492 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
June 16, 
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. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet.) 
Mrs. K. T. Koyle, {-Associates. 
John J. Dillon, business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to 8s. (Id., or 8% marks, or 10% 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 Ritual 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, JUNE 16, 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. 
* 
Neither John F. Spencer nor his lawyer has yet come 
forward with information in answer to the question, 
"Where did he get the Seedless apple J” We are still 
waiting patiently for them! 
* 
Let us not forget that wind does as much to cure 
the hay as the sun. We do not want sun-burned hay, 
but we like to have as close to the color of the grass 
as possible with the moisture blown out of it. The 
housewife knows how the clothes dry on a bright day 
when the wind is blowing. The best hay is cured in 
the windrow or cock tossed up to the wind and yet 
kept as much as possible in the shade. That is why 
the hay tedder and the side-delivery rake are so useful. 
* 
Mr. Rinnan's remarks about patents (page 493) are 
interesting. The old question about protection to plant 
breeders, however, is not answered. The man who 
develops a new fruit often does more for humanity 
than he who invents a new machine. How can his 
reward be secured? We expect some time to see the 
Government assume the right to control patents when 
they lead to oppressive monopoly—paying the owner 
a fair sum and then making use free under certain re¬ 
strictions. 
* 
iWe have often urged farmers to name their farms 
and have the name with their address printed on neat 
stationery. We are glad to see that this is becoming 
quite general. It is a great thing to have faith and 
pride in your farm, and as business is done in these 
days neat stationery adds considerable to the char¬ 
acter of business correspondence. Still another feature 
is coming into use. This is the pictured post card. 
We receive quite a number of these cards bearing good 
pictures of farm scenes—showing characteristic things 
about the farm. Here is another excellent thing which 
ought to be extended. We cannot have too wide an 
advertisement of the useful and beautiful things of farm 
life. 
* 
The stories told by some of those wandering tree 
men are hard to believe. Here is one reported from 
Kentucky: 
We have an agent representing a nursery selling trees 
and he claims that bis peach trees are lnidded on October 
peach seedlings, which causes them to bloom late, escaping 
cold snaps and late frost. 
This is another scamp who is running at large and 
gathering in “the shekels” from the simple-minded 
and unwary. There is not a word of truth in the tale 
about “October” peach seeds, that is, seeds from late 
peaches producing seedlings that would have an influ¬ 
ence on the tops grown from buds set in them, and 
thus prevent them from blooming early and losing 
their fruit crops by late Spring frosts. The tops of 
trees of no kind that we know are influenced in this 
way. If it was true we would have rows of trees 
in every orchard that varied in time of blooming and 
ripening in all possible degrees; for the trees all over 
the country have been propagated on stocks of every 
imaginable character, so far as varieties of the peach 
could vary. This is not true; not even in any degree, 
so far as we have ever seen in the orchard or heard 
from others who have had abundant experience. The 
man who will tell this lie will also tell others, for he 
lias the spirit of dishonesty in his make-up, and there 
is no dependence to be put in him or his trees. 
* 
“ INSPECTING ” THE MEAT PACKERS. 
For the past few weeks the papers have been full of 
sensational articles about the meat packers and their 
methods. The R. N.-Y. does not desire to print much 
of the disgusting details which might truly be printed 
about the preparation of meat products. We do, how¬ 
ever, wish to make a fair statement of the case. The 
business of slaughtering and “packing” meat is now in 
the hands of a few large operators. Some years ago 
a good share of the business was done in small slaughter 
houses where local supplies of meat were prepared. 
With the vast concentration of the business have come 
opportunities for fraud or criminal practice which were 
unknown in old times. To put it mildly, it has now 
been demonstrated beyond reasonable argument that 
diseased animals have been sold for human consump¬ 
tion, and that in the preparation of such products as 
sausage, canned meats, etc., the most filthy and dis¬ 
gusting practices are permitted. No one profits from 
this except the packers. Farmers do not receive more 
for their live stock, nor do consumers pay less for their 
meat because these filthy messes are sold, yet when an 
effort is made really to stop the abuses we are told 
that a great business will be ruined, and that western 
farmers will he dragged down to ruin with it. When 
it became evident that the facts are to be made public 
the Senate passed a bill providing for a rigid inspec¬ 
tion of meat products. It was so severe that if fairly 
carried out the sale of the horrible stuff now fed to 
the public would be stopped, or the packers would part 
with a good share of their profits and go to jail! To 
the average mind that is just what is needed, yet no 
sooner has this bill passed the Senate than we are told 
that the House Committee on Agriculture will “amend” 
the bill. They hope to do this in such a way that the 
meat packers will still have the advantage, and con¬ 
tinue to evade the law. The men named as chiefly 
responsible for this dastardly work are Congressmen 
Lorimer, of Illinois, and Wadsworth, of New York. 
No one expected anything else of Mr. Lorimer. Mr. 
Wadsworth did his best in support of “oleo” in the 
fearful struggle for honest butter of four years ago. 
At that time we were inclined to give Mr. Wadsworth 
credit for honest, though wrong convictions. His pres¬ 
ent efforts to destroy the force of Government meat 
inspection and make it a farce stamp him with the 
proper brand. J hat such a man should represent an 
agricultural district in New York State is an outrage 
upon farmers. We are told that the present investi¬ 
gation should be hushed, and the packers left alone, 
because our foreign trade will be hurt, and stock men 
in the West will be ruined. As a matter of fact it 
would be better for American agriculture to lose every 
dollar of our foreign trade rather than permit such 
hideous practices as the President describes in his mes¬ 
sage to Congress. But there is no real danger of losing 
this foreign trade. Europeans must import meat. For¬ 
eign inspectors know their business, and they will see 
to it that only clean meat is admitted. The diseased 
and filthy meat could not be sent abroad anyway. The 
packers desire to dump it in this country, and the wail 
about hurting the foreign trade is a subterfuge to enable 
them still to do so. As for ruining farmers— the pres¬ 
ent situation offers to some of them at least the best 
opportunity they have had in years to get out of the 
clutches of the “meat trust.” The public will demand 
clean and guaranteed meat. This is to make fresh 
competition to replace that destroyed by the trust, and 
a better chance than ever before for independent, local 
slaughter houses. During the fight over oleo we all 
remember how these same beef packers argued that the 
tax on oleo would destroy the business, and bring down 
the price of beef cattle. Farmers at that time were too 
sensible to believe that a dishonest practice was neces¬ 
sary to make their business pay. They are still too 
sensible to believe that they will be ruined if the pack¬ 
ers are absolutely prevented from selling diseased or 
filthy meat! 1 he time has come when the American 
people will not stand for tricky and evasive methods. 
They will clean up this meat business, and clean out 
the men who attempt to spoil this 1 legislation. 
* 
We have heard the story of a man who visited an 
African tribe and was asked to tell about his home 
country. Among other things this man spoke of ice. 
In order to make himself understood he said that the 
weather grew so cold that it hardened water so that 
men could actually walk on it or carry heavy loads. 
This seemed to the Africans the greatest lie ever in¬ 
vented and the chief condemned the visitor to death,— 
for such a liar ought not to live! Why was he a liar? 
Because his statement about ice was beyond the experi¬ 
ence of the wisest men in that tribe. They had lived 
to a ripe old age and had never seen the conditions 
that produce ice. Therefore the man who claimed to 
have seen them must be a liar! Did it ever occur to 
you that there are people right here in America who, 
in their way, are quite as bigoted and narrow as those 
Africans? Have you not seen men who deny what is 
evident truth to others because, in their own limited 
experience they have not met with it? It is folly to 
believe all we hear, yet it is nearly as bad to deny the 
possibility of what seems at present beyond our ex¬ 
perience. 
* 
Last week we referred to the value of a certificate 
of pedigree for a pure-blooded animal. It is easy to 
see what dishonesty or carelessness in registering an 
animal might lead to. For example. Brown has a herd 
of dairy cattle which he wishes to improve. He goes 
to the best authorities for advice and with one accord 
they tell him to buy a bull of a certain breed whose 
ancestors are noted as butter makers. This is on the 
theory that “like produces like” and that dairy quali¬ 
ties are handed down from generation to generation. 
Brown accepts this advice and looks around for a bull. 
On studying pedigrees he finds that the breed he wants 
is pretty well grouped into families—some of them 
from the showing they have made in milk and butter 
tests better than others. At last he finds that the 
descendants of a certain bull or cow seem to have been 
bred so that a large number of the cows show high 
tests for butter. He makes up his mind that he wants 
a bull of that family and finds a breeder who claims to 
have combined the desired blood in such a way that 
his cattle have generation after generation of butter 
makers back of them. Brown bargains for a young 
bull, but how does he know that he is buying what he 
wants? It is a matter of vital importance to him that 
the pedigree of his bull is true and that its ancestors 
are really what he has figured on. Unless he is sure 
of it, it would be folly for him to buy the animal, for 
it might take him several years to learn that he was 
breeding an inferior class of heifers and making little 
or no improvement in his herd. He may receive a 
certificate showing that the bull has been registered in 
some herd book association, but how is he to be sure 
that the animal he buys is the one mentioned in the 
certificate? The associations do their best to prevent 
fraud and dishonesty, but from the very nature of the 
case now and then some rogue will beat them. We 
learn of men who have in years past claimed that cows 
produced twins and have substituted good-looking grade 
calves for the fictitious twins. In other cases calves 
are said to have been reported and registered from 
cows that had been dead several years. In our experi¬ 
ence in breeding hogs it has seemed to us quite possible 
to falsify the certificates of pedigree without detection. 
To the farmer who invests in pedigreed stock there is 
no more serious problem than this because, as we have 
pointed out, he does not buy an individual animal so 
much as he does the inherited qualities which the 
animal carries. It comes down to a question of hon¬ 
esty and business honor among breeders, and the asso¬ 
ciations cannot possibly investigate complaints too 
promptly or punish offenders too severely. Attempts 
to cover up wrong will surely ruin the value of such 
an association. 
BREVITIES. 
An Oregon apple recently sold for $5. 
The P.en Davis men are hard to down. . 
Try to get the crops clean before haying. 
God help the man who can make nothing with his hands. 
Happy the man who learns not to measure the good 
people will do by what they ought to do. 
"I am almost pursuaded into trying it.” That is what 
readers are writing after reading Mr. Cottrell’s articles 
on Alfalfa. 
Now the Texans are making bread and biscuits called 
delicious out of a mixture of wheat flour and cotton 
seed meal. 
Ax old English proverb, which says that May borrows 
ten days from March, to kill off cattle and old people, 
certainly applied to the past month this season. 
1 he contents of a swelled can of preserved fruit inav 
well be thrown away. They cannot be purified by fire. 
There is more hope for the contents of a swelled head! 
The following recipe for alleged “head cheese” is re¬ 
ported to be in commercial use in Chicago packing houses: 
“Twenty pounds potato flour, 80 pounds hog rind, one 
pound borax, spices to taste.” Somehow, that doesn’t sound 
real appetizing! 
Every year people ask about “weed killers.” The fight¬ 
ing agent in a weed killer is arsenic. To make one dis¬ 
solve a tablespoonful of caustic soda in a gallon of warm 
water and then add all the white arsenic that will readily 
dissolve. This, sprayed or poured on the weeds will kill 
them, but be careful! It is a deadly poison. Keep children 
and animals away ! 
The following note is suggestive. Those who think 
farmers do not know when an article is written by prac¬ 
tical hands need further education: 
“I knew the mayor of a city once who wrote an article 
for an agricultural paper, to show how easy it would be 
for a farmer to keep—besides the needed team—a cow 
for every acre in his farm. The man had soft white hands 
—owned a large city house and lot, and was a very suc¬ 
cessful banker. It is needless to say that his signature 
weighed much more on a note or draft than at the foot 
of his agricultural article.” 
