January 6, 
8 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TUE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1830. 
Herbert W. Colling wood, Editor. 
Dn. Walter Van Fleet, I . 
Mrs. K. T. Boyle, j Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the I'niversal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to 8s. 0d., or 8% marks, or 10*4 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 lie 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 rnouey order, express order, 
personal check or bank draft. 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
_ SATURDAY. JAN UARY G, 190G. 
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. 
★ 
Of all the inhabitants of this country the southern 
people ought to be foremost in demanding a parcels 
post. They are at the mercy* of express and railroad 
companies, and some of them are obliged to go without 
needed articles because they cannot afford to pay trans¬ 
portation. A parcels post would bring them within 
reach of the best markets, and also compel the common 
carriers to be fair. Why is it, then, that so little help 
in the parcels post campaign comes from the South? 
* 
Some horses give out five years sooner than they 
ought merely because they have too often been made to 
do all they can. It seems like a small thing to make 
a horse pull or hold back to the limit of endurance for 
a few rods, but an honest horse will do more than 
his body can endure without injury, if urged to it. A 
dynamometer test of the power required to move a load 
up a steep pitch when the wheels cut in a little would 
surprise most drivers and lead to the sensible method 
of loading a little lighter under such conditions' This 
is largely the reason why one man keeps his work 
horses in good order for 20 years and another has his 
spavined and generally used up in 10 . 
* 
Within a few minutes’ walk of the R. N.-Y. office 
there are a dozen places where an express money order 
may be bought. The arrangements for doing this 
business are handy, and usually it takes less than three 
minutes to get waited on. If, however, we wish to get 
a post office money order, it is necessary to go to the 
third floor of the General Post Office, walk through 
a long corridor, make out an application blank, wait in 
line for a slip of paper stating what the money order 
will cost, then wait in line at the cashier’s window to 
pay for and get the order. The writer has spent 20 
minutes going through this interesting rigmarole. Now, 
why does Uncle Sam apparently make it as difficult 
as possible to send money through the mails, while pri¬ 
vate corporations have exactly the same job reduced 
to the lowest terms of simplicity? 
* 
There is more discussion than usual this year about 
the Government seed distribution. A reader in Florida 
gives the following contribution: 
It put me in mind of a case that happened In my neigh¬ 
borhood. There lived a man with a family of nine children, 
and be conceived the idea that he could get all the seeds 
he wanted gratis by making a request of his Congressman 
in each child’s name, and in that way could get some choice 
seeds, and plenty to plant a little truck garden for market. 
He made the request, got the seeds as expected, but you 
never saw a more disgusted man than be after he tried to 
grow stuff from those seeds. He said if he had paid any¬ 
thing whatever for them he would put in a claim for 
damages, but the way he got them let him out on that line. 
Of course it served that man right. We are sorry 
some of the larger grafters with big family connections 
cannot be brought to grief in the same way. No valid 
defence of the seed distribution as now conducted can 
be made. The man who gets the seeds for his garden 
free enjoys a little graft or privilege which in a small 
way contains the principle which he condemns in the big 
rascals. Why should the seed business be singled out 
by the Government for tiffs direct competition? The 
Postmaster General advocates a change in the postal 
laws which would compel the various departments to pay 
postage on their mail matter. This ought to settle 
the seeds distribution. Congress will vote to 
give things away, but will hesitate to increase expenses 
for mailing these worthless seeds. By all means make 
the departments pay for their mail! 
* 
Our New Year’s greeting to the various teachers of 
agriculture is contained in the following verses by John 
Finley, recently printed in The Outlook: 
Beating the air with threafiling bands, 
The Demagogue defiant stands. 
Shouting beside the busy street, 
While round him hundreds hungry bleat,— 
“The sheep look up and are not fed.” 
With eyes on manuscript attent, 
On theologic doctrine bent. 
The Preacher often scowls his views. 
Nor knows the starving in his pews,— 
“The sheep look up and are not fed.” 
And oft in academic halls, 
IHd from the world by cloisfring walls, 
The Teacher, in his learning's pride, 
Forgets the pupil at bis side,— 
“The sheep look up and are not fed.” 
* 
This is about what we have been expecting: 
The agent who solicits orders to clear trees of Ran .Tosd 
scale is again abroad. lie offers to treat the trees by a 
secret “mercury treatment" guaranteed by a nursery com¬ 
pany that went out of existence two years ago, and he al¬ 
ways collects just as soon as possible after he has painted 
the trunks of the trees from two to six feet above ground, 
with nobody knows what. Farmers are usually considered 
fair game by that sort of faker; but city men with a few 
shade trees are even more ready victims. It should be un¬ 
derstood that all persons pretending to a secret process are 
presumably fakes, and that all who pretend to act for nur¬ 
series and guarantee positive results are even worse, and 
should be ranked among the actual frauds. 
N. .1. State Entomologist. joiin b. smith. 
Prof. Smith lays down a pretty safe rule, but how 
many will hatch it out in practice? We have just had 
an argument with a man who insists that the scale- 
winters in the ground and crawls tip the tree in Spring 1 
What can you do to warn such a man from investing 
with fakers? If any reader of The R. N.-Y. pays good 
money for such things he never can blame ns! 
We never saw so many so-called “cures” for deaf¬ 
ness offered for sale as there are now. They run all 
the way from cheap “ear drums” to private and quite 
complicated “treatments.” Dozens of circulars are sent 
us by anxious people who need relief, and yet hesitate 
to send their hard-earned money to strangers. Knowing 
as we do the intense desire of the deaf for relief, it 
seems like a sad thing to warn them against experi¬ 
menting with these devices and cures. The ear is a 
most delicate and complicated organ, and deafness is 
caused by a variety of troubles. We quickly learn bet¬ 
ter than to poke things into the eye or experiment with 
it, because the results of such things are at once noticed. 
While the injury we do the ears is not so quickly ap¬ 
parent it is, none the less, sure. Do not experiment 
with your ears. Have them examined if possible by 
some competent aurist, and follow his directions. We 
have no faith whatever in the idea that any stranger 
can tell what treatment your case requires without a 
personal examination. If your own case is incurable, 
try to see that the children at least are cared for. Deaf¬ 
ness often comes from simple diseases of the nose and 
throat, which are neglected in childhood. One of the 
best investments a deaf person can make is a copy of 
the little book, “Deafness and Cheerfulness.” Try to 
take all the poetry and good nature that you can ac¬ 
cumulate into the silence that is ahead. 
* 
Every reader who is interested in wire fences or 
nails should read carefully the articles started on the 
next page. We shall see how complicated the problem 
is, and how much more difficult it will be to guarantee 
wire than it is to guarantee fertilizers or feed. Some 
few years ago we were told that the “age of steel” had 
come and that wrought iron must go out of use. That 
seemed true at the time, but experience has shown that 
steel rusts so rapidly when exposed to the open air that 
for nails, wire and some other uses it is much inferior 
to iron. A study of Prof. Cushman’s bulletin will show 
that this trouble with modern wire cannot be overcome 
by an act of Congress or by denunciation of the manu¬ 
facturers. There must be a powerful and steady de¬ 
mand for better wire. Make that demand strong 
enough, and manufacturers will be obliged to provide 
the better article. In an address before the American 
Institute of Mining Engineers Prof. Cushman said: 
Several of the influential farmers’ journals In the country 
have taken up the matter, and in every issue we are re¬ 
minded that something ought to he done. Farmers complain 
that galvanized steel wire fences go to pieces in two or 
three years, and yet some of these farmers have fences on 
their farms which were put up 30 years ago. 
Thus it was this constant reminder that “something 
ought to be done,” which started the Government in¬ 
vestigation. The work must not stop with this discov¬ 
ery of one cause of rapid rusting. We must now have 
a standard for wire and a fair test, and we shall have 
it if farmers show a personal interest in the matter. 
Next week we shall see how wire is made, and why 
the old-fashioned wrought iron was more enduring. 
When we have studied the whole thing carefully we can 
work to better advantage than ever before. We are 
to have better fence wire! 
* 
The recent death of Henry Eckl'ord brings regret to 
flower lovers everywhere. He dies full of years and 
honors—not the empty honors of great wealth, 
commanding rank or the unconsidered praise of the 
multitude—but the higher honors given by earnest men 
to those who follow out their chosen work with un¬ 
swerving industry and single-hearted purpose. Mr. 
Eckford. who was born in Scotland in 1823, has been 
called the father of modern sweet peas. He began 
experiments in the hybridizing of various garden flow¬ 
ers many years ago, while a private gardener, continu¬ 
ing the work later when established as a nurseryman 
at Wem, Shropshire. He made much progress with 
Verbenas, Dahlias and Pelargoniums, but for nearly 
30 years past he devoted himself to peas, both culinary 
and ornamental. Our gardens owe much of their 
sweetness and beauty to him, and his work has brought 
a blessing to many an humble flower lover who never 
heard his name. American seedsmen have shown the 
highest appreciation of Mr. Eckford’s work, freely dis¬ 
seminating his novelties year by year. Few plant 
breeders have received more personal esteem and af¬ 
fection than Henry Eckford, and few have worked more 
happily towards the realization of a horticultural ideal. 
* 
The doctor can hide most of his mistakes under¬ 
ground, the lawyer can put the blame on the judge and 
the minister never makes mistakes—but the newspaper 
man cannot get away from the printed record. The ink 
holds him to it! One of the worst mistakes we ever 
made was to print an article on “Skunk Farming” some 
15 years ago. It was so plausible and told the story 
of such a “great success” that we let it go, and even 
called attention to it. Not long after a disease broke 
out among the skunks, and the owner was indicted as a 
public nuisance. He went through life known as a 
“human skunk.” The virtues of the skunk, and they 
are many, are obscured by a single power and habit. 
From that time we have been showered with letters from 
people who want to start skunk farming. We seem to 
have earned the reputation of being a high authority on 
skunks, and people of all conditions—widows, old men, 
children, strong men and retired clergymen have written 
asking how to start the business! There is no use get¬ 
ting out of patience, for we are responsible for it all. 
and so we answer as cheerfully as possible that the 
best way to start skunk farming is to forget about it at 
once. There is absolutely nothing in the business but 
evil reputation and financial loss. Keep away from the 
skunks! _ 
BREVITIES. 
They can’t adulterate whole grain. 
Business hours belong to the boss. 
Not one in 10 people drinks enough—water. 
Have you ever made buds live in a four-year-old peach 
tree? 
What lias been your experience with second-crop straw¬ 
berries? 
When an animal gets in trouble from indigestion give 
it oil at once. 
An English agricultural society has offered prizes for the 
best fenced farms. 
Try a few Gilliflower apples for baking. They develop 
a surprisingly rich quality in the oven. 
Which would you select for a companion, an overwise 
young man or an overfooiish old one? 
The trouble with the joker is that people insist upon 
taking his best-planned joke as his most serious effort. 
When a man ships full berry crates and gets as returns 
a lot of small “pony” crates he feels as if some one were 
trying to thrust dishonesty upon him. 
The champion fat steer at the big Chicago show was a 
grade Angus, fattened by the Iowa State College: weight 
1,050 pounds, sold for 25 cents a pound. 
According to a liotanieal glossary an “ergasiophygopliy- 
ter” is a plant that has escaped from cultivation. Just 
think of having to fight such a monster as that in our 
neglected fields! 
The Indiana Horticultural Society suggests a prize of 
$1,000 for a new apple “as good as Grimes Golden and as 
prolific as Ben Davis!" ne who furnishes such an apple 
will earn the money. 
It is reported that a number of farmers in Illinois have 
each put up $50 and agree to plant 20 acres of corn. The 
money is put into a hank, and at the end of the season the 
corn is measured and the money divided into five prizes. 
It is a first-rate thing for the various State horticultural 
societies to send delegates .to other State meetings. This 
year it is purposed to take (he entire fruit exhibit at the 
New Jersey meeting to the Peninsula meeting in Maryland. 
According to newspaper reports, the farmers’ union of 
Grayson County, Tex., has adopted a union label, which is 
to be affixed to all products marketed, and an attempt will 
be made to drive non-union products out of the maiket. 
Will it work? 
