6o4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
August 4, 
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, l . , 
Mrs. k. t. koyle, ( Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal I’ostal Union, $2.04, 
equal to 8s. 0d., or 8Vi marks, or 10Mi 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 trilling 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 I’earl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 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. 
* 
We are sometimes asked if there is any college in 
the country where a person can learn fanning —it being 
understood that agriculture can be studied at a number 
of places. This makes a distinction between the busi¬ 
ness and the science of cultivating the soil. We should 
say that the Connecticut Agricultural College comes 
nearest to being a farming school. 
* 
It is not generally known that cement pipe can now 
be laid in one long piece—without joints. The ditch is 
dug and graded, then a machine something like a box 
in the shape of a hollow iron tube is laid at the bottom. 
This is tilled with concrete and then slid on down the 
ditch, to be again tilled, so that cement forms a con¬ 
tinuous tube. Solid pipe 500 or more feet in length 
can be made in this way. This work is now being done 
on large drainage pipes, but why could not smaller 
pipes be made in much the same way for draining land? 
* 
Prof. F. A. Waugh, of Massachusetts, sends us the 
first page picture, showing some substitutes for the hired 
man! Blessed is the man who has his house full of 
them. They do not strike for higher wages, they do 
not spend their wages for rum, and they are certainly 
welcome at the first table. Their very weakness is a 
source of strength to a right-hearted man. Such “hired 
men” will boss the labor and the law of the future. Give 
a citizen an extra vote for each two such children he can 
train to usefulness. 
* 
The two men who did most to defeat President Roose¬ 
velt’s call for a strong meat inspection bill are Congress¬ 
men Wadsworth, of New York, and Loritner, of Illi¬ 
nois. Mr. Wadsworth thinks he can afford to snap his 
fingers at opposition, but Mr. Loritner is hearing 
straight talk. A name recently applied to him is “butter- 
inski.” This refers to a habit of butting in where he is 
not wanted, and to his record on oleo and butterine leg¬ 
islation. The name is so good a fit for Mr. Wadsworth 
that he might well put it on. 
* 
A Pennsylvania man comes after us with the fol¬ 
lowing unique commendation: 
I am pleased the way yon go after the fakers and frauds. 
I would like to be close enough to pat you on the back and 
say “sic him, Towser,” but of course I can’t, but I do ap¬ 
preciate the way you defend the right. 
We will consider both things done. The faithful 
Watch dog should not need any “sic ’em” to urge him 
on to duty. Still, the words inspire confidence, and 
make “Towser” feel that he has good backing. 
* 
A Massachusetts farmer’s daughter gives her view 
of the hired man question this week. The women folks 
surely ought to have a chance to talk—and this one 
has done hired man’s work. Farmers who live back 
from town in neighborhoods where drinking is con¬ 
sidered little short of a sin have hard work to under¬ 
stand what it means to hire help in a section where 
drunkenness is more or less expected. We have a 
neighbor, a dairyman, who hired three men, and they 
all got fighting drunk together. During the past few 
years we have hired 10 different men, and eight of 
them at least would drink more or less liquor. A 
temperate man, able and willing to work, could com¬ 
mand his own price in our section. The farmer’s 
daughter is exactly right when she says that the hired 
man should first see that he is fit in habits and in 
ability. Then it is his own fault if he is poorly paid, 
poorly fed or unfairly treated, for no other class of 
laborers has less real competition. The intimation that 
hired men do not try to improve themselves is unjust 
The writer fitted himself for college while cleaning 
out stables and milking cows. Farm hands have worked 
their way into the highest positions, and filled them 
with honor. They will continue to do so, but not one 
of them will ever do it with rum as a companion or 
laziness as a side partner. 
* 
We are informed that James W. Wadsworth says that 
he doesn’t care whether the Granges and fanners’ clubs 
in his district support him or not. He says he is sure of 
a renomination, and once nominated not 100 farmers 
would ever cut the ticket. That, in substance, is what 
comes to us. It seems reasonable in view of the arro¬ 
gant, lordly air of the man on former occasions. But 
what an insult that is to the farmers who have been 
sending Mr. Wadsworth to Congress! If they were 
sheep and cattle they would be credited with a little more 
character. Possibly Mr. Wadsworth did not say these 
things, though they sound like him. If he did we have 
still another reason why he should be left at home. 
* 
Those agricultural papers that advertised the vine¬ 
less potato haven’t been heard from yet, but our digni¬ 
fied friend, the Country Gentlemen, has the following: 
If there is poison in sausages, there may also be fraud 
in potatoes. The fraud In the latter case consists, how¬ 
ever, not in stuffing the potato but in stuffing the potato 
grower. There was a man in Montana who invented a 
stuffing machine that must have made Mr. Spencer Seedless 
green with envy. For what is an apple without seeds 
compared to a potato without vines? To surpass the man 
from Montana Mr. Spencer should have invented an apple 
that grew out of a mushroom stalk. 
Let us give Mr. Spencer plenty of time. He may 
do greater things yet. Some of the circulars of the 
Company intimated that the Seedless apple may be 
used to remove the seeds from some of our standard 
varieties. This would certainly be a noble offering to 
both the science and practice of horticulture. Just now, 
however, we will be satisfied if Mr. Spencer will answer 
this question. Where did you get the Seedless affle? 
* 
Last year convicts in American prisons made 
$34,276,205 worth of manufactured goods. Boots and 
shoes came first, with a value of $8,527,599, with cloth¬ 
ing next, $2,644,511. There were 8,341 convicts em¬ 
ployed at farming—producing $2,983,875 worth of farm 
products, while 3,507 worked on roads and highways 
giving value of $1,657,170. Missouri led—her 1,973 
convicts earning a value of $2,451,939. The average 
cost of keeping a convict one year is given as follows: 
food $51.68, clothing $18.02, guarding $56.30. Manu¬ 
facturers generally object to prison-made goods, as they 
interfere seriously with regular trade. One case is re¬ 
ported where in a prison the yearly make per convict 
was 1,579 pairs of shoes, which was 45 pairs more than 
the average outnut in free labor factories. It seems 
to us that if convicts are to manufacture goods in this 
way the proceeds of their labor should be paid to their 
families—if they have any. This would help support 
women and children, and often relieve others. The 
best work that we can see for convicts is to put them 
at road making. They will thus compete less with 
free labor than in any other line, and Good roads made 
by bad men is a first rate slogan. At any rate it is 
wicked to shut a man up and then keep him idle. 
* 
A western newspaper tells of a Missouri woman who 
has been looking forward to realizing a competence from 
raising ginseng. She decided to go into the business 
three years ago, and began to read circulars and pam¬ 
phlets on the subject before buying her stock. She was 
on the point of writing to a local firm for prices on 
seeds and roots when she was visited by a man who 
represented himself as agent for a ginseng firm in 
Connecticut. His prices for stock were so alluring that 
the woman invested about $50 in seeds and roots, and 
as the agent, while warning her that she would have to 
wait several years for her harvest, suggested that the 
product would probably bring $12 or $15 a pound, the 
plants received devoted care. They thrived, and the 
grower began to feel like an incipient millionaire. Three 
years later some of the roots seemed marketable size, 
so the grower dug a bushel or more, firmly believing she 
had collateral to make her comfortable for the rest of 
her life. The ginseng dealer to whom she applied, how¬ 
ever, found that she had been the victim of a swindler, 
for her cherished plants, instead of being ginseng, were 
Culver’s root (Veronica Virginica), which has very little 
value. The two plants are so totally distinct that one 
\ 
Nvonders how the unfortunate victim could continue to 
grow it, year after year, without any suspicions as to its 
identity, were it not for the complete lack of observation 
many people show where plants are concerned. We had 
never heard of this particular swindle before; perhaps 
there are other victims. 
* 
A Maryland reader writes on July 4 (a good day to 
discuss injustice) the following note on “Why the 
farmer ‘loves’ the railroad”: 
Your joke published a few weeks ago showing why the 
fanner has a grudge against the railroad, reminds me of 
the following true incident: A farmer was moving from 
western Ohio to Maryland. lie loaded his household goods, 
farming implements and stock in three cars, dividing his 
stock so that each car should not have more than, is al 
lowed by railroad regulations. He prepaid the freight, some 
sixty dollars to the car, piaced a son in each of two cars 
and himself in the third to care for the stock, as allowed, 
all of which was satisfactory to the road on which he 
started. Had each car been hilled out separately, or the 
cars started a day apart they would have gone through 
without a hitch. When his cars reached the Pennsylvania, 
that great railroad whose officers receive gifts of coal stock 
from the mines along its route, the agent compelled him to 
put all his stock in one car, collected over thirty dollars, 
full fare for the two sons for the privilege of riding 
through in a box car, and when his cars reached their des¬ 
tination, confronted him with an extra hill of more than 
sixty dollars for hauling a car of live stock on which the 
rate is higher than on household goods, and refused to 
allow him to remove his goods until he settled. Luckily he 
had locked the cars with his own padlocks, so with the 
help of neighbors he took out the goods and removed them 
to his new home. The railroad company blustered and 
threatened suit, and the only thing that saved him was the 
fact that he did not break open the cars to remove his 
goods, and the company was afraid to go before a jury of 
Maryland farmers with such a case. Evidently the rail¬ 
roads proceed on the principle of “God bless the railroad, 
hut let the farmer rustle.” 
* 
The following extract from a local paper in New 
York shows what the agents of the Seedless apple are 
talking: 
The recent discussions in various agricultural and fruit 
journals of the now famous Spencer Seedless apple leads 
us to wonder if that was not the variety provided for 
Eve’s tempting. Might not this have been the apple that 
grew on the tree of knowledge? Why not? Surely nothing 
hut the most, perfect would he suitable for an occasion so 
important. In Milton’s Paradise Lost wo are told that 
“Eve within, due at her hour, prepared for dinner savory 
fruits, of taste to please true appetite.” In the garden 
where harmony prevailed and nothing was left to he de¬ 
sired it stands to reason that among the “savory fruits” 
which Eve prepared for the delectation of her better half 
was the Seedless apple, for she certainly would not have 
subjected to the disagreeable necessity of preparing and 
eating apples which contained seeds and the accompanying 
core or seed pockets. 
Why not? John F. Spencer is said to claim that he 
produced the Seedless by some original process of his 
own. That being so, of course Eve could not have used 
it. It seems to us that the story goes to support the 
statement of Mr. Chas. Waters. He claims that the 
“Seedless” is simply an old variety found growing in 
sections of the Middle South. He states positively that 
he gave wood of this old variety to Mr. Spencer, and 
that what the company is now offering is merely this 
old variety. The fruit authorities at Washington say 
they can see no material difference between Spencer’s 
Seedless and the old one. This makes it look as if the 
story about Eve might be right after all. Those who 
have sampled the fruit at exhibitions might think the 
word “savory” ruled the Seedless out of the evidence! 
After all, Mr. John F. Spencer is the only man who can 
settle the mattter. There have been but few characters 
in history strong enough to be silent in the face of the 
world’s demand— where did he get it? 
BREVITIES. 
This ought to he a good season for -the orchard mulchers. 
Guessing is not thinking—though it appears so to some 
people. 
Cut the introduction and conclusion out of some articles, 
and what have you left? 
That Pennsylvania man on page 598 gives some sound 
reasons for studying the farm papers. 
“I can’t do it!” We agree with you as to one thing. 
What’s that? Harrow the soil too soon after plowing. 
Let the farmers who are being washed away realize that 
somewhere in this broad land people are praying for rain. 
The hired man who is worth anything prefers to work 
where the business is well planned and definitely worked 
out. 
IIe who leaves the leaves of Alfalfa or cow peas on 
the ground has left the best part of the forage. Better 
turn over a new leaf. 
Even if the hay was spoiled for forage purposes, was it 
good farming to throw it into a stream, as related by 
Mr. Jamison on page 598? 
The baby heard talk of selfish people. After some thought 
lie said: “lie is a shell fish!" That is not had, consider¬ 
ing the social qualities of clams and oysters! 
The papers report a demand for silver dimes greater 
than ever known before. No doubt a part of this is due to 
the rush to take advantage of our 10-cent offer. 
The inventor of the vineless potato now claims that he 
has crossed the ginseng with the parsnip. This opens at 
last a field of real value for the ginseng, hut why thus 
contaminate the character of a moral and respectable 
parsnip? 
