July 21. 
5?2 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TIIE 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. Colling wood, Editor. 
Ur. Walter Van Fleet, i AIte 
Mrs. K. T. Kovlk, f Associates. 
John J. Dillon, .Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to Ss. Gd., or 8Ms marks, or 10 l /j francs. 
“A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is 
backed by a responsible person. But to make doubly sure 
v/e 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, hut 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 tlie 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, JULY 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. 
* 
No doubt W. D. Darst, “inventor of the vineless meth¬ 
od of growing potatoes,” would hop at the offer of 
space in which to tell hozv he invented the method. 
Too bad, but the postal authorities have shut him out 
of the mails. The Seedless apple may nut be a bad 
running mate for the vineless potato. While the mails 
are open to him, John F. Spencer may still have.space 
in which to tell where he got the variety. 
* 
The Pomona Grange of Genesee Co., N. Y., has 
adopted the following resolutions: 
Whereas, our former Representative, .Tames W. Wads¬ 
worth, has seen fit to ridicule the commission which in¬ 
vestigated the packinghouses, refused his support to the 
bill for giving National aid to good roads and for his past 
action in the oleomargarine bill, therefore be it 
Resolved, That we do not favor the position that he has 
taken and believe that lie is not representing our Interests. 
We do most emphatically condemn his actions. 
That is the point exactly. Mr. Wadsworth does not 
fairly represent an agricultural district. He wants to 
represent himself and his own opinions. The way to 
beat him is to nominate some strong independent candi¬ 
date, and then get together for a fight. That is a mat¬ 
ter for the voters of the Thirty-second District to de¬ 
cide. Is there not some strong man, large enough to 
rise above the party machine and make a contest? The 
time is ripe for him. 
* 
Fruit growers who actually live in a section where 
there is no San Jose scale do not realize the full size 
of their blessing. Some of them talk too early. We 
have the following note from J. H. Hale: 
This is a funny old world, Isn't it? Here’s Charles P. 
Louusbury, Government entomologist, Cape of Good Hops, 
South Africa, writing you, page 518, that they have no 
San .Tost* scale in that country. Perhaps not in his par¬ 
ticular colony, but in peaches and plums shipped from 
Rhodesia to the London and New York markets last Decem¬ 
ber and January, I saw a number of specimens of the fruit 
badly infested with the scale, showing that this pest has 
found a congenial home in that country as well as ours, and 
will keep their orchardlsts hustling. There may be no 
special interest in this item of news, except to show how 
widely spread this pest Is. However, large commercial 
orchardlsts have come to realize that it is not going to 
drive us out of business, and that the lime and sulphur 
wash as a fungicide is worth a good deal more than it costs 
in fighting the scale. J. H. iiai.e. 
We do not understand that this scale on the fruit is 
particularly dangerous, but it shows that the insect was 
on the tree where the fruit was grown. 
* 
Very likely the questions asked on page 566 about 
lime and plants like rhubarb and sorrel, which are 
known to be acid, have occurred to many. We may say 
that it is the “nature” of the rhubarb plant to pro¬ 
duce a strongly acid stalk—as it is the nature of the 
sugar beet to produce sweet pulp. Plant the two to¬ 
gether in any soil and they will keep on producing 
sweet or sour until the conditions are such that they 
cannot thrive. It would not be a complete illustration 
to say that two cows in the same barn eating the 
same kind of food have different abilities to put fat 
into their milk. It is the plant far more than the soil 
which decides the quality of the fruit. In some soils 
lime has the power to set free certain forms of plant 
food. When this is done of course plants which need 
this food are helped. This will explain why, after 
an application of lime or manure, sorrel makes, for a 
time, vigorous growth. As Prof. Wheeler shows, 
the decomposition of the sorrel may result in alkaline 
substances which will fit the soil for clover. 
* 
During the past year we have had much to say 
about the “vineless potato” humbug. A Chicago man 
advertised a plan for growing potatoes in the cellar. 
You were to pack the potatoes in sawdust, add “pota- 
tine,” a substance costing $4.50 a bottle, and then go 
about your business—the potatoes doing the rest. The 
“inventor” claimed that the potatoes grew in the saw¬ 
dust without vines or foliage at a cost of nine cents a 
bushel! It is a fact that many of the agricultural 
papers printed the advertisement of this unblushing 
fraud. Some of them are edited by graduates of agri¬ 
cultural colleges too. One of the leading market gar¬ 
deners wrote us, as a result of this advertising, to ask 
if it would be safe to pay a good sum of cash for a 
“county right” to sell this “potatine!” A few of the 
farm papers denounced the humbug, until the Post 
Office Department took it up. After consulting with 
the Agricultural Department, a fraud order was issued 
and the vineles,s potato man is debarred from the mails. 
That serves him right, but what about the agricultural 
papers that printed the advertising and pocketed the 
proceeds? They knew from the first that the thing 
was a humbug! 
* 
“What is the use of those long scientific names any¬ 
way?” asked a man who inquired the name of a green¬ 
house plant, and received about 17 syllables in re¬ 
sponse. A good many others will ask the same ques¬ 
tion. but when we hear popular names for plants, many 
of them of exceedingly limited local armlication, we 
realize the value of scientific terminology as an aid 
to identification. One of our friends wishes to eradi¬ 
cate “old wife”—not, as the frivolous might think, a 
desire to remove an elderly feminine relative, but to 
clear his fields from a troublesome weed. But we do 
not know any plant so called, and a botanist apnlied 
to is equally ignorant, so we are much interested in 
getting specimens of the plant for identification. Sim¬ 
ilarly another friend comnlaincd of “heartsease” as a 
troublesome weed. Now, heartsease is an old and 
familiar name for the pansy, often appearing in liter¬ 
ature, and the pansy is certainly no weed in this coun¬ 
try. We found, however, that the name “heartsease” 
is applied in some districts to the lady’s thumb, Poly¬ 
gonum Persicaria, an old-world member of the buck¬ 
wheat family, which is often a nuisance in damn places. 
We are glad to learn of unusual local names for plants; 
such knowledge is very helpful, but after all we must go 
to botanical nomenclature for complete identification. 
* 
During the past six months a number of readers in 
New Jersey have written about the use of carbolic acid 
for killing the San Jose scale. The following note 
from the High Bridge Gazette appears to be a fair 
statement of the claims for carbolic acid: 
Several of the peach growers In (his section are applying 
crude carbolic acid to their trees to kill the San .Tost 1 scale. 
John Shorts, of this township, tried this remedy for the 
scale last year and says It is a complete success. The acid 
is applied with a brush to the trunk of the tree to about 
three feet from the base, when the sap is running up. It is 
claimed that the acid gets into the sap and is conveyed 
to all parts of the tree killing every scale on it. The 
growers claim that the fruit is not affected by the acid, 
while the trees are much invigorated. Jeremiah Hall, of 
Stanton, was the first, to discover the value of the acid as 
a scalecide. The advantage of this treatment over the old 
is that it will kill the scale after a tree has become affect¬ 
ed with it, while nearly nil of the old remedies were merely 
preventives., 
We have expressed the opinion that carbolic acid 
will kill such scales as it touches—and also kill the tree. 
Men that we know to be successful and intelligent grow¬ 
ers start up at this to say that the statement about kill¬ 
ing the scale is correct, but that about killing the tree 
is a guess. The men who make these claims for car¬ 
bolic acid are so sincere that the State entomologist 
will make a careful investigation. Personally the 
treatment seems to us about like the old scheme of bor¬ 
ing a hole in the tree and putting in some powder which 
is supposed to circulate with the sap. Still, we are 
open to conviction, and will paint a few scaly trees 
with the acid! 
* 
Among many complaints from patrons who have 
been forced to put up “approved” mail boxes on rural 
routes was one from Maine. In this case a box was 
bought from the postmaster some years ago. It is, we 
understand, still in pood condition but, since the Gov¬ 
ernment has not approved it. orders were issued that 
it must be taken down or mail would not be put in it. 
One of our readers refused to buy a new box, since the 
one he had was in good condition, and his mail has 
been held up. We put the facts before the authorities 
at Washington, and have been informed that the box 
will not do because it is made partly of wood. Though 
the postmaster sold it he had no right to “approve” 
mail boxes. Thus, according to the rules of the De¬ 
partment, this man must reject his serviceable box and 
buy a new one or not receive his mail. Similar cases 
are reported from many parts of the country, and the 
complaints finally reached Congress. Hon. T. W. Sims, 
of Tennessee, finally introduced the following bill: 
Be it enacted, etc., That patrons on all free delivery mail 
routes now established or that may hereafter he established 
may put up for their individual use boxes constructed of 
such material, either wood or metal, as they desire, subject 
to all the existing and such future regulations of the Post 
Office Department as may be prescriped by the Postmaster- 
General, and that carriers on all rural mail routes shall 
deposit mail in such boxes in like manner as in boxes now in 
use. 
This did not become a law, but it indicates the feel¬ 
ing aroused by the arbitrary ruling of the Department. 
Patrons cannot help regarding it as an imposition when 
useful boxes, still in good condition, must be dis¬ 
carded because they have not been “approved.” 
* 
It seems to be our mission to act as historian of the 
Seedless apple, since John F. Spencer and his lawyer do 
not feel disposed to tell where it came from. Events 
are proceeding rapidly. The company now writes its 
agents that salesmen will not be expected to deliver 
and collect for stock. That part of the business will 
be handled direct from the office. This may be just 
as well or better for the agent’s safety. We are in¬ 
formed on what seems reliable information that a nur¬ 
sery of seedless apples in Washington has been 
drowned out by the river, which rose and gave too 
much drink to 300.000 trees. Our informant is a relig¬ 
ious man who calls this “a judgment of Providence!” 
The advertisement of the Seedless apple is still appear¬ 
ing in several agricultural papers. The most remark¬ 
able case of this sort is the Mirror and Farmer. This 
paper prints the advertisement, and in the same issue 
steals from The R. N.-Y. and prints without credit 
the article by Geo. T. Powell on page 455, which is one 
of the strongest arguments against the apple that has 
ever been printed! Among the letters coining to us 
from readers is the following from Vermont: 
The members of the parent stock of my family, still 
living here, who have been constant and faithful readers 
of The It. N.-Y. since its initial number, are much Inter¬ 
ested in (ids so-called “Seedless apple,” because at least 
70 years ago the seedless apples were known in this town¬ 
ship and vicinity, and were then sometimes called “love 
apples”—before this name had been given to tomatoes, 
or at least before tomatoes were so known hereabouts. 
The oldest surviving member of our family remembers when 
some of the school boys used to bring these apples to the 
district school, as special gifts to some of (lie school girls. 
'These apples were not rare, though they were not common, and 
were then called “No-cores.” It is not at all impossible that 
some of the trees are still living, even if no longer hearing. 
There must be plenty of evidence that a seedless apple 
is not a new variety, though perhaps somewhat uncommon. 
Vermont. J. H. c. 
J. H. Hale says there are 10,000 seedlings growing 
in New England, any one of which he would consider as 
well worth “booming” as the Seedless. The way the 
school girls took to those “love apples” makes it appear 
that the seedless agent was right when he claimed that 
this was what Eve used for the temptation of Adam! 
But does John F. Spencer really claim that he produced 
the variety by some secret process? Ibis silence is 
getting to be worse than that of the Sphinx. 
BREVITIES. 
On ! The Rose bugs ! 
The quitter seems to be usually a sitter. 
Would you lend money to a “don’t care” young man? 
Read what they say about “too much spraying” on 
page 573 ! 
Take a man who believes in planting crops “in the moon” 
—can you convince him he is wrong? We do not crave 
the job. 
Cheese makers tell us this is the most satisfactory 
cheese year they have ever known—good flow of milk and 
high prices. 
One very intelligent reader claims that the question of 
disposing of household wastes is of greater importance 
than parcels post or free seed distribution. 
Among other useful citizens lost in the San Francisco 
earthquake were a number of the parasites of the Codling 
moth brought from Australia to be bred in this country. 
Two young men in western New York stole two gallons of 
ice cream intended for a wedding supper. They were con¬ 
victed and given their choice of $25 fine or 25 days In the 
county jail. They paid. 
Here is a kernel from Maryland: “I know this by 
experience, that two-year-old cow pea seed grows readily, 
while not one per cent of Soy beans of the same age will 
grow. The seed must be perfectly fresh.” 
The recently passed railroad law provides that while, 
as heretofore, the maximum time for keeping cattle confined 
in transit without unloading, and without food or water, 
remains 28 hours, the Secretary of Agriculture may in 
his discretion extend the time to 36 hours. No matter how 
we may gloss this matter over, it remains a legal endorse¬ 
ment of cruelty and greed. 
