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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 28 , 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850 . 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Kditor. 
t)R. WALTER VAN FLEET, | , 
Mrs. K. T. Boyle, ^Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, 52.04, 
equal to 8 s. 0 d., or 8 % marks, or 10 Vi 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. 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 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. 
* 
PRIZES FOR PHOTOGRAPHS. 
Prizes of $5, $3 and $2 will be paid for the best 
photographs, suitable for printing in The R. N.-Y. 
illustrating the subject: 
“THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME.” 
The picture may be a group of humans, a company of 
animals or a farm scene. The only condition is that it 
must in some way illustrate the home feeling. Here 
is a chance for an amateur photographer to show some 
original groupings and picture a subject as old as time 
and yet ever new. An illustration of the home feeling 
is an expression of the most beautiful and powerful 
force in the world. The pictures must be in our hands 
by November 15. 
* 
We have never had so many calls for information 
about bringing water from springs or wells. This indi¬ 
cates a general desire to put water in the house and 
barn. It is a good sign, both of prosperity and good 
sense. This is one good way to invest money at home. 
Such investments make the home comfortable and the 
farm more salable. The “grafters” do not get much 
chance at the money either. 
* 
We find people who complain that New Jersey has 
made a campaign against the mosquito. What would 
the}’- think if they lived in the Transvaal ? The ento¬ 
mologist of that much-fought-for country travels about 
in a special train hunting the breeding places of mos¬ 
quitoes and studying the blood of humans and animals. 
The mosquito carries the germs of malaria from one 
person to another, and the State can well afford to send 
special trains out alter him. 
* 
The discussion of the balky horse ptoblem indicates 
that there are more balky drivers than horses. Evi¬ 
dently if a man starts out to “break” such a horse he 
must first break himself by putting a brake on his 
temper. In any contest for control between man and 
horse it is the bridle on the man’s temper that gives 
him the advantage. The plan of strapping up one front 
foot so as to throw the horse at will on a sod seems 
the most practical way of controlling him! 
* 
Some of those who attended the American Pomolog- 
ical Society’s meeting at Kansas City spent about five 
days visiting the fruit-growing sections of the South¬ 
west. In this “land of the big red apple” the eastern 
visitors got a new sensation. Citizens turned out to 
meet them with brass bands and speeches, with picnic 
dinners and general rejoicing. In the East such things 
are usually reserved for politicians or perhaps a circus. 
Some of those men have attended fruit meetings in 
Eastern States before now where a baker’s dozen of 
faithful ones held a mutual admiration society, and no 
one in town seemed to know where the meeting was 
held. It must have given such men strange thoughts 
to be greeted ; r. this new country with brass bands and 
all the evidence of a “glad hand.” And yet, after all, 
what is there strange about it? In that western section 
fruit growing is the chief industry! it provides bread, 
butter and. fun to the people. These men are proud of 
their business, and they are glad to show it to strangers ! 
This spirit is growing in some parts of the East too, 
where fruit growing is becoming a leading industry. 
It is a good thing, for farming never can come to its 
own until the true spirit of agriculture is cultivated 
and made prominent. 
* 
Mr. Chairman, over whatever meeting you may be 
presiding, one of your chief duties is to pay respectful 
attention to the speaker. We have been in agricultural 
meetings where the chairman, as soon as he introduced 
the speaker, left the platform, and went about, talking 
with this one and that one in the audience. There 
may be occasions, where important committees are to 
be made up before adjournment, when such a canvass 
of the audience is needed, but the effect of this trotting 
about of the chairman is distracting to those of the 
audience who wish to listen to the speaker. 
* 
When the present great development of creamery 
butter making began many people thought the farm 
dairy was doomed. The little man was to be crushed 
out. We know of several cases where people with 
half a dozen cows are now doing better than ever be¬ 
fore. Most of them are located near large towns or 
cities, where there are to be found people who prefer 
homemade butter. The creameries have been on the 
whole an advantage to these people, and we are sure 
that a good butter maker can still dispose of his butter 
in such markets to good advantage. 
* 
A reader who has just moved to Vermont finds fault 
because he has failed to receive The R. N.-Y. Hear 
him! 
It is bad enough to move; set up stoves, lose your ham¬ 
mer, break your dishes, and eat cold baked beans for three 
days, without being deprived of one's mainstay. IIow do 
you expect me to keep house this way? f. h. g. 
We wouldn’t care if we had 500,009 subscribers who 
felt that way about us. We would try to see that they 
never missed a copy. Improved wire may be a little 
slow in coming, and we may have to wait a little while 
for a parcels post, but if we are able to overcome the 
effect of nine meals of cold baked beans we are hopeful 
that great wrongs may be righted yet. 
* 
Ten years ago we did what we could to encourage 
experiments with the cow pea. We saw what it was 
doing on the thin soils of the Southern States, and 
wanted to see if it is suited to the harder and colder 
soils of the North. The writer carried a pint of the 
seed about in his pockets, handing them out to farmers 
here and there. After thorough trial it seems that the 
cow pea is best adapted to the southern climate and 
soil. There are cases at the North where it has done 
fairly well, but the Soy bean seems the better plant of 
this class for fiortherh farmers. In some cases, as men¬ 
tioned on page 774. the cow pea has helped the soil, 
while some brand of fertilizer has received credit. The 
name has been against the plant, for some farmers have 
confounded it with the Canada field -pea and sowed it 
early in the Spring. Of course this meant failure to 
the seed, which is as tender as a bean. At the South 
10 years of continual use of the cow pea has brought 
results on some farms which would read like a fairy 
tale. 
* 
Every now and then we have a message from some 
hard old cynic who would color blue litmus paper red 
if you put it in his mouth! Everything is wrong with 
him ! The old times were the only good ones ! Modern 
society is a fraud; children are a nuisance; there is no 
hope for the country. It is all folly, he says, to talk 
better fence wire or fairer railroad rates, regulation of 
trusts or anything else. The corporations are sure to 
get it all anyway, so what’s the use? Better grab 
what you can out of the rush and take care of your own 
nest anyway. This thing of trying to protect the rights 
and property of others is all rot! When such a man 
comes along with his tale of woe we feel like dropping 
work and getting out upon the hills. There is no 
other way to get the taste of it out of your soul. 
Nature does not talk that way even at this season, 
when leaf and flower are dying. The leaf that falls 
may protect a tender plant, and the brown bud and 
dry seed will carry the life over to next Spring. What 
an answer the hills and the woods give to the poor 
cynic who thinks that the world’s hopes die when he 
snuffs out his own ambitions! There never was greater 
hope for society or greater power within reach of the 
single ordinary man, if he would but use it. 
★ 
The battle over the regulation of railroad rates has 
begun early. President Roosevelt has stated that he 
still favors the popular plan of giving increased power 
to the Interstate Commerce Commission. This Com¬ 
mission, which was established in 1887, was the result 
of a compromise between extreme radicals in the West 
and conservative railroad men at the East. At the time 
the Commission was created most people believed that 
it had sufficient power to compel fair rates and correct 
abuses. The Supreme Court has decided that the Com¬ 
mission has not power to compel the railroads to change 
their rates, since Congress has never definitely given it 
such power. This function belongs to Congress, but it 
can delegate such power to an officer or commission if 
it chose to do so. It has never given this power to the 
Commission in so many words, and the object of the 
present agitation is to induce Congress to do so at once. 
At the last session the House passed a bill which would 
enable the Commission to enforce its own rules, but the 
bill was killed in the Senate by the railroads and those 
interested in rebates. There can be no question about 
the need of some Government control of railroad rates, 
and it is safe to say that a vast majority of the Amer¬ 
ican people will back up the President when he asks 
for legislation. The Interstate Commerce Commission 
has not accomplished what was hoped from it, but peo¬ 
ple generally understand the reason. They are dis¬ 
posed, before trying some other way, to give the Com¬ 
mission greater power and see what will follow. This 
is the most sensible plan. 
* 
I here has been but little discussion of the “good 
roads” amendment which is submitted to the voters of 
New \ ork State this Fall. If a majority of voters sup¬ 
port this amendment the State will be authorized to 
issue bonds for $50,000,000, the money to be used in 
building roads under State supervision. The New York 
Sun opposes the amendment for various reasons, among 
others the following: 
It is another attempt to enrich the rural communities at 
the expense of the cities. It should be beaten for these and 
for numerous other excellent reasons. 
This is the poorest argument that could be made 
against the proposition, because it is not true. Cities 
are always helped by highway improvement. They de¬ 
pend upon the country for food, and for everything 
they use except what is imported from other countries. 
Anything that makes the carriage of this material 
easier and cheaper benefits the city. Everything used 
in a city must first be carried over a highway before it 
can be loaded upon a car or boat, and, at present, this 
road hauling is the heaviest cost of all. While the 
direct benefit of the improved roads will be greatest to 
local communities, the indirect benefit to the cities will 
be nearly as great. The city cannot possibly make any 
better investment than one which will add to the 
comfort and prosperity of the country which supplies 
it with food. 
* 
We are receiving a good many replies to the ques¬ 
tions about fence wire, but want more. The following 
reply to the questions as to whether the lower wires 
in the fence appear to be better than others is typical: 
Yes, we have noticed just that very thing. We have built 
seven or eight miles of woven wire fence on our farms, and 
we put it nearer the ground than was necessary. In many 
instances the lower strands and sometimes the entire lower 
panel, is covered by grass and “fog" or old grass of several 
seasons’ growth. We imagined that perhaps that wire might 
be inclined to rust out sooner, as the covering, of course, 
would be damp much of the time, but on examination we 
found the wire brighter under the grass and “fog" than 
that out in the open. We were surprised. 
It is not so surprising when we understand the facts. 
It is claimed among other things that one reason why 
modern wire goes down so rapidly is because the 
manganese used in its manufacture is not evenly dis¬ 
tributed through the metal. This causes electrolysis; 
that is, an electrical decomposition of the wire. When 
such wires are kept in close contact with the earth by 
being stapled to trees, or in contact with wet grass or 
weeds this electric action would not be so powerful, and 
it is a fair presumption that such wire would not give 
way so rapidly. This whole matter will be made clear 
soon by the Department of Agriculture. From this 
brief statement farmers can see how their practical 
observation in the field will help the chemists. We 
shall have better fence wire. The wedge has been put 
into the tough problem; now drive it home with strong 
letters demanding better wire, and offering a fair price 
for it. 
BREVITIES . 
Celerrate “Apple Day” 3G5 times a year. 
Chestnut wood is largely used for making coffins. 
An auto recently ran 170 miles in 147 minutes. That’s 
too fast for us. 
It has been found that seed of cow peas kept in dry cold 
storage at a temperature of 32 to 34 degrees will not be 
disturbed by the weevil. 
That busy woman on page 775 deserves unlimited praise 
for her industry, but why does she tether her cow over 
night on the wrong side of a 10-acre lot? 
Under the new law compelling those who handle milk 
in shipping stations to take out a license, G20 such licenses 
have been issued. The law seems to be working well thus 
far. 
Some western farmers tell of setting wooden fence posts 
in good-sized holes and then pouring a soft mixture of con¬ 
crete and sand into the hole to harden around the post. Is 
this practical? 
