
court, for the privilege of using it in their oleo! 
BREVITIES. 
There was a young man from the city 
Said, “Oh, what a beautiful kitty.” 
It was not a eat 
But he did not know that, 
So they buried his clothes. 
What a pity ! 
Torn work may be big without being great! 
1 i r conscience into your work and see the original grow. 
Ground bone is the best form of phosphoric acid to use 
with lime. 
Name a trade in which there are not some who run a 
“jet-rich-quickl’ game! 
AVe do not understand that strawberries have ever been 
successfully kept in cold storage over 10 days. 
AVith all respect for you, it is not likely that great and 
sudden prosperity would increase your moral stature. 
AVe have seen some “sanctified” people who are so afraid 
of hurting their wings that they will put no burdens on their 
own shoulders. 
Footprints on the sands of time. Those who tip toe 
through life either leave none or leave a fair proportion of 
posterity to wonder if a monkey did not pass by. 
AA'iiex you undertake to hire a farm hand, and lie says he 
will “exchange references” with you—then you realize that 
labor is making a union with Independence. A r et, after all, 
wliy should the laborer alone certify to His character? The 
employer should also have something of the sort. 
Many of us will agree to the following, written by an old 
friend—a farmer all his life:—“If nature worried as much 
as man it would have been worn out long ago. I was born 
and bred to worry, and have fought the misfortune as 
bravely as a weak mind and body could, but by times the race 
seems hardly even.” 
The Colorado State Land Board has leased about 50,000 
acres of State land in El l’aso, Cheyenne, Lincoln and Kit 
Carson counties, for the purpose of experimenting in the ex¬ 
termination of loco weed. Two Anethods are to be used, 
either digging out the plant, or cutting it off and scattering 
salt on tlie stump. The latter method is being used by 
Nebraska farmers witli success. 
