9o 
TIIH RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
February 3, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, | A l t ^ 
Mrs. K. T. Boyle, ( Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Bustuess Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to 8s. 6d., or Sy 2 marks, or 10 J / a francs. 
“A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper Is 
backed by a responsible person. Hut 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, FEBRUARY 3, 1906. 
TEN WEEKS FOR 10 CENTS. 
In order to introduce The R. N.-Y. to progressive 
intelligent fanners 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 Ottawa say that recent consignments 
of Canadian apples were barred out at Cape Town, 
South Africa, because infested with scab and Codling 
moth, and warning given that further shipments of 
such fruit would cause the Cape Colony government to 
shut out Canadian fruit entirely. South Africa expects 
la be a great fruit-producing section in the future, and 
the authorities do not intend to welcome such “assisted 
immigrants” as the various insect and, fungus plagues 
afflicting orchardists in other countries. Future pomol- 
ogists will doubtless have reason to be thankful for this 
form of prohibition. 
* 
One trouble with the dog question Is that too many 
dogs escape taxation. Here is a statement from a New 
York town: 
Our present method of obtaining a census of the dog 
population of the town by the town board of assessors 
is far from satisfactory, as quite a number are omitted, and 
thus escape taxation, especially those dogs owned by the 
tenants of non-resident owners of the farms. The owner 
usually pays the land tax. The dog nuisance is driving 
the sheep industry out of the town. We would like to 
know how other towns are meeting this problem. J. e. d. 
Gloversville, N. Y. 
What is the system in your town, and what do you 
suggest as a remedy for the dog nuisance? 
* 
No question about it—a good field of Alfalfa is a 
missionary teaching good farming. A farmer remem¬ 
bers what it cost to start the crop. It meant the most 
careful preparation of the soil, the most skillful manur¬ 
ing and thorough seeding. These things are remember¬ 
ed, and a farmer will begin to apply them to his other 
crops. Then, when the Alfalfa yields four tons or more 
per acre of rich hay the farmer looks at his other crops 
and determines to make them do their share. Thus a 
good field of Alfalfa teaches better farming and a 
pride in making each crop and field do better. This 
influence is not confined to a single farm, but spreads 
all through the neighborhood. 
* 
Every year the right of a city or town to compel a 
farmer or peddler to pay for a license to sell farm 
produce comes up for discussion. The R. N.-Y. has 
taken the position that communities have no right to 
hold up a farmer in this way. and we advise a farmer 
to refuse to pay such a license, continue his business 
and make the town bring suit to collect if it care to 
do so. The general rule has been that when a farmer 
sells his own goods he has as much right to streets 
and public highways as any business man, and is free 
to come and go or sell. Where a man buys from others 
and sells again the case is thought to be different, yet 
a huckster has just won a suit against the city of Dun¬ 
kirk, N. Y., and received $150 of money paid for a li¬ 
cense. In this case the license was paid when demand¬ 
ed, which we think was a mistake. We should refuse 
to pay and make the city bring the suit. Tt was claimed 
at Dunkirk that the ordinance requiring the license 
was not properly passed, but the case seems to have 
turned on the right of a community to tax the business 
of selling produce. We believe that such efforts to make 
farmers pay a license are clearly unconstitutional. 
i A practical fruit grower recently wrote a letter to 
a friend in which he said that he put a light over a 
pan of oil for several nights and caught hundreds of 
Codling moths. His fruit never was so free from 
worms. “Still,” he said, “The R. N.-Y. says that a 
man is a fool to use a moth trap for catching Codling 
moths!” As this is a fair sample of the way things 
are sometimes twisted around we refer to it. We 
never call anyone a fool in print—no matter how strong 
the temptation. “Moth traps” have been advertised 
and all sorts of claims made for them. We asked sev¬ 
eral entomologists to test these traps, and they collected 
a large number of insects. Most of these proved to be 
beneficial rather than harmful. These entomologists 
also stated that the Codling moth rarely if ever flies at 
night, so as to be attracted by the light. Every man 
must decide for himself whether this is calling him a 
fool or not. It is the nearest we have come to it. It 
is quite doubtful if our friend would know a Codling 
moth if he saw one. 
* 
We expressed our opinion regarding the scandals in 
the National Department of Agriculture last Summer. 
When an investigation was started we felt that it was 
only fair to wait until the investigators reported. The 
“nitro-culture” bubble has been pretty well exploded by 
the State experiment stations. The most hopeful thing 
about this is that the Department has become suddenly 
dumb. It is no longer writing romances and telling 
fairy tales—at least not for publication. As for the crop 
reports, the committee appointed to investigate them 
concludes that with the possible exception of cotton sta¬ 
tistics these reports are inaccurate if not useless. We 
have been unable to find a single farmer who sees any 
practical value in the “secret” reports or guesses which 
the Department has been giving out. The •committee 
has also criticised some of the pamphlets sent out by 
the Department. President Roosevelt has taken this 
up, and made out a list of matters which should be left 
out of public documents. In view of the President’s 
recent long message it cannot be said that he sets a 
good example for brevity, but he does well to cut out 
some of the long bulletins and essays which have made 
fat jobs in the printing office. 
* 
In the early history of this republic a wooden ship 
named “Constitution or “Old Ironsides” had a glorious 
record in battle. The ship is now out of date and 
worthless for any practical purpose. Secretary of the 
Navy Bonaparte suggested that the old ship might be 
used for target practice—to be sunk at sea by Ameri¬ 
can cannon. This aroused a storm of protest from all 
over the country, and especially from the Eastern 
States. Meetings were held and a monster petition, 
signed by all sorts of people, was sent to Con¬ 
gress. The result is that Congress will keep 
the old ship afloat. What has all this to do with agri¬ 
culture? A great deal; since it shows the power of 
sentiment and popular expression. The old ship was 
saved by the sentiment which makes men heroic. It is 
this thing which drives men above the commonplace, 
“practical” things of life and makes them dare for their 
country’s good. No great reform, no great blessing for 
the common people, has ever been won without this 
touch of sentiment—this fire of the heart which drives 
people out of the common rut of life. The Constitution 
will be preserved, not because she can be usecl for fight¬ 
ing, but for the higher purpose of carrying memories of 
a noble past to an eager future. The lesson of this 
ought to be clear to all who hope for better things for 
agriculture. 
A Connecticut reader asks for information concern¬ 
ing the use of medicinal herbs, remarking that people 
of the present day are often entirely unacquainted with 
the plants, as well as with their virtues. Women of an 
older generation usually included some familiarity with 
curative plants in their household knowledge. We do 
not believe in indiscriminate amateur doctori-ng, but 
there is certainly more safety in a homemade herb tea 
than in some proprietary compound that may mean 
opiates and alcohol carried to the danger point. There 
is real virtue in many homely simples, as any good 
practitioner will' acknowledge. One of our medical 
friends occasionally prescribes these remedies—for ex¬ 
ample, boneset or thoroughwort (Eupatorium perfolia- 
tum) for certain forms of malaria. One patient, to 
whom this was advised, bought dried boneset at the 
druggist’s, while all the adjacent lowlands were white 
with it. Every country dweller ought to acquire a good 
working knowledge of common plants, their economic 
virtues and their attitude towards the farmer—for there 
are both beneficent and malignant wild plants. It will 
be a good plan to begin this Spring by collecting and 
pressing specimens as they appear, with a brief account 
of their habitat; then, next Winter, with greater leisure, 
these dried specimens may be identified and named, 
with the aid of some good text-book. This is a branch 
of knowledge in which the country boy or girl has a 
wonderful advantage over the city scholar—why not 
take the benefit of it? 
At the recent meeting of the Pennsylvania Horticul¬ 
tural Society at Gettysburg the Apple Consumers’ 
League had an inning. There was no mention of apple 
on the hotel bill of fare for supper, and about a dozen 
members began to “call for apple” most effectively. 
The result was that the hotel proprietor sent out and 
bought some russet apples, and they were brought in 
raw, amid great applause. The next morning about 20 
enthusiasts got up for an early breakfast with the 
writer, and the first thing the waiter brought in was a 
round of baked apples! That hotel proprietor got an 
object lesson and a lecture combined. Fruit growers 
patronized him—why shouldn’t he patronize fruit grow¬ 
ers ? Adams Co., Penna., is becoming noted as an apple 
section. What York Imperials they grow there! Peo¬ 
ple come from all over the country to visit the Gettys- 
bury battlefield. Every one of them should have a 
chance to eat a baked York Imperial apple, and many 
of them wou]d gladly do so if they had the chance. 
This dish should be named in big black letters on every 
bill of fare printed in Adams County, and spoken in 
italics in every home. This is the sort of work which 
the Apple Consumers’ League was organized to do— 
and it does it! 
* 
How does it happen that people of strong common 
sense and generally good judgment nibble at the bait 
hung out by sharpers? That thousands of them do so 
cannot be denied. Read some of the circulars and let¬ 
ters which are sent to victims and you will see one 
reason. These sharpers are keen judges of human 
nature and they know that flattery falls like a soothing 
balm upon many souls. Here is an extract from a 
typewritten letter received by one of our readers: 
A personal friend, who is a member of this Club, and who 
has a thorough knowledge of your character and ability, has 
recommended you to us as a person possessing sterling 
qualities, and as being ambitious, energetic, and very anxious 
to make a mental and financial succss. Acting upon this 
request we have taken the liberty of interesting ourselves 
in your behalf. If you desire to become successful, we can 
show you the way. 
This man is asked to join a club in which all the 
members think hard for the benefit of the others. This 
great volume of thought is expected to bring health, 
happiness and success to all who belong to the club. 
It costs $2 to join this mental “all hands ’round,” and it 
appears that hundreds have paid the money. We sup¬ 
pose there are plenty of men who feel that their supe¬ 
rior qualities have never been fully recognized by those 
who see most of them. So when some stranger sends 
them a printed circular mentioning their “sterling qual¬ 
ities” they are bound to think highly of his judgment! 
Such are the people who refuse to trust old-time neigh¬ 
bors and friends, but permit a stranger to organize a 
creamery or some other enterprise at 150 per cent more 
than it is worth. 
BREVITIES. 
Get ready for the earliest tomato plants. 
Have you made out the order for trees? 
Don’t hurry the breeding pens Into laying too early. 
A soft Winter makes hard times for the sleigh dealers. 
Often the parent needs punishment more than the child 
does. 
Did it ever occur to you that some of the greatest fig¬ 
ures in history were made great by opposing existing laws? 
A telegraph company has been obliged to pay damages 
for a mistake in a telegram which m_eant loss on an order 
of goods. 
A Scotchman right from the old country sends his money, 
saying that he was induced to subscribe by reading a recipe 
for potato chowder. 
Thought, motive and action are the elements that make 
up human life. Many have worthy motives and sound 
thoughts but through lack of action they fail. 
Wish men are discussing the difference between a fowl 
and a bird. One definition is that a bird carries food to its 
young, while a fowl leads its young to the food ! 
“Wiiat are you doing for your country?” We understand 
that is a favorite question of President Roosevelt’s. We 
wouldn't mind the privilege of answering: “Trying to get 
you to recommend a pareelsi post!” 
This is from a Pennsylvania friend: “Some time we will 
send you a picture of a young member of the Apple Con¬ 
sumers’ League; he is 14 months old and can eat an apple 
with anybody.” Is this the youngest member of the league? 
An eight-story factory was recently built in Brooklyn. 
N. Y., entirely of concrete. Construction firms say that the 
increased demands of union labor are making buildings too 
expensive, and thus increasing the demand for equally ser¬ 
viceable but less expensive concrete. 
According to the London Daily Mail, there are several 
dairies for the production of asses’ milk in that city, the 
milk being sent all over the country in sealed bottles, the 
price being six shillings (about $1.44) a quart. It is con¬ 
sidered valuable for invalids or sickly children. 
One of our friends ripens Kieffer pears for home use by 
putting away in the drawers of a bureau, stored between 
soft flannel. He says that, treated in this way, they attain 
excellent quality for dessert use in midwinter. This is a 
European method of treating dessert pears. 
In Toronto, Canada, 40 plumbers were recently fined sums 
ranging from $200 to $o00. being convicted of conspiracies 
in restraint of trade, their fines aggregating $10,600. Evi¬ 
dently the Canadian consumer still has a few rights. If 
that movement crosses the border, there will be no need 
to ask Secretary Shaw for a more elastic currency. 
