7oo 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 15, 
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, » AssocIfltBa 
Mks. k. t. Boyle, 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 >6 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 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. 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 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. 
* 
The newspapers report a foreign shipment of Duchess 
apples from the Hudson Valley in early July! Is it 
possible that the variety can be ripened at that time? 
No, but the shipment was probably made. It was imma¬ 
ture fruit and poor stuff for anybody. We are told that 
some growers even ship Baldwin apples in August, and 
anyone can understand what that means. Such fruit 
will spoil both the foreign market and the reputation of 
American fruit—but, like the sale of Ben Davis, such 
shipments seem to pay. We should keep the methods of 
the oleo men out of the fruit business. 
* 
On page 636 we quoted J. Ogden Armour as saying 
that berry growers in the South who lost their fruit 
through a defective service of iced cars were paid for 
the ruined berries. A reader in North Carolina gives 
his testimony as follows: 
As a berry grower in section named, will say we did 
get pay at market price for all berries not actually taken on 
board cars. Thousands of crates carried off, but late in 
starting, and delayed arrival at destination, were not paid 
for. 
That puts a little different side to the story. Who 
else can give personal testimony? 
* 
At the New York Fruit Growers’ meeting at Fre- 
donia most of the visitors were astonished at the ex¬ 
tent of the grape industry. Mere figures count for 
little—it was a revelation to travel through miles of 
vineyards and see where the fruit and its products 
are sent. When we think that this vast industry has 
grown in a comparatively few years we realize what 
fruit growers have done for New York. They have 
created a new industry—built on what was thought 
to be the ruin of other industries when the West 
demonstrated its superiority at grain growing and stock 
feeding. No wonder fruit growers feel that they have 
grafted a new and profitable industry upon the State. 
* 
Since last week we have been through part of the 
apple growing section in New York, and talked with 
many growers. The following note from a local paper 
in Wayne Co., N. Y., is probably a fair statement of 
what many growers believe: 
Tbe truth is that there are a lot of apples this Pall In 
the aggregate. To call it a bumper crop is a fake, Intended 
to deceive the grower. The outlook is for a pretty good 
export demand. The grower who sells for what he got two 
years ago will get swindled. The grower who waits to get 
what be got last year will get—left. It is somewhere 
in between. 
In figuring on “a lot of apples” these growers accept 
the statement that the West has a large crop of Ben 
Davis. There is not an extra large crop in New York. 
* 
There seems to be no longer any doubt that injury 
has been done to apple trees and fruit by spraying with 
Bordeaux Mixture. This injury has been observed 
since 1894, but has been growing steadily worse, espe¬ 
cially in damp sections. The apples scalded by Bor¬ 
deaux look as if attacked by some fungus disease. It 
is different from the effect of frost or the scalding from 
Paris-green or arsenic. The trouble is so serious that 
the scientific men have begun elaborate experiments in 
search of a remedy. At the Geneva Station these ex¬ 
periments were started on the theory that the trouble 
is worst in damp weather, and that too much copper 
is used in making Bordeaux. Results seem to demon¬ 
strate these conclusions, as we see in the report of the 
fruit growers’ meeting on page 696. Growers have 
simply used too much of a good thing. The formulas 
for Bordeaux Mixture were worked out when spraying 
was largely done by hand. The modern power sprayers 
and improved nozzles are more effective, and this very 
improvement in the spray leaves too much copper on 
the tree. All that can be safely recommended at pres¬ 
ent is to spray in dry weather if possible; and use 
less copper. The New York Station will use next year 
three pounds of copper and four pounds or more of 
lime in 50 gallons of water. 
♦ 
We doubt if there has ever before been quite such a 
contest as this year will see in the Thirty-fourth New 
York Congressional District. For years James W. 
Wadsworth has been sent to Congress by immense 
majorities. All this time a good share of those who 
voted for him did not feel that he represented them 
fairly. Why then did they vote for him? Because 
they were strong party men, and habit had taught them 
to put party above all else. This year events have 
been so shaped that it is possible for a farmer to keep 
inside his party and still vote for agriculture. Hon. 
Peter A. Porter, well known throughout the district, 
will be nominated by petition, as an independent Re¬ 
publican-endorsed by the Democrats. He is just as 
good a Republican as Mr. Wadsworth, so that a man 
may vote for him without any fear of hurting his 
party. Mr. Porter enters the contest at the request 
of hundreds of farmers who are not satisfied with Mr. 
Wadsworth, and who see no other way of marking 
their disapproval on their ballot. This is why we say 
that this contest is unlike any other. It is a square, 
clean-cut fight over Wadsworth’s record as a farmer’s 
representative. In no other district can a man vote 
directly as a fanner. Those men in the Thirty-fourth 
District will make the most of their chance. 
* 
Autumn brings the fruit grower’s harvest season, 
and as he studies the rewards and disappointments of 
his work his thoughts are very likely to turn to the 
possibilities of hybridization, in which every experi¬ 
menter, great or small, expects some day to hit upon 
the perfection of plant life. Such work seems simplic¬ 
ity itself, as we read the interview with Dr. Van Fleet, 
upon the first page—it would be simple if, in hybridiza¬ 
tion, as in mathematics, two and two always made four. 
But they do not; sometimes they make five, and some¬ 
times zero; the hidden forces of atavism and heredity 
are ranged against us, and just when we are ready to 
talk most complacently of Mendel’s law and the muta¬ 
tion of species, some knavish plant confounds us with 
its contradiction. Dr. Van Fleet can point to a long 
list of successful productions in corn, tomatoes, peppers, 
radishes, roses, Sweet Williams and Gladioli, already 
proving their value in our gardens, and we venture to 
assert that some special lines now under way will prove 
of inestimable value, for his effort has always been to 
produce robust varieties so firmly fixed in character that 
they will give results under conditions of ordinary cul¬ 
ture. Such work never receives adequate material re¬ 
ward, and no copyright law could give the hybridizer an 
appreciable part of what he puts into his labors. There 
may be many an obscure worker, struggling against re-, 
stricted means and narrow opportunities, who will yet 
give to American horticulture greater gifts than Carne¬ 
gie’s subsidies can bestow, for in horticulture, as in all 
beneficent sciences, the most enduring good comes from 
those who “work for the joy of the working”—those sol¬ 
diers of the common good whose memory will be 
unknowingly honored through seed-time and harvest by 
myriads of workers yet unborn. 
* 
/ 
One of our readers wrote the Seedless Apple Com¬ 
pany about an agency. Among other questions he asked 
where the apple came from. The Company dodged the 
question until the corners were worn smooth, but finally 
wrote the following: 
In regard to the origin of the Spencer Seedless apple tree, 
we are not aware as to where Mr. Spencer got the original 
stock, and we do not think your customers will lose any 
sleep over it. We do not see what difference it makes' to 
anyone where the original tree came from. The main ques¬ 
tion is as to whether the Spencer Seedless apple is all that 
is claimed for it, and you can assure your prospective pur¬ 
chasers that we guarantee it to be as represented by us in 
every particular. We think you will find that the public 
are no more interested in the original tree of the Spencer 
Seedless apple than in the original of the Baldwin, Northern 
Spy or any other variety which you may offer for sale. 
We never thought it of enough importance to ask the ques¬ 
tion of Mr. Spencer; therefore, we cannot enlighten you 
in the matter. 
The funny part of this is that it was claimed at first 
that Spencer originated the apple by some delicate and 
secret process. Now the promoters ignore this claim 
entirely, and don’t care where the apple came from! 
Let us explain to these gentlemen why the public is 
interested in this point. The best authorities in the 
land claim that this Seedless apple is the same as an 
old and worthless seedling found growing in Virginia. 
The worthless character of this old fruit is well known, 
and no one would willingly buy a tree of it. It has 
been shown on good circumstantial evidence that Spen¬ 
cer started with trees of this old variety. If he did, 
who would knowingly buy a tree? It has been claimed 
that he originated the variety, but when forced into a 
corner he refuses to say so, and now here come the 
promoters saying they don’t care. It seems to be set¬ 
tled therefore that this wonderful novelty is simply 
a worthless old variety, and the promoters don’t seem 
to care. 
* 
As a result of the correspondence printed on the next 
page the writer met Hon. James W. Wadsworth in New 
York, and went over the matter with him. Mr. Wads¬ 
worth claims that he was sincere in his efforts to pass a 
strong meat inspection bill. Mr. Wadsworth asks us 
to print the following extract from a general statement 
to the public: 
There was never one moment from the date, May 25. 
when the amendment was adopted by the Senate, up to the 
time the agricultural appropriation bill was signed by the 
President on the 30th day of June, when a single member of 
the House Committee on Agriculture opposed the general 
policy of a full and complete governmental inspection of all 
meats and meat products intended for interstate or foreign 
commerce. 
We are willing to grant, after this interview, that 
Mr. Wadsworth did sincerely wish to frame an inspec¬ 
tion bill. It does not appear, however, that such a bill 
as he wanted-would ever have suited the President or 
the public. How and why he was led to favor or not 
to oppose the bill that finally passed is a matter of some 
dispute. While we believe that our little sketch of in¬ 
side history is substantially correct, Mr. Wadsworth 
insists that some details were quite different. He says 
that he wrote the President, offering to change the bill 
if improvement could be pointed out. He also says he 
suggested part of the course followed by Mr. Adams, 
and denies the statement of his interview with Mr. 
Cannon. We shall have more to say about these things 
later. Mr. Wadsworth would give no explanation of the 
evident fact that the Grange and other farm organiza¬ 
tions bitterly oppose him. Pie has not changed his 
views on the oleo question. He opposes Federal aid to 
road building. As to a parcels post, he says that he 
agreed to do what the committee on post office business 
reported. After accepting Mr. Wadsworth’s statement 
regarding his desire to frame and pass a meat inspection 
bill we frankly told him that The R. N.-Y. will con¬ 
tinue to oppose him, and do all it honorably can to de¬ 
feat him in November. He asked why! We told him 
that as judged by his record he is not a fair representa¬ 
tive of agriculture and not in sympathy with the com¬ 
mon people. This statement is made in a spirit of fair¬ 
ness, as we wish to be absolutely just in discussing the 
actions of public men. We well know how easy it is 
in a political contest to draw inferences from events 
which might do injustice if given as facts. It is also 
evident that a plausible man can, if he care to, put a 
construction upon his acts which it is hard to line up 
with common sense. 
BREVITIES. 
Keep an eye out for Jack Frost. 
Last chance to clean the strawberries! 
Don’t forget the fertilizer with the wheat. 
Be fair to the fowls, and clean up the house! 
IIow many of those little envelopes shall we send yon? 
Some men try to make black seem like white—but they 
do it by soiling the white. 
When you can really measure the value of a man by the 
dollar, what sort of a man have you got? 
The Atchison Globe man says that apple trees in Kansas 
are looking as bent over as a man who supports a large 
family on a small salary. 
Some few years ago a few entomologists were quite hope¬ 
ful that insects like grasshoppers and chinch bugs might be 
killed at wholesale by scattering the germs of a disease 
among them. The plan seems to have been a failure. 
In an eastern city a firm is advertising to kill the San 
Jos5 scale and other insects and will stake its “professional 
reputation” .on its ability to do a thorough job. This may 
not be such a heavy stake as those gentlemen w T ould havq 
us believe. 
Great commercial changes are starting on the Uaciflc 
coast. San Francisco’s trouble seems to be helping Seattle 
to new trade, and all along the coast there is great business 
activity. Our grandchildren may yet see the Pacific the 
ocean of commerce, even leading the Atlantic. 
The Cornwall (England) County Council has passed a 
by-law forbidding any person to uproot or destroy ferns 
growing in public places, under penalty of £5.. This does 
not apply to persons collecting small quantities for private 
or scientific use, but to those engaged in wholesale fern¬ 
gathering for market purposes. The gradual disappearance 
of our native maidenhair, walking fern and Hartford fern 
in many localities suggests the need of some such restrictive 
legislation in this country. 
