October t,1, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
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. Collinqwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, i 
Mrs. E. T. Hoyle, 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*4 marks, or 10*4 francs. 
“A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is 
backed by a responsible person. Hut 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 yon 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, OCTOBER 13, 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. 
* 
PRIZES FOR PHOTOGRAPHS. 
$5, $4, $3. 
We offer these cash prizes for the best Thanksgiving 
photographs. They must be original, picture scenes of 
country life, and represent the spirit of Thanksgiving. 
The size does not matter. The pictures must be in our 
hands by November 1. We will pay for all pictures 
used, and photos not used will be returned if desired, 
postage fully prepaid. 
* 
We again call the attention of Minnesota readers to 
the fact that they will vote this Fall on a proposed 
amendment to the State Constitution. This gives 
farmers and gardeners the right to sell their own pro¬ 
duce at retail without taking a license. By all means 
vote for it. 
* 
“Good roads made by bad men.!” The idea of putting 
convicts at work on the roads is gaining everywhere. 
In some places the prisoners are worked directl}’ on the 
road. In others they make road material. In New 
York State a new prison is to be built in the Hudson 
Valley near suitable rock where the convicts will be 
worked at breaking stones. This material will be sent 
all over the State. Such work does less to compete with 
free labor than any other. 
•J* 
Some dairymen have been wondering what the Pure 
Food Commission would do to colored butter under the 
new law. The oleomargarine law, in defining butter, 
states that it contains coloring matter. Thus the use of 
a satisfactory color cannot be denied. The battle over 
coloring matter will be made against what are known 
as the coal tar dyes. These mineral substances are with¬ 
out doubt injurious when used in large quantities, though 
not so when used ordinarily in coloring butter. In case 
these dyes are barred dairymen may, if they like, use 
the harmless vegetable colors. 
❖ 
“Mapes the hen man” has often said that lie thinks 
he can keep 500 or more hens in one house. Critics 
have said “Why don’t you try it and see!” Now that is 
what Mapes intends to do, as we see by his article on 
first page. The house has been started, and we hope to 
follow the novel experiment through. As readers know. 
Mr. Mapes will not hesitate to tell the truth. Last Win¬ 
ter he had the courage to report that on some days his 
1400 hens did not lay an egg! The working out of this 
experiment, showing how hens can stand a crowd, will 
be one of the most interesting features of the coming 
year. 
* 
One thing we feel inclined to talk about every year 
is the mistake of letting cornfields or other cultivated 
ground remain bare through the Fall and Winter. A 
considerable loss of nitrogen results from this practice. 
After the Summer crop is taken off the processes of 
nitrification go on in the soil, especially if stable manure 
has been used. Nitrification means the process by 
which nitrogen is made soluble or available. When 
made over into this form it is quite easily washed out 
of the soil and lost. When soil is left bare after harvest 
considerable loss will occur in this way, but when some 
living crop is growing on the ground this new crop will 
obtain most of the nitrogen, and save it for us. This 
nitrogen problem is the most important thing on our 
farms. We must buy it in one form or another, and 
it is constantly struggling to get away from us. It is 
the part of good farming to capture and save all we can. 
If nothing else can be done sow rye on all bare lands. 
I f you cannot plow, harrow and seed. There are some 
exception to this. One is where the sod is filled with 
white grubs. In that case it is better not to seed, but 
to plow and keep the surface well stirred through Fall 
and early in Spring. The constant cultivation is the 
best method of fighting these insects. 
5*c 
The process of oiling the roads to prevent dust, adopt¬ 
ed in many localities, meets with much criticism because 
of the unpleasant odor, and also the disagreeable sticky 
surface resulting. We are now informed by Horticul¬ 
ture that Superintendent Pettigrew of the Boston park 
system has beeen experimenting with Texas oil emul¬ 
sified with water, which seems highly satisfactory. 
Pennsylvania oil has a paraffin base, but Texas oil has 
an asphaltum base, and when used in the emulsion 
(10 to 20 per cent) for sprinkling it is said to produce 
a skim of asphaltum surface which, mixed with dust 
under pressure from the wheels, becomes very smooth. 
Suburban localities suffer so severely from dust, and 
the surface of suburban roads is so badly worn by heavy 
automobile traffic, that any method of preventing such 
detrition is worth consideration. The system of oiling 
the roads so far adopted has not come up to our expec¬ 
tations in the East, though apparently satisfactory in 
California. Mr. Pettigrew’s Boston experiments, how¬ 
ever, seem to bring new light upon the subject, and 
their outcome will be watched with interest. 
* 
Our contribution to the Seedless apple literature this 
week comes from Oregon: 
A Spencer Seedless apple man was at our State fair 
all week. I do not know whether the gentleman did much 
business or not; he had a sample in a glass jar that was 
a very poor color, but he explained that it had faded out. 
Asking him how the apple was originated, lie stated. “Mr. 
Spencer produced U by removing the male parts of the 
flower.'’ Asking him if such a thing were practical and 
possible, how he could account for a perpetuation of it. he 
“didn’t know,’ and “in fact, Mr. Spencer wasn’t willing to 
tell his agents how they were produced.” All he knew was 
they were a great addition to horticulture and that those 
who bought now and got them first were to get rich quick. 
e. .t. l. 
We might have told him from our experience that 
Mr. Spencer doesn’t like to answer questions! We can 
understand why. We have a seedling tree of fair quality 
growing in a back field on the farm. Suppose we took 
wood from this tree and grafted or budded others. Sup¬ 
pose after doing this we claimed or permitted others 
to claim for us that we had performed some delicate and 
mysterious work in starting a new variety! Do you 
think we would enjoy being asked where we got the 
variety? As for the faded color of that sample, it is 
something like the boom for this “great horticultural 
novel tv.” 
* 
When the fight for the college building at Cornell 
was on in the New York Legislature we insisted that 
the mere erection of this building was the smallest thing 
at stake. That was the single point around which the 
battle gathered, but behind it was the larger question 
of special agricultural education. The real reason why 
so many of the colleges and universities fought this 
measure was because they did not believe in the new 
form or system of education. We tried to make this 
clear, and to point out what there was at stake, and 
what would follow a victory for the college. Events 
have fully justified this view. The idea of a special edu¬ 
cation for agriculture is now firmly established, and we 
can see more and more how it is to change history for 
the better by giving greater dignity to the business of 
farming, greater value to the annual crop and greater 
power to those who raise and sell it. 
Now in like manner we wish to make it clear that 
the contest going on in the Thirty-fourth Congressional 
District of New York, in its vital significance, goes far 
beyond the election or defeat of Mr. Wadsworth. Here 
is a district inhabited almost entirely by farmers -and 
those who handle what farmers raise. The manufac¬ 
turing and trade interests are far less important than 
those' of agriculture. We shall not be accused of any 
mis-statement when we say that for many years this 
district has been sending Mr. Wadsworth to Congress— 
not because lie is a great man or that he gives fair 
expression to the needs of the district. Why then? 
Because things were so arranged that the majority of 
those farmers could not do anything else and still fulfill 
what they considered their obligation to their party. 
The caucuses and conventions were manipulated in the 
interests of Mr. Wadsworth, and those men felt that they 
must vote the party ticket or not vote at all. This year 
the entire situation has been changed. A combination 
has been made against ,\!r. Wadsworth which will enable 
any man to vote against him and still remain true to his 
party. I bis has been made possible, not on account of 
politics, but because farmers were not satisfied with 
Mr. Wadsworth’s record on oleo, meat inspection and 
other things which concern agriculture. We believe it 
to be the first time in our history when an election to 
Congress turns upon agricultural questions entirely. 
Neither Speaker Cannon nor anybody else can give a 
single political reason why Mr. Wadsworth should be 
elected. Such being the case, it is easy to see that there 
is more at stake than his defeat or election. He is in 
the shadow of a great principle. Can we separate the 
true interests of the farm from politics? Any man can 
see that unless they are separated the-farmer will never 
win true respect as a political power. The question on 
trial in the Thirty-fourth District is this: Given a fair 
chance to do so, will a farmer put the rights of agri¬ 
culture above politics? Farmers in the Thirty-fourth 
District cannot get away from that propositon. Can 
they not see that by defeating Mr. Wadsworth they will 
put hope and courage into thousands of farmers all over 
the country? They will give greater character and 
power to what we may call pure farm politics than any¬ 
thing that has happened in 50 years—if they make their 
reason for doing it plain. On the other hand, if they 
elect him they will say to the country: “The sword was 
put into our hands, but we dared not strike.” “Who 
would be free himself must strike the blow!” 
* 
A number of reasons are given for the present trouble 
in Cuba. It would seem as though the Cubans, if not 
incapable of self-government, are divided into jealous 
factions. There is probably no civilized country on 
earth where it is so easy to organize an insurrection 
as in Cuba. It is reported to us by residents of Cuba 
that the rich American investors are chiefly responsible 
for the trouble. Many of them from the first have de¬ 
sired annexation to this country, or American control. 
They seemed to have worked deliberately to bring this 
about, making trouble both for the Cuban government 
and for their workmen. There has been no patriotism 
in this—just cold-blooded and selfish business. They 
believe that annexation of Cuba will give greater value 
and security to their property and trade advantage in 
disposing of their crops. Tt cannot be said that this 
country has need of the island. From the standpoint 
of a farmer the development of Cuba as a part of this 
country would prove a serious menace to owners of 
American farm land. The beet sugar industry could not 
he expected to stand against free sugar from Cuba, the 
oranges, lemons and pineapples would compete with 
growers in California and Florida, while the cotton 
States would, without doubt, suffer from competition. 
This is only one side of the matter, but the one which 
most concerns the American farmer. 
BREVITIES. 
Has the Summer hoarder business paid? 
The Peach borer, like some humans, is known by its 
gum. 
Don’t call it “unfennented wine” but grape juice—and 
drink it. 
If an apple is to go into cold storage at all the sooner 
it gets there after picking the better. 
Do you notice how few smokers of middle age will seri¬ 
ously advise you to begin use of the weed? 
A combination of farmer’s daughter and milking ma¬ 
chine is suggested as a solution of the labor question. 
A decoction of blackberry root has long been a popular 
family remedy for bowel troubles. It has been adopted by 
regular medical practice. 
How could a potato x - ine be “bug proof"? We can see 
how one variety might resist blight better than another, 
but how about the hugs? 
Mr. Mapes asks why the experiment station directors do 
not report frequently on their experiments instead of wait¬ 
ing until it is all over. Why not. indeed? 
Who owns the champion egg layer of all hens? A Vir¬ 
ginia biddy which had a record of one egg every 25 hours, 
exclusive of the moulting season, is believed to be the 
champion: she was expected to cross the 300 mark before 
the end of 12 months. 
Of late we have received several letters from people who 
offer well-developed orchards of apple or peach for sale or 
lease. This is rather a new form of property offer—but 
better for those who understand fruit growing than a 
gold mine—controlled by some one else. 
On July 1 last year there were in service in this country 
on railroads 48,357 locomotives and 1,842.871 cars, of 
which 40.713 were passenger. There were 1,382,196 people 
employed in railroad service. During the year 9.703 persons 
were killed on the roads, while 86.008 were injured. 
An advertisement for a girl to work on a New Zealand 
dairy farm concludes with the statement that there are* 
four good-looking sons in the family. One would infer 
from this that special inducements are required in New 
Zealand, as in this country, to obtain domestic service on 
the farm. 
It is reported that a manufacturing company in Cleve¬ 
land. O., will try the experiment of employing cripples only. 
This is in line with an experiment inaugurated by the Chi¬ 
cago department of charities, which is trying to give work 
to cripples and thus prevent them from becoming public 
charges. It is found that many persons thus handicapped 
may become useful and self-supporting, while the gain in 
personal respect is immeasurable. 
