January 19, 
5o THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TUE 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. 
I)R. WALTER VAN FLEET, I Assoclateg 
Mrs. K. T. HOYLE, f Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAS. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, #2.04, 
equal to 8s. 6d., or 8*4 marks, or lO^i francs. 
“A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is 
backed by a responsible person. But to make doubly sure 
v/e 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. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 1907. 
TEN WEEKS FOR 10 CENTS. 
In order to introduce The R. N.-Y. t'o 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. 
* 
Which will you do—work or go without food? 
When the theory of the latter part of this proposition 
is put up to them, some men will refuse to work. When 
the actual tug at the stomach comes, however, labor will 
gain new recruits. 
* 
President Hadley of Yale told the Connecticut 
farmers that a good farm is a school. Thus he sa;d 
he was talking as one educator to another. He was 
right, for a well-conducted farm gives chance for the 
exercise and development of mental powers as few other 
things can. That is one reason why the greatest and 
strongest men of a nation usually trace back to a farm. 
* 
We have many pleasant letters about the Brown's 
Seedling grape. One reader writes as follows: 
I am especially pleased to have this grapevine at this 
time, as I expect to move on to a new farm next Spring, 
and it shall mark our coming to our new home. 
We hope this vine will live and thrive. If it does it 
will be a constant reminder of friendship. We hope our 
friend will plant with this vine the roots of a long and 
prosperous life on this new farm. 
* 
On page 38 Mr. Trinkle outlines a plan for extension 
of the weather service, which he has senf to Washing¬ 
ton. As now conducted farmers derive little benefit 
from this service. The plan suggested is simple. Only 
two flags will be needed, for farmers will not as a 
rule care for the different shades of temperature, wind 
or cloud. To attempt too much would only confuse 
t’lie system. The plan will not cost much—probably 
not over $1 for each carrier to start with. Think of 
the value such an accurate service would be to a fruit 
grower in spraying tiipe alone. If the service is worth 
anything at all here is a chance to extend the benefit 
at a very small cosf of money and labor. Try it! 
♦ 
Every day brings comments from readers regarding 
that cow with seven years recorded on her horns and 
three years on her registry papers. Here is one from 
Wisconsin: 
Your investigations in regard to tlie -A. .T. C. C. have 
been read with interest, and hope that IJie results will be 
as satisfactory as those of The R. N.-Y. vs. Congressman 
Wadsworth. If stick-to-itiveness has any value, The R. N.-Y. 
is a gold mine. J. a. 
Wiscotnsin. 
We hear much about “the big stick.” With The R. 
N.-Y. this does not mean a great club with which to 
knock people down, but rather the power to hang on 
and stick to a just cause until it is set’tled. For many 
years this sort of a “big stick” represented our entire 
capital, and it is a useful quality still. 
* 
Now we can state definitely that the amendment to 
the Minnesota State constitution was carried. Out of 
284,366 votes cast the amendment received 190,897— 
every county in the State voting in favor. This amend¬ 
ment gave farmers and gardeners the right to sell the 
products of their own soil at retail from the wagon 
without paying any license. It was necessary in Minne¬ 
sota, because an old law prohibited “class privileges,” 
and the lawyers said this shut out farmers. The farmers 
and gardeners did the right thing. They did not sit 
down and growl, but they forced the Legislature t’o sub¬ 
mit this amendment to the people; then they got out 
their vote and won. “We think we did very well for 
beginners,” says N. H. Reeves, secretary of the Gar¬ 
deners’ Association. That’s right, you did, and not oniy 
that, you have set an example for farmers in other 
States that cannot be measured in money value! 
* 
The New Jersey Legislature will delay a few weeks 
before electing a Senator. That gives us a chance to 
say a few words more about Mr. Dryden. Gov. Stokes 
in his annual message comes out squarely for the se¬ 
lection of Senatorial candidates by popular vote. He 
knows, and so do 75 per cent of the people of New 
Jersey, that if Mr. Dryden had run as a popular can¬ 
didate, he would have been buried under a mountain 
of votes. Nothing could reveal the weakness of New 
Jersey’s political system so clearly as the spectacle of 
this discredited man trying to lead the Legislature by 
pledges while those who elected the Legislature are 
hammering its members t’o break the halter. The sit¬ 
uation is hopeful. Seven members are publicly re¬ 
ported as opposed to Dryden. Others only seek a 
good excuse for leaving him. The best excuse they 
can have is that farmers will plow them under if they 
vote for the oleo man. So keep right at them cheer¬ 
fully and without fear! 
* 
The R. N.-Y. will not be unjust to anyone. In the 
discussion of that Jersey cow question we wish to give 
all parties a chance to be heard. The breeder now pre¬ 
sent's several new statements. He says that all he gave 
the A. J. C. C. as his side was a sworn statement from 
himself and a letter from the veterinarian who examined 
the cows. 1 his is what the secretary of the A. J. C. C. 
calls “a strong statement.” The breeder says lie did 
not use his power in any way to influence flic decision, 
but that he demanded an investigation. If this is so the 
action of that executive committee in refusing to inves¬ 
tigate after t’hey promised to do so is harder than ever 
to understand. The breeder also sends a sworn state¬ 
ment that he never said he would dictate the make¬ 
up of a committee sent to investigate him. Who has 
ever claimed t'hat he did say just that? That would be 
only an inference from what it is alleged he did say. 
The charge is that he said he feared no investigation, 
as he knew who would be on the committee. This is 
verified by affidavit! 
This breeder also says that a well-known judge sfates 
that if the A. J. C. C. committee had decided in any 
ot’her way they “would have been amenable to the law!” 
This committee promised to conduct “a thorough and 
impartial investigation.” In order to do this they would 
have found it necessary to appoint competent men to 
look at the cows and examine testimony. They surely 
could not do this by comparing a simple affidavit with 
“a strung statement!” Suppose they had done this nat¬ 
ural and common-sense thing—which the breeder says 
he demanded! We would like to ask this judge under 
what law he could punish the A. J. C. C. for investi¬ 
gating! 
The breeder has not yet got down to the real point 
at issue. Is that cow seven years old or more? Does 
the number which she carries call for a cow three years 
old? If so, has the number or the cow been changed, 
and who did the changing? That is the filing we have 
started out to learn, and we expect to keep at it till we 
know. Let it be understood once for all that we are 
not seeking to blacken any man’s characfer, or acting 
in the interests of any other man. An attempt to fit a 
three-year pedigree to a seven-year cow is a dangerous 
blow at honest stock breeding. Who delivered the blow? 
* 
The New York State Fruit Growers held a large and 
lively meeting at Penn Yan. This society has become 
one of the largest and most powerful organizations of 
its class in the country. - It is a business organization, 
■v 
and does things (and ought to do more of them) which 
some other societies do not attempt. There was one 
person at Penn Yan who richly deserved honorary mem¬ 
bership in t’lie society. That was the cook at the head¬ 
quarters hotel. She made the finest apple pie that we 
have tasted in 25 years. It v*as “like mother used to 
make” brought up to date. That woman would make 
a^Iream in pastry out of the '.Ben Davis apple! If we 
knew of any higher compliment t’o throw at her skill 
we would throw it! We have eaten pies in 25 different 
States—from the dried apple horror of the western 
deser' fo a genuine" pan-dowdy in Massachusetts. 
Women who can do such wonders with an apple are the 
most useful missionaries for the Apple Consumers’ 
League. It is all well enough for our scientific gentle¬ 
men to pick an apple pie apart and give us the analysis 
(they wouldn’t stop to analyze one of these pies; they 
would eat it), but the cook who puts the pie together 
is the more practical member of society! The pro¬ 
prietor of that hotel ought to realize that a master hand 
is presiding at his stove! 
Prof. Sanborn advocates the use of “floats” or raw 
phosphates in New England. These “floats” are the 
phosphate rock, as it is dug out of the ground, simply 
ground to a fine powder. The entire agriculture of the 
old country was changed by Liebig’s discovery that 
t’hose “floats,” dissolved by sulphuric acid, provided a 
cheap source of soluble phosphoric acid. Modern chem¬ 
ical farming was based on the theory that those phos¬ 
phates must be soluble when applied. Now if the plain 
or undissolved phosphates will answer anyone can see 
what an immense saving will result. Prof. Sanborn is 
one of the best practical authorities in the country. We 
advise our readers to follow his example and exper¬ 
iment’ with those phosphates before depending on them 
to any large extent. Prof. Wheeler of Rhode Island 
has found that the “floats” do better when lime is used. 
He concludes that while they may have some value 
in a rotation including corn, grass and fodder crops, 
they would not be satisfactory for potat’oes or vegetables. 
* 
We felt at’ the time the so-called “free alcohol” bill 
passed Congress that many farmers would be dis¬ 
appointed with it. This bill removed the internal 
revenue tax on alcohol for use in the arts or for heat¬ 
ing and lighting when “denatured” or mixed so that 
it could not be consumed. Some farmers seemed to 
expect an immediat’e fall in the price of oil and an 
increase in potatoes or other crops from which alcohol 
is made. Special engines, stoves and lamps must be 
made before alcohol will be largely used for light and 
power, and there must be a demand for alcohol before 
there is a new demand for crops. After the bill was 
passed it was found that alcohol could only be distilled 
on a large scale—somewhat after the manner of making 
beef sugar. There was no profit in small operations, 
but only at some large central place. Now an amend¬ 
ment is offered to remedy this. The plan is to enable 
farmers to distill small quantities of alcohol if they 
wish to. The great trouble is to obtain Government 
oversight of t’hese small lots. In Germany a “container” 
or tank is attached to the still so that as the alcohol 
is made it collects in this tank, which cannot be opened 
except by the inspector. A farmer may distill as he 
pleases, and when t’he tank is filled he notifies the in¬ 
spector, who comes and tests the alcohol and sees that 
it is “denatured.” This would enable a farmer to pre¬ 
pare his home supply for fuel, light and power if he 
chose to do so. We have seen an alcohol engine at 
work which did well. We are told that stoves and 
lamps will soon be on the market. Naturally t’he great 
demand for this amendment comes from the Far West, 
where fuel and oil are high and scarce. The larger 
alcohol interests will probably fight this amendment, 
but they will be made to remember that the farmers 
secured “free alcohol” for the manufacturers. It would 
be a strange thing if now farmers are not to receive 
their benefit. _ 
BREVITIES. 
Successful practice seems to be handmade science. 
The farm labor question was big enough to get into 
Governor Hughes’ message. 
What has become of the Belgian hare? Has it met with 
the same market reception as goat mutton? 
A reader in New Jersey asks if we can’t hit Senator 
Dryden harder, while a paper in Jersey thinks we have hit 
him too hard ! There you are ! 
If you think of building a new farmhouse, or remodeling 
an old one, se.nd to Washington for Farmers’ Bulletin No. 
270, “Modern Conveniences for the Farm Home,” issued 
by the XL S. Department of Agriculture. The suggestions 
regarding the disposal of sewage are especially helpful. 
One of the recent bulletins Issued by the Pennsylvania 
State Department of Agriculture, Division of Zoology, is “The 
Serpents of Pennsylvania,” by Prof. II. A. Surface. It Is very 
interesting, and will dispel many incorrect ideas regarding 
familiar reptiles, which are in the main real friends to the 
farmer and gardener. Still, few of us will feel like ad¬ 
mitting these creatures to close intimacy. 
The following provision in the Pure Food law is making 
butter dealers think: “(a) No dealer in food or drug 
products will be liable to prosecution if he can establish 
that the goods were sold under a guaranty by the whole¬ 
saler, manufacturer, jobber, dealer, or other party residing 
in the United States from whom purchased.” Dealers are 
demanding such guaranty of butter merchants, who are in¬ 
clined to pass it on to the creameries. 
In some parts of England “cow clubs” are helping solve 
the problem of live stock insurance. Cow owners unite 
and form a co-operative club, paying a -certain yearly price 
for each cow they ow!n. This makes a fund which, care¬ 
fully handled, will pay a veterinarian to look after the 
cattle or pay a fair price in case of the death of a cow. 
These clubs succeed best when the number of members is 
limited, so that all members are reasonably well known. 
That largely prevents the element of fraud which has done so 
much to ruin large companies for insuring live stock. 
The papers report a case where an Englishman went to 
a fruit store and wanted to rent half a dozen pineapples 
for one night. He explained that he wanted to use the 
fruit to decorate a dinner table, and that the custom of 
renting fruit for this purpose was quite common in London. 
He found that he could buy the pineapples here for about 
what it would cost to rent them on the other side. It will 
be new to many readers to learn that high-colored fruit is 
in good demand for such decorations. We have seen tables 
on which polished Gano, Pippin and Ben Davis apples made 
a brilliant showing. 
