964 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
December 20, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE IS US1NESS 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. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet,) . , 
Mrs. k. t. Koylk, (Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAS. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, §2.04. 
equal to 8s. 0d., or 8Ms marks, or HU/ 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 trilling differences between subscribers and bonest, 
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 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. 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1906. 
TEN WEEKS FOR 10 CENTS. 
In order to introduce The R. N.-Y. to progressive 
intelligent fanners 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. 
* 
A company of Russian Christians is to locate on a 
farm in Anne Arundel Co., Md. This farm is a noted 
one, and has a history dating back before the Revolu¬ 
tion. Maryland farms grew the wheat which helped 
feed Europe. Before the development of the West 
grain growing in this section enabled farmers to live 
in lordly style. The era devoted to opening western 
land destroyed this industry under such conditions. 
Now with increased prices and demand, and the use 
of green crops and chemicals the time is coming when 
grain growing and meat-making will once more pay 
on the Maryland peninsula. It marks a singular change 
in history when such a farm passes away from an old- 
time American family into the hands of Russians seek¬ 
ing' the freedom and opportunity denied them at home. 
* 
The New York Herald prints a startling article on 
oleomargarine in which it states: 
Ten million pounds of oleomargarine or butterine," much 
of it containing poisonous coloring matter and a great part 
of it manufactured from disease-breeding fats, has been 
forced into New York City from New Jersey during the last 
year, contrary to the law, which prohibits its sale or use. 
It is very doubtful if any such amount is brought from 
New Jersey. It appears to be true, however, that the 
manufacturers in Jersey City and other places do send 
oleo here for sale. The trade is mostly fraudulent— 
that is the colored oleo is sold as butt.er. Senator 
Dryden, of New Jersey, voted against the Grout bill 
and is thus on record as an oleo man. His State 
contains oleo manufacturers who are pulling every wire 
to have the law repealed. If New Jersey farmers permit 
the election of Senator Dryden they know what to 
expect. They can defeat him. 
* 
About the only comfort the Post Office Department 
holds out for parcels post is the old suggestion to try 
a limited plan. This is what Fourth Assistant Post¬ 
master De Graw says: 
Attention is again invited to the recommendation on this 
subject contained in the reports of this office for the fiscal 
year 1904 and 1905, that the Congress fix a rate of postage 
of three cents per pound or any fractional part thereof on 
books and merchandise not exceeding five pounds in weignt 
mailed at the distributing post office of any rural delivery 
route for delivery to a patron of said route, or mailed by a 
patron of any rural delivery route for delivery to a patron 
thereon or at the distributing post office of said route. Such 
rate should apply only to packages transported on a rural 
delivery route to or from a patron of said route. 
Under this plan the country storekeeper could, if he 
wanted to, increase his trade. By using the telephone 
or sending a postal card back by the rural carrier a 
farmer could order his goods and have them sent by 
mail at once. We look upon this as a step toward a 
true parcels post, and perhaps a necessary one in order 
to obtain what we need. The country storekeepers 
oppose a parcels post because they think it will injure 
their business. We feel satisfied that a little experience 
with it will convince them that it would upon the 
whole prove an advantage to them, by giving a better 
opportunity to do business direct. The people will 
never be satisfied with this limited scheme, but it is a 
good beginning. 
A report from western New York shows how the 
pure food law may help farmers and fruit growers. It 
seems that so-called “wines” were made from imported 
currants with the addition of a few grapes and soakings 
from grape pcmace. T his adulterated stuff competed 
unfairly with the pure juice of the grape, and to that 
extent was an injury to grape growers, since it re¬ 
duced the consumption of grapes. Under the pure food 
law this sale of fraudulent “wine” will he stopped, and 
in place of currant juice and dregs the makers must use 
grapes or sell their stuff for what it is. In fact, these 
makers have already begun to buy grapes in large quan¬ 
tities. r \ here is every reason to expect an increase in the 
demand for grapes, and hence a better and steadier price 
for the surplus. We see nothing in this situation 
which should induce a fruit grower to rush heavily into 
grape growing. It shows, however, what we have 
claimed—that a pure food law properly enforced, so 
that it compels the use of pure articles in the place of 
adulterations, will always help the farmer. 
* 
The executive committee of the A. T. C. C. evidently 
thought their famous “resolution” would act like a cake 
of ice to cool off the discussion. Tt doesn’t affect us 
that way! We hope to warm it up until it becomes 
useful for heating purposes. There is just one issue at 
stake. Will the club protect the interests of Jersey 
cattle breeders?. Will it permit any taint of suspicion 
to rest upon cattle pedigrees, or upon its records'* 
Will it refuse to give justice to the weak in an argu¬ 
ment with the strong? These are public matters which 
cannot be answered by cold storage resolutions. Is not 
the inference from the reported facts in this case that 
the executive committee showed favoritism and took 
advantage of ?. beginner and man without influence? It 
is also charged and corroborated that the breeder said 
he would know beforehand who would “investigate” 
him! The executive committee seem incanable of rea¬ 
lizing what such a statement means to Jersey breeders. 
What would an honest judge do in the face of such a 
charge? If favoritism and political wire-nulling con¬ 
stitute a part of that “constant policy,” it is high time 
that policy was changed! 
* 
At the last meeting of the Iowa State Board of Agri¬ 
culture over $:u>0 in cash were offered for the best ears 
of corn. There were prizes for single ears and for 
collections, and judges awarded these prizes on a scale 
of points such as would be used in judging live stock. 
Some of the cars which were most favorably considered 
were smaller than the best to be found in an eastern 
cornfield, yet it was easily demonstrated that on the best 
of these ears the corn was so packed that the yield of 
grain was astonishing. A coarse, rawboned beef animal 
would, to the unpracticed eye, make a great showing hv 
the side of a neat, trim, high-grade steer of a beef 
breed. In profitable meat and in the cost of that meat 
the well shaped, though possibly smaller animal would 
be far ahead. So it is with the ears of corn. Constant 
study has shown the experts just what to look for in 
an ear of corn. The excess of cob on the ear is of no 
more use than the excess of bone in a beef steer, and 
the way these men have succeeded in arousing interest 
in “corn breeding” and in improving corn is the wonder 
of a farmer who has given the subject little thought. 
This seems to he one of the most useful things that 
Iowa farmers are doing. The same thing should he 
done in the East. In New England in particular there 
are a number of very valuable flint varieties of corn. 
They make quick growth, and will give a fair yield in 
a short season. If they could he sorted and “bred” as 
the Iowa corn has been handled, great value would he 
added to New England agriculture. 
* 
As is usual at the end of the year, it becomes a 
pleasant duty to talk direct to readers We have come 
to regard you all as personal friends, and we can talk 
as neighbor to neighbor—man to man. With us the 
year has been a busy and a pleasant one. In some lines 
of work each year seems to give added confidence, so 
that a skilled worker may rightly say that his power 
is greater. We can hardly say this of farm journalism. 
Each year brings to us a greater sense of responsibil¬ 
ity, because we realize more and more the power for good 
or evil of the printed word. A word lightly spoken 
or a fact carelessly stated may he just the thing needed 
to start some one astray. We realize, too, more and 
more each year how farmers are thinking out social 
and political problems along with those that have to do 
with the bread and butter side of life. Again, it be¬ 
comes more and more evident that the only power an 
agricultural paper can have comes from the confidence 
which it can inspire among its readers. It would seem 
as if the discussion of scientific agriculture will have 
much to do with the settlement of large public matters. 
Anything that trains a man to think clearly in one direc¬ 
tion will surely help him in another. We believe that 
farmers as a class are preparing to take hold of public 
questions as they have never done before. The next 
year will see more of it than ever, and we are glad to 
help bring it about. It is not for us to say what The 
R. N.-Y has been for 1906. The record is before you. 
It contains the best we had, hut that “best” is capable 
of growth in 1907. Of course, we want you to remain 
in the family. You will want to read the Hope Farm 
man’s comparison between the farms and farmers on 
the Atlantic coast and those in the West. Probably no 
such frank comparison has ever been made before. You 
will want to know how Mapes comes out witli his hen 
barn, and what Cosgrove does from month to month. 
Will John F. Spencer finally answer that leading ques¬ 
tion? Will the farmers of New Jersey rise up and de¬ 
fiant Senator Dryden, and what will the Jersey cattle 
breeders do about that investigation? There will be 
dozens of such things coming up during the year. We 
shall try to meet them fearlessly, and in many of them 
you can help. Then, there is that Brown’s Seedling 
grape, which of course you must have. You will see 
that our interests are identical. We need you, and we 
shall try to make 1 he R. N.-Y. necessary to you. 
I herefore, of course, we shall he together again during 
1907 . 
* 
What is the situation in New Jersey regarding Sena¬ 
tor Dryden? Mixed! The surest thing about it is 
that Mr. Dryden voted against the Grout hill, and has 
thus antagonized the interests of dairymen and farmers. 
The Republican politicians find themselves in a hard 
position. I hey know that the true sentiment of New 
Jersey is overwhelmingly against Dryden. They have 
been told, so that they know it, that thousands of farm¬ 
ers will refuse to stand for people who elect an oleo 
Senator. On the other hand, they fear that if they aban¬ 
don Mr. Dryden they will lose his money and his 
political influence. They are, therefore, weighing the 
man against the dollar, to try to see which is the 
stronger. Money always talks, while men are sometimes 
silent when they ought to be heard. The farmers of 
New Jersey have it in their hands to prevent the elec¬ 
tion of Mr. Dryden, and by doing so to regain their 
power in the State. All we can do is to point this out 
so that they cannot fail to understand it. They are at 
work in the Granges, boards of agriculture and as indi¬ 
viduals, and we know that they are making their influ¬ 
ence felt. The following note is from one of the most 
prominent members of the Legislature: 
I believe your paper is doing good work, inasmuch as I 
bear from members of the Legislature representing rural 
counties that the farmers are out against Mr. Dryden. If 
the farmers can only be roused up to a sufficient pitch to 
write a letter to their representative in the Legislature it 
would go a great way toward electing some one else in 
Mr. Dryden’s place. 
No one would admit as much as that a month ago. 
It just shows what the farmers are doing. They have 
got to the point where the politicians notice them. 
Keep at it. Get two cents worth of glory! 
BREVITIES. 
Stay by the local market. 
The sheep or the dog—that's the question in New England 
—and elsewheie. 
No—the “hair snake” does not develop from hairs after 
they are swallowed. 
What have you done to educate your customers up to 
better goods and prices? They will not educate themselves. 
This from an eastern man out in Kansas for his health: 
“Say, I have had a Ben Davis apple; It tasted like a 
Northern Spy with the Inside all taken out and filled with 
sawdust.” 
A POSTMASTER just appointed on the Island of Maul, 
Hawaii, rejoices in the name of David Kapohakimohewa. 
Considered as a man of letters, lie is certainly entitled to 
tlie office. 
A misanthropic city consumer describes an orange as an 
alleged fruit concealed within a skin that won’t come off. 
Those hidebound oranges inflicted on us by some shippers 
may he very helpful to the trade in good apples. 
The New York State League for the Protection of Fish 
and Game recommend a law making it illegal to kill frogs 
between December 1 and May 31. Is this a result of Secre¬ 
tary Shaw’s famous ruling that frogs' legs are dressed 
poultry ? 
Miss Mary Stup,bs has just been appointed chief of the 
Indiana State Bureau of Statistics, succeeding her father,, 
who died recently. This will lie a shock to the old-fashioned 
man who still believes that all women add up their accounts 
on their fingers. 
According to a witness before the National Tore F«od 
Commission, large quantities of alleged “whisky” consist of 
neutral spirits which have been stored in a charred barrel 
for 10 days or two weeks before selling. This fluid is sold 
in 'off dives for five cents a glass, and it may lie appropri¬ 
ately described as liquid sin. 
Prop. Card's reference to sanitary mangers, on page 971, 
emphasizes tlie fact that it is the man behind tlie manger, 
after all, who is responsible for tlie prevention or spread of 
tuberculosis. Mother Naturp may do more for the cattle 
housed in an airy old-fashioned barn than Step-mother 
Science without the fullest supervision of all conditions.. 
Better watch out for the unexpected. 
The edible bird’s nest of China is thus described by Dr;. 
H. A. Surface, of Pennsylvania: “Its nest is shaped like- 
that of the swift or chimney swallow, hut it is made en¬ 
tirely of a kind of glue or saliva which comes from the bird’s 
mouth. It Is not found in this country, although the Chinese 
import it here to some of their settlements or colonies and 
have it for sale. It is very much like Iceland or Irish 
moss, which Is one of the articles of food in stores. 
