3o 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 12, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THIS BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Entered at New York a* Second Class Matter. 
Hkkbekt W. Coli.inowood, Kdltor. 
Ok. Walter Van Fleet, ( Associates 
M UK. K. T. KOVLE, ( Associates. 
Joun J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal Postal Union, 92.04, 
equal to 8s. tid., or 8Mi marks, or 10*4 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 ns within one 
month of the time of the transaction, and you must have 
mentioned Tub Rural New-Youkkh 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, JANUARY 12, 1907. 
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. 
♦ 
Good morning! Have you eaten your baked apple? 
* 
The New Jersey Legislature meets on January 8. 
This, then, is the last call in the battle against Senator 
Dryden. YVe have done our part in pointing out the 
duly and opportunity which lie before Jersey farmers. 
It is now up to them to make one last appeal to their 
representatives. 
* 
In last year’s horticultural number we printed an arti¬ 
cle showing how two men—each with but one leg— 
might, by using the proper machinery, raise a large 
crop of potatoes. It was regarded by some as a fancy 
sketch, but it attracted the attention of a one-legged 
farmer on Long Island, who has succeeded in doing the 
work, lie will tell us all about it soon, lie goes so 
far as to say that the loss of his leg was a help in one 
way, since it forced him to work his brain harder than 
ever! 
* 
John M. Jamison, of Ohio, writes this aliout Alfalfa, 
Mr. Jamison grows the crop and knows what it will do: 
Ohio will run a corn and Alfalfa train across the State 
on a two or three days’ trip, under the auspices of (lie 
State Hoard of Agriculture and the Grain Dealers’ Associa¬ 
tion, I believe. So you see Alfalfa is bound to be boomed. 
January 4 1 attend a two days Independent farmers’ 
institute. They have Alfalfa on the programme three times. 
They ought to take a ton of wheat bran along in the 
car, so that people might understand just what Alfalfa 
will do for them. By all means stick to Alfalfa and 
master it. This Alfalfa train will start many a train 
of thought headed for success. 
* 
At the recent meeting of the Connecticut State Board 
of Agriculture one entire day was given to the chicken 
men. That meant a thorough discussion of poultry, and 
some fear was expressed that there would be a lack of 
interest. The result showed that poultry keeping is one 
of the most popular things connected with Connecticut 
agriculture. There was a large attendance, and much 
enthusiasm for the hen. This is right, for our good 
friend the hen is doing great things for New England. 
But for her many a hillside farm would be abandoned, 
and many a man denied the chance to make a living on 
a piece of land. 
On a farm in central New York is a barn. In this 
barn is a Jersey cow. She has been identified and 
marked with a certain number. On the books of the 
A. J. C. C. this number stands for an animal which 
should be now not quite 3 l A years old. The buyer be¬ 
lieves that this cow is between seven and eight years 
old, and is supported in this opinion by two veter¬ 
inarians ?nd nearly a dozen cattle men and farmers. 
This cow was purchased from a member of the Ameri¬ 
can Jersey Cattle Club, who is also a prominent official 
of the State Department of Agriculture! Now, how 
would it injure the honest breeders of purebred live 
stock to have a committee of impartial, disinter¬ 
ested and experienced breeders determine the exact age 
of that cow? We can understand that deep probing of 
this case may ruffle the dignity of the A. J. C. C—but how 
can it hurt the business of any honest breeder? This 
question is respectfully addressed to the executive com¬ 
mittee of the A. J. C. C., to the employees of the State 
Department of Agriculture who arc connected with the 
Breeders’ Association, and last, but by no means least, 
to our highly respected contemporary, The Country 
Gentleman! In the words of a celebrated American :— 
“We pause for a reply!" 
* 
Prof. Wilder, of Cornell, is quoted as saying at the 
meeting of the American Association for the Advance¬ 
ment of Science: “I look forward to the time when no 
one will be esteemed a liberally educated man until he 
has dissected with a jackknife the brain oi a dogfish. 
By this means he will have laid the foundation of an 
understanding of the brain of man.” We do not wish 
to cast any reflections upon the dogfish’s brain as a 
source of inspiration, but even this form of culture 
might prove inadequate if the professor were confronted 
with the problem of. inducing an uncultivated calf to 
drink from a pail. 
* 
Wf. are informed that the buyer in the recent cattle 
case which has brought on a controversy with the A. J. 
C. C. is proceeding in various ways against the breeder. 
Among other things we are told that charges will be 
made at the coming meeting of the State Grange. We 
desire to state emphatically that The R. N.-Y. will have 
nothing to do with such work. We shall be at the 
State Grange to oppose any such action, because nothing 
has been proven in the case thus far. All that we seek 
to do is to have this unfortunate matter settled by 
competent breeders, as it involves questions of great 
public interest. We shall continue to insist that the 
case be settled properly, but we repudiate any effort to 
discredit any man without fair trial and full proof. 
* 
A farmer who signs himself “one who knows” sends 
this comment regarding a picture: 
Tell Mother, on page 867, Fig. 373, that she Is sitting 
too close up to that washing machine with her nice dress 
and white apron on; those boys will surely slop suds all 
over her. Men and hoys are awkward at such work ; wife 
would never venture within a rod of me when doing one 
of her washings. Again, tell her boys to take off everyllilng 
they have on except those smiles, and just slip on a pair 
of overalls, roll up shirt sleeves, and they will do the 
washing easier, and will not spoil their good clothes. If 
they can always keep on those smiles while doing Mother’s, 
or, later on, wife’s washing, they can beat me all hollow. 
As for Mother—as long as that machine moves with the 
present power attached her smile will not vanish. 
Advice from an experienced hand is most valuable, 
and here we seen* to get it. The smile that washes off 
is not of much account—that’s sure. 
* 
On page 858 we printed an extract from the old 
Moore’s Rural New-Yorker of January 9, 1869, on 
the “coming farmer.” A reader in Pennsylvania, who 
says he was born on the day that the first transcon¬ 
tinental railroad was completed, writes: 
I value all the things mentioned in said article more than I 
do money, but really need some of said commodity. I added 
to my library until I had to add to the house to have a 
room in which to keep my books. I have a large number 
of books on agricultural topics. I cannot get down to 
systematic moderate labor and make money enough to buy 
books, papers and magazines, and boots, shoes, clothes, to 
say nothing about eating and a mortgage. It takes hard 
work to-day, the same as 37 years ago. 
And we trust that it always will. A world without 
labor would be to most of us a realization of future 
punishment. To work within the limit of one’s powers, 
and to love labor, is a privilege—not a curse. The 
wrong comes when for one reason or another a man 
is worked beyond his strength, or is denied the God- 
given right to work and enjoy the proceeds of his toil. 
* 
He started out with $11,000 worth of property, sub¬ 
ject to a mortgage of $2,500. His health was not very 
good, and the doctor told him to get on to a farm. 
He read the advertisements of “farms for sale” in the 
columns of the Sunday papers, and fell into the hands 
of a real estate shark who took him in tow as soon as 
he struck town, told him stories by the yard, which he 
swallowed without any trouble apparently. lie got a 
run-down side-bill farm covered with rocks. When he 
visited the farm these were covered with snow, and 
upon inquiry was told they were piles of manure. The 
farm was plastered with first, second, third and fourth 
mortgages, and was not worth a cent over $3,000, but 
mortgaged for about $5,000. He came on to the place 
and got his eyes opened, and another shark has resold 
the farm, and he has left the neighborhood with $2,000 
and more wisdom. The point to all this is: Don’t be 
in too much of a hurry when you buy a farm. If you 
live in the city don’t think country land worth dollars 
per square foot because city land may be. Don’t allow 
any real estate agent to monopolize you as soon as you 
strike town, and don’t swallow all be says. He may be 
honest, and we are glad to say we personally know 
some agents who are, but we also know some first- 
class real estate sharks and they skin their man every 
time. Before buying a farm, stay in the neighborhood 
'long enough to get a fair idea of farm values in that 
section. Go to a reliable lawyer and pay him for advice. 
Get acquainted with several reliable prominent people 
in the vicinity, and ask them honest questions as to 
conditions and the character of the men with whom you 
are to do business. Don’t spend all your time with the 
agent, and best of all, don’t buy a farm not at all 
suited to the purpose. That is, for the kind of farm¬ 
ing you expect to practice. It is a very poor farm that 
could have nothing good said of it. 
* 
We have before now referred to the Massachusetts 
Asparagus Growers’ Association. This reason for its 
existence is printed on the letter heads: 
The object, of this Association is the restoration of 
asparagus to its Immunity from rust, or the discovery of a 
species that shall be rust resistant, and the dissemination 
of information in relation to its growing and marketing. 
That is business in more ways than one. At present 
there is no vegetable offering better returns in the 
market than good asparagus. At the same time none 
is so endangered by disease. The rust lias wiped out 
the crop in some sections. Relief will come through 
the discovery of new varieties or special plants of old 
varieties that are able to resist the disease, or through 
new methods of treatment. In any event it will be 
necessary to conduct long and varied experiments over 
a wide territory in order to learn what to do. This 
relief is beyond the reach of any single grower, or the 
growers of any single community. By combining these 
growers give increased power to every part of the in¬ 
vestigation. It is the way to do business. 
*■ 
One of the most frequent complaints from people 
with smajl dairies is about “ropy milk.” A short time 
after being put into pans or cans the milk turns thick 
with a cheesy or stringy mass all through it. As a 
rule people think the cow is at fault, but this is seldom 
the case. The trouble is usually a germ which is kept 
alive because the utensils are not properly scalded and 
sunned. In a recent case we advised boiling the pans 
and everything else which was used for carrying the 
milk. The following letter gives the result: 
On receipt of your letter, I caused the utensils to he 
thoroughly cleansed. This had already been done regularly, 
but in addition we fixed a shelf on the sunny side of the 
house, and put the pans and pail in the sun, and since 
then we have had no trouble with the milk. It Is possible 
that frozen grass may hnve caused the cow some disorder, 
and may have been the root of the trouble, as we had been 
a little careless in letting her feed. 
The feed of the cow sometimes affects milk somewhat 
in this way-*-especially if she is not in good condition. 
She should not be permitted to eat too much frozen 
fodder, and should not become constipated. A pound 
of oil meal per day is excellent for a family cow—for 
that animal is likely to be pampered. The trouble of 
ropy milk is usually not to be fed out of the cow, 
but boiled out of the pans and pails—a germ! 
* 
As our readers know, we have had much to say about 
the Seedless apple and the methods used in introducing 
it. We became satisfied that the apple has no commer¬ 
cial value except that it probably is a long keeper. The 
attempt to introduce it as a high-priced novelty with 
wonderful qualities was an injury to the legitimate nurs¬ 
ery trade, and a confusion to buyers. Here is an in¬ 
stance of the way such things work out. We received 
a letter from a reader who has acted as agent for a 
well-known nursery firm. This man received a circu¬ 
lar from the nursery picturing and describing the Seed¬ 
less apple—praising it as a novelty of high merit. Nat¬ 
urally, after what has been said, without denial, this 
man was suspicious of these circulars. He had always 
considered the nursery fully reliable, but when they be¬ 
gan offering this Seedless apple he suspected something 
at once. He wrote us about it, and the matter 
was explained to the nursery firm, with the result that 
they dropped the circulars at once. They could not af¬ 
ford to tie up to anything that had been discredited by 
the Department of Agriculture and other fruit authori¬ 
ties. This incident shows what we have always claimed 
—that the better class of farmers are well informed, 
know what they want and are capable of making their 
wants known. They are picking out the black sheep 
and know that an honest man may get his hands stained 
by handling them !_ 
BREVITIES L 
Stick to your job and finish it. 
Who ever had any respect for a quitter? 
Is there really any danger from the San .Tost* scale on 
market fruit? The Oregon law compels its destruction. 
Manitoba has voted in favor of government ownership 
of long distance telephones and municipal ownership of local 
exchanges. 
A reader in Michigan wants us to advocate laws for pun¬ 
ishing sneak thieves who get his fruit. In the same mail an 
Illinois man says his law is No. 7 shot, with a reputation 
for taking good aim. 
A recent cable despatch announces that a petition has 
been presented to the Belgian Parliment asking that every 
motor vehicle in the country tie burned in one great bonfire 
before 1908, the resultant scrap metal to be sold for the 
tH'uelit of those who have been maimed by the accursed 
automobiles. Probably the petitioner lias grown tired of the 
exercise involved in dodging the machines every time he 
goes to town. 
