July 7, 
54o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TUE BUSINESS FARMER'S RARER. 
K National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Entered at New York as Second Class Matter. 
Herbkkt W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Du. Walter Van Fleet. I 
Mrs. K. T. Rovlk, ^Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to 8s. Gd., or 8 Yj marks, or 10y a 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 vou 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, JULY 7, 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. 
* 
The picture shown at Fig. 217, page 535, is one of 
the post cards we have mentioned. Others are coming 
to us. We shall be glad to see all we can. This plan 
of printing striking farm scenes on post cards is first 
rate. Why should the railroads and “resort” people 
have a monopoly of it? 
* 
On page 476 we asked—“What is the value of a live¬ 
stock certificate of registry?” We are likely to find out 
before we are done, as breeders are coming in with rec¬ 
ords of personal experience. The first will be found 
on page 547. Evidently the only value such a certificate 
can have depends upon the honesty of the breeder and 
the care exercised by the association. In this way the 
value of a. certificate of pedigree comes down to the 
integrity of the breeder—just as it does in the case of 
dozens of other things which are offered for sale. 
♦ 
It will pay all rural people to read the article by Mr. 
Hartman with great care. He tells the truth about his 
experience on the soil. If it is not made clear he stands 
ready to fill in all the chinks by answering questions. 
This article is one of the best of its kind—and yet we 
always hesitate to print these true stories of honest suc¬ 
cess. Whv? Because readers somehow will not always 
read between the lines. What can one find between the 
lines—there is nothing but white paper there! The per¬ 
sonality of the man and his family, which cannot be ex¬ 
pressed on paper, but which, after all, stand for success 
or failure! 
* 
The weed known as “live-forever” is well named, and 
when it is well established on a farm it is quite likely 
to be handed down to children’s children. The follow¬ 
ing note from one of our New York readers states the 
facts: 
I have a lot with some live-forever, and should like to get 
rid of it, but have found no way but to take a shovel and 
wagon and dig it out. I have tried salt and kerosene, but 
did not kill it. It would be a large job to dig it up and 
throw in the road. G. w. 
It seems that there is a disease which destroys this 
weed and which may be spread through the field. Prof. 
Stone of Cornell will tell us what there is to tell about 
it next week. 
* 
Our desire is to give all sides of all farm questions 
a fair hearing when the discussion can be conducted 
fairly. That is why we give the hired man a chance 
to talk on page 534. There is some truth in what he 
says, as we know from experience—but it is not the 
whole story. We have worked on farms where we were 
well treated. The food was as good as the boss had, 
and our quarters were as neat and clean as we saw 
fit to keep them. Our friend is right in one thing—the 
man who works himself is the fairest boss because he 
knows what work means, and what is needed to keep it 
up. No man who does not work can be in sympathy 
with labor. As for wages, in our neighborhood the 
hired, man has the advantage, and receives considerably 
more for a day’s work than ever before. 
Now and then a farmer says he is tired of hearing 
about Alfalfa. Let such a man go on until he has a 
crop of Alfalfa growing on his farm and he will feel 
rested every time he reads or hears the name! Many 
of us remember how, some 25 years ago, a few people 
began to talk about the silo. Great objection was made 
to this “corn kraut,” and some farmers hooted at the 
idea of preserving corn in this way. Still the papers 
and the scientific men kept on talking about the silo. 
Now, on thousands of dairy farms, the very life of the 
dairy business depends upon silage. We feel confident 
that within a few years Alfalfa will revolutionize dairy¬ 
ing again—right on the farms where silage was first 
reviled and then welcomed, and where now Alfalfa is 
not recognized. That is why we keep at it. 
* 
Every reader of The R. N.-Y. living in Minnesota 
should keep in mind that proposed amendment to the 
State Constitution. It was fully explained on page 503. 
The object is to give farmers and gardeners the right 
to sell their own produce at retail without paying a 
license fee. In most of the States farmers already en¬ 
joy this right, though efforts are made to bluff them 
out of it. In Minnesota there was an old law which 
forbade class legislation, and some smart lawyer claimed 
that it would be legislation in favor of a “class” to per¬ 
mit farmers to sell their own goods while peddlers who 
sold purchased goods were taxed or licensed. Thus 
it becomes necessary to exempt farmers by special legis¬ 
lation. Every farmer and every consumer in the State 
is interested in this matter. By all means spread the 
news, and organize your neighbors and friends, 
* 
We find that John F. Spencer is a subscriber to The 
R. N.-Y.—full paid in advance. With such evidence of 
intelligence as that we cannot understand why he does 
not tell our readers where he got the Seedless apple. 
Surely no man could have a more pressing or cordial 
invitation to contribute a valuable article. We will even 
offer to pay him our regular rates for such matter. As 
he does not respond we have gone to others for infor¬ 
mation. On the next page will be found notes from 
some Colorado fruit growers. More will follow. Sure¬ 
ly if business men who live near where the apple is 
grown will not plant the “Seedless” there seems small 
reason whv strangers should do so. Among other re¬ 
ports is the following from as good a fruit authority as 
there is in Colorado: 
As to the Seedless apple, T have not taken much stock in 
it. The variety is tolerably good, but no improvement on 
any variety that I could make out. The tree blooms of 
course, but the corolla (colored petals), is lacking, which 
robs the tree of the beauty of an apple tree in full bloom. 
They claim now .that such protects the apple from worms, 
as the moth is not attracted by the bloom. Now that is 
humbug, as the moth flies in dark, and besides most damage 
by worms is done by the later broods. The first brood is 
easy to kill by spraying at the right time. 
Let us state again that we have no personal feeling 
or prejudice against this variety. If it has friends who 
will pronounce it worthy we want to hear from them. 
Thus far there seems to be no one to “mourn for 
Logan!” 
* 
The meat inspection bill and the introduction of the 
Seedless apple have given the agricultural papers a 
good chance to represent real farm sentiment, and pro¬ 
tect their readers. Tt cannot be said that many of them 
come out of the discussion with a very thick layer of 
glory. As to the meat inspection, some dodged the 
point entirely. Others found fault with the President 
because he forced the issue and made those hideous 
reports public. Others openly side with the packers— 
apparently afraid that if they are offended the price of 
live stock must fall. It has seemed to us from the first 
that this meat-packing business had reached a point 
not unlike that of life insurance. It usually happens 
when such things are turned over to great corporations 
that everything else gives way to money-making. Mo¬ 
nopoly feels justified in ignoring common rights. Abuses 
which grow out of such things can only be corrected by 
strong public opinion. There was no way of driving the 
public to action except under the lash of horror and 
indignation. Does anyone suppose that the insurance 
laws could have been forced through the New York 
Legislature had it not been for the awful disclosures of 
“graft” and dishonesty? Or does anyone suppose that 
we could ever have had a meat inspection bill that 
will give anything like a Government guarantee if Pres¬ 
ident Roosevelt had not startled the country by pub¬ 
lishing that report? No class of people in the land will, 
in the end. derive greater benefit from a proper meat 
inspection than farmers. To put them in opposition to 
the President in this contest is to put them in a false 
position—as attempting to cover up a great wrong. As 
to the Seedless apple—a fair statement of the case is 
this: A company, apparently well supplied with money, 
is attempting to sell large numbers of an untried vari¬ 
ety. Our horticultural authorities unite in either con¬ 
demning the variety or urging the public to let it alone 
until fairly tested. The price charged for the trees is 
far beyond their value for any practical purpose. With 
these facts well known would you not suppose that the 
farm papers would hasten to warn or advise their 
readers, and thus save their money? You have a right 
to expect this, and yet with a few brave exceptions these 
papers are doing just the other thing. They remain 
silent as the grave until they secure an advertising order 
—when they break out in praise of a fruit which they 
well know is not worthy, as judged by the standards 
used in valuing other fruits. Instead of acting as 
friend and fair adviser of those who support them, 
they act like strike politicians who hang about on the 
fen^e until they see which way the money is going! If 
any of such papers think this comparison unjust they 
may have the space in which to explain! If they say 
this is only a little thing—not large enough to talk about 
•—the answer is easy. They are establishing a vicious 
principle in farm journalism. The success of such a 
scheme will encourage larger and richer promoters to 
put worthless or fraudulent things on the market. Once 
let them realize that they can buy agricultural papers 
to boom any humbug, however transparent it may be, 
and the true character of agricultural journalism is in 
danger. Who will trust a man who carries the sign, 
“My influence for sale” on his back? 
* 
James W. Wadsworth is supposed to represent in 
Congress the Thirty-fourth District of New York. 
This district comprises the counties of Wyoming, Liv¬ 
ingston, Genesee, Orleans and Niagara. There are 
2,640 square miles in the district, and at the last cen¬ 
sus 206,938 inhabitants. It is an agricultural district. 
The last census gave 17,395 farms, with a total value of 
$53,173,860. Agriculture is the main industry. The 
value of domestic animals alone at the last census was 
$9,338,233. Such a district, inhabited largely by farmers 
and people who depend upon the soil for support, should 
be represented in Congress by some man who can give 
expression to the real needs and desires of country 
people. In our opinion, Mr. Wadsworth is not such 
a man, and we find that this opinion is shared by some 
of the best farmers in the district. Granges are passing 
resolutions which denounce his course in Congress, 
and at places where farmers meet the talk against him 
is open and strong. It is quite safe to say that if the 
nomination were to be made by direct primary vote, as 
is done in some other States, Mr. Wadsworth would 
hardly know he had been running after the votes were 
counted. He expects to be renominated by conventions 
largely packed bv office holders and personal friends. 
The R. N.-Y. believes that the farmers of the Thirty- 
fourth District owe it as a duty to themselves, their 
State and their country, to keep Mr. Wadsworth out of 
Congress. We believe they will do it this year. 
BREVITIES. 
Why not wear a straw hat? 
This Congress has fired off 40,000,000 words at least. 
We would like to take the seeds out of the apple of dis¬ 
cord. 
Shed the black suit for hot weather. It is not an essen¬ 
tial part of church or picnic! 
Some people get their nose finally on the grindstone by 
sticking it into other people’s business ! 
If some folks would for a time regard the letter I as a 
dead letter their friends would find relief. 
The other day we saw a city teamster buy two apples— 
eat one and feed the other to his horse. He deserves to 
be made president of the Apple Consumers’ League—or else 
they were Ben Davis apples ! 
Submarine boats are now made with alcohol for fuel. 
They are so light that one or more can be carried on the 
deck of a warship, and can be run five or six times as far 
as those depending on coal for fuel. 
The daily papers report a fierce discussion between Eng¬ 
lish and American tailors as to which can make the better 
clothes 1 Happily it doesn’t grieve a farmer in the hayfield 
to decide where his overalls and blouse were made! 
Remember what the “hay box’’ mentioned on page 470 is. 
It is a box or keg stuffed with hay so as to retain the heat 
contained in a closed vessel holding partly cooked food, 
which is boiling when put in the box. The heat thus re¬ 
tained finishes the cooking. 
During 1905, in 47 of the larger American cities, 184,416 
permits for building were issued, and buildings valued at 
$640,555,641 erected. New Y’ork led with $178,032,527. In 
order other cities were Brooklyn, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. 
Louis, San Francisco, Pittsburg, Baltimore, Los Angeles, 
Boston. 
The German Government has introduced into the Reich¬ 
stag a bill obliging automobilists to pay life annuities to 
those dependent on persons killed by their motor cars, or to 
persons permanently injured by such accidents; owners of 
machines and not chauffeurs to be held responsible. Well, 
why not? 
This Sprjng early peas were discouraged by a May 
drought. We tested Surprise for the first time; first pick¬ 
ing June 9. and this sort gave us four pickings from one 
sowing, which is better than most early peas. The quality 
was excellent. Surprise .was followed by Ameer, also new 
to us, and we are much pleased with the quality of this 
handsome pea. 
