358 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 21, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Entered at New York as Second Class Matter. 
Herbert W. Collinqwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, l Alte 
Mrs. E. T. Koyle, f Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to 8s. 6d., or 8% marks, or 10 Mi 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. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1906. 
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. 
* 
Will you join the American Good Works League? 
You agree never to repeat an evil story about another, 
but to tell the good you hear about worthy people at 
least five times! 
* 
We obtained a prompt answer to that question about 
a trolley mail box. Now we would like to know 
whether anyone has tried a coal carrier on the plan 
of a dumb waiter to bring coal from the cellar to the 
kitchen. Anything that lightens household burdens 
makes the farm a better place to live in. 
* 
We have had more or less to say about the farmers 
who are in trouble over wild deer. In several States 
the “sportsmen” have arranged the laws so that a 
deer has greater rights than a farmer. Here is a sug¬ 
gestion from a reader in Florida: 
Tell your friends who are so kindly feeding the State 
deer to drive three or four stout stakes not over two feet 
from the fence, leaning to fence at an angle of 45 degrees, 
and the tops nicely sharpened; they will do the rest. In 
this State they will not jump a picket fence, only rails. A 
deer invariably as he jumps slides on his brisket to go 
down; the stakes will do the rest—and red gravy for 
breakfast is fine. 
That is rough on the deer! 
* 
Every week brings news of some great scheme for 
killing the San Jose scale. This is printed in a Penn¬ 
sylvania paper: 
Jeremiah Hal!, a farmer of Pleasant Run vicinity, claims 
to have discovered a remedy that is a sure destroyer of the 
San Jos6 scale, lie says he has completely eradicated the 
scale from his fruit trees by painting the trunks with crude 
carbolic acid. Ills theory is that if the acid is applied when 
the sap is flowing, enough of it will he carried to the center 
.of the trunk to entirely destroy the pest. 
Mr. Hall certainly has a sure killer for the scale— 
•and also for the trees. He will kill every tree he paints 
with carbolic acid! Most of us want a remedy that 
will leave the trees alive. You may receive a visit 
from a man who claims to kill the scale by electricity. 
He has a small machine which he puts on the ground, 
sticking an attached cord into the tree. He will claim 
that an electric current is sent into the tree which does 
not hurt it but which does kill the scale! A good 
stout dog could send an electric current into this gen¬ 
tleman that would do him good. But, honestly, what 
can you do for people who believe such stories? 
* 
In one way the exposure of various “grafting” 
schemes has been a good thing for the farmer’s family. 
For some years Mother and the girls have been trying 
to convince Father that the house ought to be heated 
and lighted properly, but Father usually found some 
stock or bond to buy with his surplus money, and the 
house remained with stove and lamp. “But what is 
the use of feeding your money to the grafters?”—say 
Mother and the girls, and in many cases money that 
would have been sent away from home for investment 
has been put into the house and farm. It is well in¬ 
vested there. It provides work for mechanics and 
comfort for the home folks. We find a number of 
cases where electricity is being used for lighting or 
even for power. Where there is a fair water power 
or a steam or gasoline engine it is quite practical to 
provide an electric light. Generators for such light 
are sold from $30 upward, depending upon the num¬ 
ber of lights required. With a three-horse-power en¬ 
gine one can run 30 lights. With a steady water power 
the electric current can, if desired, be wired about the 
farm to do work wherever wanted. 
* 
Some of those Congressmen who have little use for 
a parcels post will find that fanners have less use for 
them on election day. We find the feeling growing 
everywhere that it is high time to cut out politics and 
vote as a matter of business. For instance, this is 
what a farmer in Chenango Co., N. Y., writes: 
Every farmer ought to plaster his Congressman with 
postage stamps until they give us something besides taxes 
and laws that protect the damnable deer ! 
Here is another man who evidently does not con¬ 
sider this strong word profanity. We have done our 
best to warn a number of Congressmen who are wrong 
on the parcels post question. The express lobby is 
very strong, and politicians still seem to believe that 
farmers are hidebound and will continue to vote the 
straight ticket no matter how much they may grumble. 
That is the sneer which we hear again and again. It 
ought to be wiped off the map with the ballot. We 
are informed that both Senators and all three Con¬ 
gressmen from the State of Washington have prom¬ 
ised to oppose any parcels post. Washington is an 
agricultural State too. What are those farmers 
thinking of? 
* 
Farming has failed or run down in some sections 
through a failure to develop or utilize wastes. Others 
have gained by finding values in what was once dis¬ 
carded. A case of such gain is found where you might 
least expect it—in northern Colorado. The writer lived 
in that section 25 years ago. Wheat was the principal 
crop grown, and farmers were largely in debt. A few 
farmers were trying Alfalfa, and small lots of potatoes 
were being sold. The potato business was slowly devel¬ 
oped until the region became famous for that crop. 
The soil was fresh from the raw prairie, and most 
people thought it good for hundreds of crops, But 
sugar factories were started. Both potatoes qnd beets 
are exhaustive crops, and after a few years manures of 
some sort were found necessary. Alfalfa appeared upon 
every farm, and this, with what were formerly wastes, 
was made to feed the land. At first the small potatoes 
were never picked up. Then a starch factory was built 
to utilize them. There was some waste material from 
the starch, as there was of waste pulp from the sugar 
factory. Now this waste and pulp, with some grain, fed 
with Alfalfa hay, is used to fatten sheep and lambs. 
Thus these wastes, fed with Alfalfa hay, give the ma¬ 
nure for growing larger crops of potatoes and beets. 
They also give an extra profit. Thus in a quarter of a 
century what was originally a wasteful system of fann¬ 
ing has developed into this plan of scientific economy. 
Two things are chiefly responsible for it. Farming is 
the chief business in that section. The best skill and 
energy are devoted to pushing it. The leading men are 
farmers. It is possible to combine and carry out large 
enterprises. The same thing would be true of many 
other sections if farmers could combine and thus do 
business uniformly and on a large scale. The thing 
that does most, however, to enable these Colorado 
farmers to develop their business is Alfalfa. This won¬ 
derful plant grows to perfection on the western plains, 
and the climate is well suited to curing it for hay. When 
grown in a long rotation it supplies all the nitrogen 
that soil needs, provides potash and phosphoric acid 
which potatoes and sugar beets could not obtain, and 
leaves the soil rich and mellow. Wherever Alfalfa 
thrives farms grow rich and all crops gain. The sec¬ 
tion around Syracuse, N. Y„ is a good example of this, 
for with each year of feeding Alfalfa farms become 
more productive, and through this crop farmers are 
brought close together in interests. It is worth the best 
struggle that any farmer can make to try to establish 
a permanent field of Alfalfa. 
* 
THE CHINESE AS FARM LABORERS. 
Wol t ld the free entrance of Chinese as farm laborers 
relieve the help problem? We sent the question at 
random to a number of responsible farmers in various 
parts of the country. The notes printed in this issue 
fairly represent the opinions of others. It will prob¬ 
ably surprise many readers to know that the Chinese 
would be welcomed in parts of the South. It is safe 
to say that few American farmers would think of turn¬ 
ing to China for farm hands if they did not feel that 
the situation is desperate. The cities are well filled 
with idle men who are willing to live, in part at least, 
upon charity rather than work helpfully on our farms. 
A good share of foreign labor seems to be gathering 
into groups or masses, so that it is of far more use to 
the large operators than to farmers who employ but a 
few hands. As the situation grows worse some of 
these smaller farmers seem willing to try almost any 
fair experiment that will help them out. This is the 
chief reason, we think, why there is a demand for 
Chinese farm laborers. It may be stated here as per¬ 
haps a strange proposition to some that a number of 
people express the same opinion as Mr. Loop. There 
is no very serious labor problem with them, for much 
the same reason that there is rarely a scarcity of help 
in a factory town. In sections where fruit growing 
is largely carried on farm labor is attracted. Men who 
like that sort of work become skillful at it, and prefer 
it to other kinds of work. It all comes back to the 
proposition that the hardest place for which to obtain 
skilled labor is on the smaller farm where one or two 
men are needed. Fig. 135, first page, from a photo¬ 
graph taken in California, shows an intelligent Chinese 
laborer, typical of many who would come to this country 
if they could. He is a well-built man, able to pitch hay, 
hold the plow and do general farm work. We asked 
one of the editors of the Chinese Reform News, a 
newspaper published in this city in the interest of pro¬ 
gressive China, whether, if freely admitted into this 
country the Chinese would be of service as farm la¬ 
borers, except in large gangs. 
“I think they would,” he replied, “as a great many 
of those who would come are farm laborers now in 
their own country.” 
“Would they insist on having food prepared in their 
own way ?” 
“Of course they prefer it, but that is a matter of 
habit, and they would be able to live and work on other 
food.” 
“That is, they would be willing to adapt themselves 
to good farm fare, such as bread, potatoes, meat, etc.?” 
“Yes.” 
The common idea that the Chinese as a class are 
slow to learn or generally deficient in manly qualities 
is a mistake. Of course there are blockheads and 
mental and moral delinquents, but what else can be 
expected in a nation of 400,000.000 people? There is 
not an entire absence of persons of this type in our 
80.000.000 population. On the other hand, it is stated 
that Chinese merchants in this country desire to bring 
over clerks and helpers, and there is without doubt a 
desire on the part of leading Chinese to get rid of large 
numbers of ignorant coolies. With the immigration 
gates wide open few. if any, Chinamen would come 
here expecting to make a permanent home. Their am¬ 
bition would be to work here for awhile, lay aside a 
sum of money and then take themselves and their prop¬ 
erty back to China, where they could live in compara¬ 
tively luxury on their capital. There seems to be no 
hope that the Chinese could mix with our population 
as Europeans have done. They would remain apart— 
undigested by American civilization. These things are 
apparent to all. and would be considered unanswerable 
arguments against the admission of the Chinese if it 
were not that some farmers are desperate over the 
labor question. Unless the proposed admission could 
be restricted to house servants and farm laborers, with 
the number to be employed by any one person limited, 
the small farmer would in the end be worse off than 
now. Some such plan as that suggested by Mr. Hul- 
sart on page 346 might provide help for a neighbor¬ 
hood, but our experience is that farmers have been op¬ 
erating so long as individuals that they find it hard to 
practice true cooperation. 
BREVITIES. 
Take good care of the young stock. 
Time to think about water-glass eggs. 
Mr. Saunders on first page throws a new light upon the 
southern laundry problem. 
Who can tell us something of commercial value of Hyde’s 
King appl?? We are impressed by its beauty, size and good 
flavor in the middle of April. 
Experiments at the Illinois Station show that “dust 
sprays’’ of lime and copper are not at all equal to the 
liquids, either for disease or for insects. The dust is 
cheaper, but that is all. 
Readers sometimes send ns samples of fertilizers to be 
tested. We cannot tell what they contain without an an¬ 
alysis and we have no facilities for making one here. Better 
send the sample to your experiment station. 
We have a letter from a man living in a New York flat 
who thinks it a very strange thing that farmers of a neigh¬ 
borhood cannot work together. How many of the families 
in his flat does he think would cooperate with him? 
One of the suburbs of this city has been patrolled by 
packs of vagrant dogs that even chased citizens out of their 
own dooryariTs. until 30 or more of these suburban far® 
naturae were rounded up by the S. C. P. A. Why not utilize 
some of the city sportsmen, for whom we protect country 
rabbits, by organizing a municipal dog hunt? 
Seventy years ago fhe Philadelphia Public T®dger re¬ 
marked, in its first issue : “The Congressional news up to 
this date possesses not the slightest interest—Congress seems 
determined to fritter away its time, instead of rendering it 
profitable to the nation—shame on such tardy legislation ” 
Apparently we are still suffering from the same old Con¬ 
gress. 
The rye plant hangs to life with hooks of steel. Late 
last Fall we sowed rye among currants. Afterwards the 
ground \yas dragged with a loaded stone boat, cut with 
wheels and dragged in spraying. Still the rye comes up smil¬ 
ing and will make a good crop for plowing under. Sweet 
corn will be planted, and when that is fit turnips and Crim¬ 
son clover. 
