652 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 2, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAVER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established Ifiso. 
Herbert w. Coi.linqwood, Editor. 
im. Wai.tek Van Fleet, | . ... 
Mrs. K. T. Kovle, ( Associates. 
John J. Dii.LON, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In tin* Universal I’oslal Union, $1104 
equal to 8s. lid., or 8 % marks, or 10Mi francs. 
“A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We believe Iliat 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 lie sent to ns within oue 
month of the time of the transaction, and you must have 
mentioned Tub Rural Nbw-Youkeb 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. 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1905. 
TEN WEEKS FOR 10 CENTS. 
In order to introduce 1 he 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. 
★ 
Reports from everywhere indicate a good corn crop. 
'1 he danger is not yet passed, for an unexpected early 
frost might bring ruin, but the prospect is full of hope. 
A big crop of corn will help us all. Feed will he 
cheaper, the export trade will come up once more, and 
both farmers and railroads will have money and work. 
With each year corn is getting to he more and more the 
food foundation of the world. It is hard to realize now 
that 15 years -ago corn was selling in the streets of 
western towns as fuel! It sold at the price of coal. 
Now in many of these same towns even the ashes of 
corncobs are saved for fertilizer. 
* 
One of the useful officers who will help dig the Pan¬ 
ama Canal is a man who is expected to organize the 
recreations of the workmen. This man will see that 
chances for sport and innocent fun are provided. He 
will help organize clubs, reading rooms, baseball clubs 
and other plans for making men good-natured. He will 
earn his salary and benefit his country. Good nature 
pays. J. H. Hale found that out when he hired an 
orchestra to play lively tunes in his packing shed in 
Georgia. It is the long face that makes work a long¬ 
distance job. 
* 
It seems to be settled that the Chinese will attempt 
to establish a “boycott” on American goods. That is, 
they will tr-y to prevent the importation and sale in 
China of articles sent from this country. In this trade 
battle the Chinese seem to be showing more patriotism 
than the world lias given them credit for. Thus far the 
class of goods mostly exported to China are raw cotton 
and cotton cloth, though the trade in other things is grow¬ 
ing. The reason given by the Chinese for this action 
is the attitude of this country in excluding Chinese 
laborers and the treatment given educated Chinese on 
their travels here. 'Ibis country, and especially the 
Southern States, cannot afford to lose the Chinese trade. 
On the question of Chinese exclusion the labor unions 
do not want Chinese laborers admitted, while thousands 
of farmers would like to try them. As to the treatment 
given Chinese travelers, we think this country has been 
in the wrong. 
* 
In arranging for a little hook on farm gardens we 
asked some of the leading experts in the country to 
write about their specialties. The popular idea of an 
“expert” is one who knows just how to do things. An 
expert onion grower, for example, would he one who 
grows, year after year, large crops of onions at a 
good profit. We went to such men for help in telling 
a busy farmt" how to have a good garden. The prop¬ 
osition was about as follows: “Put yourself in the 
place of a farmer on the average farm who has crops 
and stock to care for and can only have a garden 
as he steals time from other duties. How can lie grow 
vegetables to the best advantage?” Now most of these 
men reply: “You give me about the hardest job I have 
ever had. I can tell about the acre crop, but it is hard 
for me to get inside a small plot.” In order to get just 
what is wanted it may be necessary to skip the “experts” 
and go to the farmers’ wives and elderly men who sup¬ 
ply many farm families with good vegetables. It is 
possible that this experience shows why some of our 
most successful and intelligent farmers fail as farmers' 
institute teachers. They find it hard to get down into 
the small conditions which surround the majority of 
farmers. 
* 
It may he asked why we print the article on page f>4G. 
Why mention a failure at farming? This failure was 
partly due to half reported success. Many agricultural 
writers seem to think they must report only the success¬ 
ful side of farm operations. Tell a “big story,” putty 
over the leaks and cracks, put on the varnish of plausi¬ 
bility, and let it go! That appears to be a popular 
recipe for discussing chances for amateurs and city men 
on the farm. 1 he mechanic who failed will probably 
always say that he lacked capital. With a little more 
money he might have made it go. Capital is needed in 
farming, but other things are more necessary. Suppose 
some one had gone to him and asked: 
I low much money can I make by opening a big machine 
shop in the city, hire a young fellow to take charge of it. 
who, himself had never half learned the trade, and 1 get 
round into the shop at 10 or 11 o’clock A. M. to look after 
the business—not having the slightest practical knowledge 
of the machinist business myself? 
He would have said at once that such a plan would 
surely fail. Yet he was willing to go at farming in 
just that way, although farming really requires more 
experience and closer application than the machinist’s 
trade. A doctor may collect his fee even if he has 
killed his patient by ignorance. The mechanic may 
get his stipulated price for a day’s work, though he may 
have nearly or quite spoiled a job. But old Mother 
Earth will pay no bills until the laborer lias actually 
earned the amount by honest and skilful work. This 
writing only of the successful side of farming without 
a shade or a word about preparation has done great 
harm to the business and ruined some good men. 
* 
One of our readers in Ocean Co., N. J., is having 
trouble with deer. They come on his farm, eat his 
crops and tramp down what they do not eat. He has 
seen 20 deer at one time in his crops. He is a poor 
man, his farm representing all lie has. What can such 
a man do? The New Jersey game laws are very arbi¬ 
trary—formed in the interest of the “sportsman” and 
rich hunter. In 1902 a law' was passed making it un¬ 
lawful to kill, injure or destroy any wild deer in the 
State for three years. Last Winter we think this law 
was re-enacted. If this farmer shot a deer found de¬ 
stroying his property he would be arrested and fined 
heavily. Why? What good are the deer? None what¬ 
ever, except that they provide sport for rich men who 
like to hunt them at certain seasons. The State is ex¬ 
pected to feed and protect the deer until the sports arc 
ready to kill. The farmer’s crops are to furnish the 
food when the deer prefer cabbage or sweet potatoes 
to wild grass. Some centuries ago in Europe the farmer 
or workman who killed a deer was Hogged or worse. 
Deer belonged to the privileged class and had a right 
to eat where they pleased! The situation to-day is not 
unlike the old one, except in the form of punishment. 
Laws are now made which practically give the game to 
privileged classes, while the farmer who feeds the game 
is punished to the limit if lie attempts to defend his 
property. The State can he made to pay for the dam¬ 
age done by the deer. In Massachusetts this point has 
been settled. The trouble is that a poor farmer without 
influence or money cannot take full advantage of the 
law as it is supposed to protect him. It is a shame that 
such things are permitted. 
* 
The common people of this country have it in their 
power to reform many abuses which scandalize society. 
Some genuine reforms are started, but most of them 
seem to .fail. The reason for the apparent failure is 
usually a lack of the qualities which make a bulldog 
famous. People become discouraged and will not hang 
on, when if they would only realize it their most effec¬ 
tive work is. done through the slow growth of public 
sentiment. Some years ago the writer drove a team 
which carried supplies to a lumber camp. The road was 
rough at best, and one day the wind blew a big tree 
directly across the track. The road was completely 
blocked by tough hard knots which defied ax and wedge. 
The best ax men gave up the job in disgust and teams 
were forced to make a wide circle around the tree 
through a swamp. In many cases it was necessary to 
take off part of the load and reload on the other side 
of the tree. One day there came a little old man who 
kindled a fire on the windward side of the stump and 
fed it. He wrote on a shingle in queer letters: “Put 
a piece of dry pine on the fire as you go by!" Half 
in fun and half in faith we obeyed him, each throwing 
dry wood on the fire. Day by day the little fire burned 
and the log smouldered. Soon we could see a gain. 
A foot, a yard, a rod—the tree was eaten away, a thin 
pile of ashes following it until the road was cleared. It 
had all been done silently and slowly, without cursing 
or shouting or any of the usual signs of conflict. Now 
many of the things that obstruct the road of the Amer¬ 
ican farmer are to be removed in that way. Not so 
much by fighting or loud denunciation as by the silent 
pow'er that lies behind a manly word or letter. Every 
passer-by put dry wood on the fire and kept it going. 
The strong, fearless personal letter is like dry pine to 
the slow fire that has been started by some of our 
public abuses. A postage stamp is like a splinter of 
pine to keep alive the fire that is burning for better 
fence wire, for a parcels post, and half a dozen other 
worthy things. Let us not he discouraged, hut keep at 
these tilings with ink and postage stamps. 
* 
New York State reports a shortage in the school- 
ma’am crop, which is said to he affecting some of the 
rural districts quite severely. Next to a shortage in 
the crop of girls and hoys, this is one of the most seri¬ 
ous matters affecting farm life, for deficiencies in rural 
schools influence the whole future of those dependent 
upon them for instruction. The accomplishments de¬ 
manded of teachers have increased year by year, until 
many who have formerly filled rural positions are now 
barred out. The college and normal graduates who 
meet the requirements for teachers’ certificates feel that 
they are entitled to higher remuneration than is offered 
in many country schools. Furthermore, new laws going 
into effect demand still more of the teachers, and the 
supply of competent persons is said to be short. It is a 
very complicated situation. Rural townships are cer¬ 
tainly entitled to the best education that our public 
school system can supply, but their requirements can¬ 
not be mapped out with a city man’s tape measure. 
* 
No doubt many R. N.-Y. readers have read “The 
Fat of the Land”—supposed to be a story of a farm 
success. The author was a noted physician, broken in 
health, who claimed to have invested a fortune in a 
farm. The story was told in such a plausible way, and 
with such evidence of shrewd judgment, that it seemed 
like the real thing. True, most of us somehow fail to 
realize such profits as this farmer claimed, but it was 
easy to attribute the failure to a lack of capital. We 
presume that I he Fat of the Laud ’ has caused many 
women to make life a burden to their husbands by re¬ 
peated “Why don’t you handle your farm that way?” 
I here is balm, however, for such men. They may now 
say, J told you so,’ for the whole story is a great fraud. 
The author of “The Fat of the Land” simply drew 
upon his imagination. There is no such farm anywhere. 
What he wrote must be classed under the head of 
might lie and could he if. I he hook had a large 
sale and it must he said that it has done a great deal 
ot harm. It has also done some good, for in spite of 
the fact that the story is a literary fraud, it must he 
admitted that much of the advice contained in it is 
stimulating and sensible. The evil outweighs the good, 
because the hook has made farming seem like an easy 
' occupation in which almost anyone can succeed. This 
is false, and nothing could he more harmful to the 
testless people in town and city who are inclined to 
give up a secure position and invest their savings in a 
farm. It is a wicked thing to give such people to un¬ 
derstand that “The Fat of the Land” is a true story 
which ordinary people can follow. There is too much 
of a tendency that way in the new class of magazines. 
I hey are scouring the country for stories of “great 
successes” in farming. This constant shouting of “won- 
dttfttl success has much the same effect upon many 
readers that the constant dosing with whisky would 
have upon a fevered workman. Farming is not a busi¬ 
ness of “wonderful success'” unless one is prepared to 
value health and calm contentment at a high figure. 
BREVITIES. 
Kkau sight destroys the value of foresight. 
II looks like a light year for apple evaporators. 
1 not., Kino makes (he carbonic acid problem clear on 
page (147. 
Inis is the season when tin* farm garden steps up attend 
of hatcher, grocer and doctor. 
Tub August laying hen is profitable, if doesn’t pay to 
turn such a layer Into a potted plant. 
I»n> you ever mow the potato vines and burn them when 
blight appeared? What happened? A new growth of vine 
which Is easier to spray. 
What Mr. Archer says on page G4G is In line with 
what we try to do with The r. N.-Y. No single opinion 
can settle a matter like the selection of varieties. We like 
a full discussion. 
Mr. Nott’s remarks on page G47. about carbonic acid 
gas In the silo, recall the need for care in going down Into 
a partly-filled silo. Occasionally serious accidents are 
reported from eahdespness in this particular. 
A reader in Ohio sums up the bay machinery question as 
follows:—“You do right In advocating the hay loader and 
hay fork, but you don’t say a word In favor of the hay 
sling. With the loader and sling you can he independent of 
poor help, provided your wife Is willing to drive the horses.” 
