1905. 
TIIH RURAL NEW-YORKER 
625 
PUBLISHER’S DESK. 
The curse of the nursery and seed trade 
has been the irresponsible men who have 
been in the business temporarily to make 
what they can, and when their bad repu¬ 
tation drives them out of it to pass on to 
some other line, where there are new vic¬ 
tims. True, such men arc found in every 
line of business, and discredit every enter¬ 
prise they touch, but their influence has 
been especially hurtful to the seed and 
nursery trade. There are many seeds¬ 
men and nurserymen in this country to 
whom the farming interests owe a debt of 
gratitude that can never be paid in dol¬ 
lars and cents. Thev invest time, money 
and talent in the origination of new varie¬ 
ties, and the development of old ones; 
and in many instances the love of the 
work and the pride in doing something to 
improve horticultural interests outweigh 
any consideration of a money profit. These 
houses use every foresight that human 
vision can encompass to produce good 
stock and fill orders promptly and true to 
name. To da this successfully is expen¬ 
sive, and a fair price for the goods and 
the service is absolutely essential. But 
as a protection to themselves they must 
limit their responsibility, and the reputable 
houses do not hold themselves responsible 
for the shipments after they have passed 
into the hands of the transportation com¬ 
panies. Neither do they stand responsi¬ 
ble for the crop that may result, nor for 
any real or alleged error in shipment. At 
the same time, if a customer satisfy one 
of these houses that he has actually suf¬ 
fered a loss because of delay in transpor¬ 
tation or error in filling an order, few of 
them would refuse to shoulder the loss 
themselves, and make good to the custo¬ 
mer. A responsible house finds it good 
business to do so. 
But the shysters are a different class al¬ 
together. Thfcy have no care for the in¬ 
dustry nor for the people engaged in it. 
Their object is to attract trade by low 
prices. They praise their stock to the 
skies, and guarantee anything you want. 
They get their cash in advance, and the 
dissatisfied and disgusted customer can 
rarely get a word of reply to complaints. 
These are not necessarily the small 
houses. There are many men in these 
lines doing a small and conservative busi¬ 
ness who are ornaments to the industry, 
and we have known pretentious houses 
which were not overloaded with scruples 
about other peoples’ pocketbooks. One 
trouble heretofore has been the difficulty 
farmers have had to know what houses 
to avoid. The amount involved is usu¬ 
ally small. It does not pay to go to law 
about it, and after a few strong letters 
the matter is dropped. But for the future 
we purpose that these people shall be 
known. We cannot make a list of them 
all, but we purpose to hit a shyster head 
wherever we find one. no matter who he 
is or where we find him. When a farmer 
has an honest grievance we purpose that 
he be heard. At the same time we want 
to counsel patience and forbearance. 
There is always some risk to take in 
trade. Honest differences will arise with 
honest and responsible people, and errors 
will occur. We will take up no petty 
quarrels, and transfer no man’s spite; but 
where dishonesty or trickery is apparent 
The R. N.-Y. is your champion. You 
will find honest people in these trades 
who do not advertise in The R. N.-Y. 
but all the houses that we do admit to our 
columns we know to he responsible and 
trustworthy and we will guarantee a 
“square deal” on their part. Later we 
propose to give a list of those who do 
not deserve full confidence. 
Showing the extent to which a respon¬ 
sible seedsman will go, read the following 
from W. R. Knox, Intercourse, Pa.: 
Sending a shipment back Is not satisfactory 
to the ordinary purchaser. Usually the pur¬ 
chaser lives some distance from the station, 
and often is unfamiliar with shipping. The 
best thing for the dealer to do, in my judg¬ 
ment, reinforced with several years of ex¬ 
perience in selling wheat, is to let the cus¬ 
tomer dispose of the order shipped, the dealer 
taking the loss. 
The following is the guarantee in our cat¬ 
alogue : 
“If the wheat does not come up to what 
I have led you to expect of it, I will refund 
the difference between the market price and 
the price you have paid, as well as the 
freight charges. When the wheat arrives, ex¬ 
amine it thoroughly, but do not sow if you 
do not find it satisfactory. Notify me at 
once, stating at what price you sold the 
wh*at as well as the amount of freight you 
paid. Failure to notify me within five days 
after receipt of shipment shall be considered 
conclusive proof that you are satisfied. I 
do not hold myself responsible for failure 
of cron or damage to land that may have re¬ 
sulted from mistake in tilling your order.” 
One of our nurserymen writes as fol¬ 
lows : 
We do not ask our customers to look to the 
express companies to collect claims. We look 
after that part ourselves. That is, we set¬ 
tle with our customers and then look to 
transportation companies for our pay. 
The above are perhaps extreme meas¬ 
ures in favor of purchasers. Large 
houses may not be able to go to this 
limit, because there are always people 
who will abuse a privilege, but their dis¬ 
position shows the extent that good 
houses are willing to go in order to serve 
a customer. The wise grower will pat¬ 
ronize such houses and give them every 
encouragement. 
In this connection the following letters 
are significant: 
I see that I am not the only one who has 
had trouble with S. J. Smith of Shortsville, 
N. Y. I sent a year ago last Spring for 
seed potatoes and seed corn. After receiving 
a sample of the corn, yellow and white, I 
tested them. Every kernel of the white 
grew, and seven out of the 11 of the yellow 
grew. I had ordered the yellow, but wrote 
them immediately to send the white instead, 
as I was most anxious to get seed that would 
grow, but I failed to get any answer. I wrote 
again and enclosed postal, but no answer. 
I then sent registered letter, got return card, 
hut no answer. I then wrote you. and soon 
after received word that they would soon fill 
ray order, which they did by sending the po¬ 
tatoes and some smut-colored corn, unlike 
either of the samples, which failed to grow. 
It was then so late that the early potatoes 
were of no use to me, and we lost the use 
of about eight, acres of corn ground, except 
that we sowed it to millet. We figured a loss 
of about 1,000 bushels of ear corn. I did 
think I would sue him, but am almost 70 years 
old, and never had a lawsuit of any kind. 
Auburn, N. Y. h. c. s. 
Seeing that you like to have people get a 
square deal, I thought I would report my ex¬ 
perience with Knight & Bostwick, nursery¬ 
men of Rochester, N. Y. I gave them through 
their agent $20 for 100 peach trees last 
Spring a year ago, and his agreement was to 
replace any and all trees that did not start 
and live till August 1, 1004. I reported 11 
trees that did not start at all. and several 
that would not live till Fall, and not hear 
Ing from either him or the company I wrote 
to the company this Spring and told them 
how many trees were dead on August 1. 1004. 
also how many were dead this Spring. Thirty- 
eight out of 100 did not start, and I have not 
heard from either agent or company. 
Franklin, Pa. n. a. m. 
C. W. Kinp:, Bristol Co., Mass., sent 
an order to Sheerin’s Nurseries, Dans- 
villc, N. Y., last year. The order was to 
be shipped in March, but there were de¬ 
lays, and the goods did not show up until 
nearly the first of June. Then some of 
the order was missing, some damaged 
through faulty packing and some dead. 
Besides, in a bundle of Gravensteins, one 
tree had on a tag marked Pewaukee. Mr. 
King made a very reasonable request to 
be made good on the dead and missing 
plants amounting to $3.47, which Mr. 
Sheerin has neglected or refused to re¬ 
turn. As he has been an advertiser with 
us, our guarantee is good to Mr. King, 
and we have sent him a check for his 
claim. By resort to a lawsuit, of course, 
the claim could be collected of the seller, 
but the amount is not large enough to 
bother with. We shall, of course, accept 
no further advertising from Mr. Sheerin. 
He had an opportunity to adjust the 
claim, but instead entered a counter com¬ 
plaint against 11 s for appearing, as he put 
it, as a champion of the purchaser, a com¬ 
pliment which we fully appreciate. 
BLOODY EGGS. 
Can any of the poultrymen tell what, is the 
cause of the yolk of an egg being bloody 
(about three or four in a hundred) ? Is it in 
the feed? They have mash in the morning, 
two parts bran, one part shorts, wetted with 
skim-milk; some mash at noon, with some 
whole wheat and corn and oats at night, with 
free range. No rooster runs with the flock. 
The mash is wet with skim-milk. The breed 
is one-half White Wyandotte. g. s. i\ 
Gambler, O. 
R. N.-Y.—The chapter in “The Business 
Hen” on “What Is An Egg?” will show 
how such things occur. A blood vessel 
bursts as the egg is being formed, and 
the clot of blood is left inside. It is worst 
when the hens are laying heavily, and 
most frequent in the hens which lay the 
largest eggs. Th trouble usually cures 
itself. 
An Increase in Profits 
Here is the way it figured out for this man : 
$52.52 received the month he used the U. S. 
25-00 received the month he didn't. 
27.52 gained in one month. At this rate 
330.24 is the total for the first year, and 
100-00 deducted for his machine, leaves him 
$230.24 net gain, with his machine paid for. 
Read the signed statement below : 
Dklhie, Minn., June 6, 1905. 
“ I purchased a No. 6 U. S. Separator Feb. 1, 1905, and sold 
cream the first month to the amount of $52.52, the product of 
8 cows. The month previous to petting the Separator the 8 
cows produced me about $25. This herd of cows is about the 
average herd, three of them being heifers. 1 can heartily 
recommend the U. S. to all who want a first-class Separator. 
“H. A. DRYER.” 
Pretty profitable inveAment, wasn't it? Isn’t it worth 
investigating? That costs you nothing. Send for 
illustrated Catalog No. 550-B, which will tell you all 
about it and sho 7 u you how and why the Improved 
U. S. Cre am Separators 
.41A lv K THE LAKOEST PROFITS 
VERMONT FARM MACHINE CO., Bellows Fall*, Vf. 
413 18 Distributing Warehouses throughout the United States and Canada 
VERY HEN S A MINT 
E 
She’ll coin a mint of money when she 
can get the right kind of food. Cut 
Alfulfa Hay is the green food tb e hen 
needs to make eggs in the winter, when 
eggs are like golden nuggets. It pays to 
feed it. We sell everything the poultry-raiser 
needs to make money. Write for free catalog. 
Harvey Seed Oo„ 88 Ellloott St.. Buffalo. N.Y. 
Cyphers Incubator 
guaranteed to hatch more and healthier 
chic ks than any other or your money back. 
Absolutely self regulating. Price $6.50 
and up. Send for 212 psgo (8zll Inches) catalogue 
and poultry guide. Free, If you send us names of 
two friends interested In good poultry. Write to 
CYPHERS INCUBATOR CO 
Buffalo. Boston, CMoago, New York, Kansas City or San Francisco. 
STRICTLY 
■-AUTOMATIC 
THROUGHOUT 
nr>||| Tljyooooooooo 
rUUL I If i&irtEi 
^POULTRY LINE —Fencing, Feed, Incu j 
(bators. Live Stock, Brooders—anything—J 
jit’s our business. Call or let us send you! 
jour Illustrated Catalogue—it’s free for the. 
jasking—it's worth having. 
) Excelsior Wire & Poultry Supply Co..i 
■jDept. H.U. 26 * 28 Vesey Street. New York City t 
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOQOOOOOOOQi 
Anil 1 n A are raised in one month: 
\ 1111 A K\ brit| K '’>? prices. .Money 
vUUmUv makers for poultrymen, 
» farmers, women. 
Send for our Free Book and learn this 
rich industry. Correspondence iuviteddWl 
Plymouth Rock Sqnab Co., 
-*335 Howard St., Melrose, Mass. 
I- PLEASURE WITH BEES -i 
A free booklet is y ours—also a free copy of Olean- 
ings in Bee Culture. (6 months' trial 2r>c.) They 
tell how easily and safely bees are handled; how 
pleasurable, fascinating and profitable bee-keep¬ 
ing is. Write now. Don’t wait. Late copy free. 
A. I. ROOT COMPANY, MEDINA, OHIO 
C hoice Stock for Sa le.—Hocks, VVyandottes, Leghorn s 
Mlnorcas, Turkeys, Ducks and Guineas. Also, Lice 
Killing Nest Kggs. sample mailed, 5c.; dozen, 50c. 
Agents wanted. 1’lne Tree Farm, jamesburg, N. J- 
Var's Poultry. Pigeons, Parrots, Dogs, Cats. 
Ferrets, etc. Eggs a specialty. 60 p. book. 10c. 
Kates free. J. A. BKRGKY.Box 8,Telford,Pa, 
S. C. WHITE LEGHORNS. 
Well developed Cockerels from stock bred foi laying, 
$1 each. I). F. ARNOLD, Burlington Flats, N. Y. 
USEFUL BOOKS 
S. C. WHITE LEGHORNS 
Four promising young Cockerels for $5.00. Over 
1,000 to select from. Send for circular. 
WHITE & RICE, Yorktown, N. Y. 
EMPIRE STATE S. C. WHITE LEGHORNS 
Won two first premiums at New York State Fair, 111(14' 
Trios, $5; Eggs, $1 per 15; $5 per 100. Catalogue free. 
ZIMMER BROS. R. I). 41, Weedsport, N. Y. 
“ MAMMOTH PEKIN DUCKS.” 
Let us know your wants. We have either sex, Old or 
Young. From $1.00 to $3.00 each. 
Lauderdale Farm, Loudonville, Albany Co., N. Y. 
ROSE COMB W. LEGHORNS 
I’rize Winners at the Best Shows. Eggs $1 
for 15; $3 for 50; $5 for 100. Half price after June 
first. L. C. HlLLS, Delaware, Ohio. 
Sent postpaid by Rural New-Yorker at 
prices named ; 
Bush Fruits, Card. l.r >0 
Cabbage, Gregory .30 
Fertilizers, Voorhees . i.oo 
American Fruit Culturist, Thomas. 2.50 
A B C of Bee Culture (Root). 1.25 
Nursery Book, Bailey. 1.00 
Milk and Its Products, Wing. 1.00 
Pruning Book, Bailey. 1.50 
Spraying of Plants, Lodeman. 1.00 
Care of Animals, Mayo. 1.25 
Barn Plans and Outbuildings. 1.00 
Alfalfa, Coburn. 50 
Accidents and Emergencies. 10 
Agricultural Chemistry, Storer, 3 Vols. 5.00 
The Rural N&w-Yorker, New Yolk. 
.1%, 
: .v A T'* .. 
New 
Homes m a. West 
Cheap lands, diversified crops, abundant har¬ 
vests, good markets, everybody busy, a demand 
for good men—farmers, stockmen, merchants and 
the professions—that is the condition in the terri¬ 
tory reached by the nine thousand miles of the 
Chicago & North-Western Railway in nine of the 
great States of the Northwest. 
Homeseekers’ Rates 
Why not go West and see for yourself? The North-Western Line 
offers special low-rate round-trip tickets to points in Illinois, Iowa, 
Nebraska, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Wisconsin, Northern Michi¬ 
gan, Minnesota and other points West the first and third 
Tuesdays of each month. All agents sell these low-rate 
tickets reading via this line. 
Write to us for facts as to soil, resources, climate, schools gtnd 
churches, and as to where to find business openings suited 
to your needs. Free booklets, maps and full infor¬ 
mation on request. 
W. B. KNISKERN, 
Passenger Traffic Manager, 
CHICAGO. 
NWfiOj 
