624 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 17 
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. Coi-linqwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter van Fleet, | . 
Mrs. 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. Gd., or 8 l / 2 marks, or 10 y 2 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 bv 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 Tiie 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 Y’ork. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 1907. 
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 Hope Farm man now seems to have stirred up 
the life insurance people. We are receiving various 
comments about life insurance policies. That’s right— 
we want the facts and the truth plainly stated. There 
are doubtless times when gloves should be worn, but you 
would better take them off when the essential things of 
life are to be Worked out and settled. Better go at 
them as the women folks knead bread. , 
* 
This is about the last call for seeding Alfalfa in this 
latitude. Give it a fair chance. We are plowing up the 
chicken yards and scattering the surface soil over the 
Alfalfa field before seeding. Every other crop we have 
tried makes a great success in following the hen. Too 
much work to fit ground for Alfalfa? Wouldn’t you 
work to fit up a spout if some one agreed to pour five 
tons of wheat bran through it—as a gift? That’s about 
what two acres of Alfalfa will mean! 
* 
On the next page is a suggestion regarding an asso¬ 
ciation among the farmers of the Champlain Valley. 
The R. N.-Y. has many readers in that section, and we 
advise them to correspond with Mr. Gordon. By getting 
together in a strong association those farmers can help 
themselves in disposing of the products which are pe¬ 
culiar to that section. For example, a very superior 
quality of Baldwin apple is grown in those northern 
parts, and pure maple sugar is a specialty. By adopting 
a trade mark name for such products and selling in large 
quantities under a guarantee, farmers could have a 
great advantage in the market. This is only one way 
in which such an association would pay. There are 
many others. By all means get together. 
* 
Suppose there are 150 farmers in your section, who 
hire all told 200 hired men. Those farmers agree that 
certain things must be done in a certain way on the 
farm. They tell these hired men so, but the hired men 
ignore them, do as they please and give the farmers to 
understand that all they are expected to do is to keep 
at work and come up with the price. When the year is 
up these hired men come around and say: “Here, we 
want the same job on the same terms another year!” 
What would people think of those farmers if they 
knuckled down and did just what the hired men told 
them to? A stranger would have a right to say that 
such farmers had no business to complain at ill-treat¬ 
ment when they made such doormats of themselves. 
Now these same farmers and many more like them elect 
a man to the State Senate. He is their public hired 
man. Governor Hughes wants a new Superintendent 
of Insurance, and the farmers agree with him. Their 
public hired man. disregards their wishes and prevents 
the Governor from carrying out his plan. Then the 
hired man comes back and asks to be put at work 
again. Now what will outsiders think of those farmers 
if they knuckle down and let him have his own way? 
To do that with the farm hired man means failure, 
mortgage and loss of self respect! To do the same 
thing with the public hired man means a mortgage on 
manhood and a failure of character. Perhaps you think 
the farmers of New York State do not see this point. 
Get over the idea at once. Here is a sample note from 
Columbia County, N. Y.: 
I could not get along without The R. N.-Y. at double 
the subscription price. Keep after the Senators who op¬ 
posed Gov. Hughes, and Sanford Smith especially. I helped 
elect him but— 
There is a sinner come to repentance, and there are 
thousands like him. T hese “huts” mean whole volumes 
of words. Keep right at them without anger or personal 
abuse, but right on this one line of principle. 
* 
Money talks! It has been speaking ever since the 
first coin was put into circulation. When a man gives 
it up voluntarily, as an expression of appreciation, we 
all know what it means. That is why we appreciate 
such notes as this one; 
My letter enclosing cash was lost in the mails, and you 
kindly offered to make the subscription good. You are 
doing such good work in that A. J. C. C. matter as well as 
in other matters (Wadsworth, etc.), that I feel that I must 
show my appreciation by sending another dollar in place of 
the one lost. s. j. g. 
When this man sends a dollar which he does not 
need to send we understand how he feels over this 
cattle case. Offers have been made to raise a fund by 
popular subscription to carry this case through to the 
end. We have no doubt such a fund could be raised. 
How it would shame the rich and powerful A. J. C C. 
to have a body of plain farmers take this case out of 
their hands and settle it. How the fair-minded mem¬ 
bers of the A. J. C. C. must enjoy standing up to take 
such letters as this one from Vermont: 
Why do not the honest members of the A. J. C. C. (and 
they must be In the majority), get together and “turn the 
rascals out,” and reorganize the society on an honest busi¬ 
ness basis, making it impossible for anyone to repeat the 
Rogers incident? Surely the honest business members of 
this society must realize that prompt and energetic meas¬ 
ures must be adopted at once if the society is to retain any 
vestige of usefulness. It is already costing them .good 
money every, month in loss of business, and will continue 
so to do until a thorough housecleaning is had, and even so 
it will take years to entirely overcome the harm already 
done. I admire the stand The R. N.-Y. has taken in the 
matter, though this particular instance is only in line with 
the paper’s policy to do things. Just what pleases the 
wideawake farmers of to-day. 
Of course, the honest members are in a majority. 
Most of them fully realize the unfortunate situation in 
which the lawyers on their various committees have 
placed them. It was an awful blunder when, after 
months of waiting, the executive committee refused to 
investigate. We consider ourselves justified in saying 
that no other cattle association in the country would 
have turned down this case. Then, after being prodded 
as with a red-hot iron, they had a one-sided investiga¬ 
tion, which mixed things up worse than ever. They 
remind us of Deacon Reed’s horse, which we knew as 
a boy. This was an old army horse that would balk 
when you most wanted him to go. One day he hauled 
a load of hay up to the gate and then balked. Deacon 
Reed was a great student of the agricultural papers, and 
had a list of “remedies” pasted in a scrap book. The 
most promising “cure” he found was the advice to build 
a fire under the old horse. He did so. The old horse 
stood it until the hair was all singed, and then lie trav¬ 
eled just ten feet. That brought the fire right under 
the wagon, the hay was burned and the house nearly 
destroyed. The A. J. C. C. balked at an investigation, 
a fire was built under them, and they went just far 
enough to show that they lack either the power or the 
courage to settle the principle which lies at the bottom 
of purebred cattle breeding. Now, if they do not 
move the whole premises will take fire. The value of 
Mr. Rogers’s herd for breeding purpose has been prac¬ 
tically destroyed, and yet no definite principle has been 
settled. It will not do for the A. J. C C. to say it 
will wait for the courts to settle the case. 
Suppose it were fought out in this way and the legal 
aspects of it settled, what position would the A. J. C. C. 
then occupy? It would be obliged to confess its im¬ 
potence or inability to do its plain duty. Such a con¬ 
fession of a lack of moral power would indeed be sui¬ 
cide. We would like to be able to say that the A. J. 
C. C. will rise at last to the occasion, re-open the case 
and absolutely settle it, and, if need be, buy up the 
suspicious herd and wipe it out! 
* 
The Standard Oil Company has been fined $29,000,000 
for rebating. There is no question about the fact that 
this great company had its oil transported for 6 1-4 cents 
per hundred pounds, while the regular rates to others 
were at least 18 cents for similar service. Anyone can 
see how such an advantage would enable the Standard 
to crush out competition and secure a monopoly—not by 
superior skill, brains or natural advantage, but by 
criminal means. This vast sum, greater than a king's 
ransom, is but a small part of the plunder which has 
been taken from the people. Will the fine ever be paid? 
That is what people will wait to find out before they 
believe that any serious check has been put upon this 
monopoly. There are so many ways in which the rich 
can evade payment! We see evidence of this again 
and again, so that there is a general fear that the rich 
have an advantage before our courts. Levying this 
great fine is not the great test of justice in this Repub¬ 
lic, for that is no actual punishment. The true test is 
the power and courage required to collect the money, 
or if that is no punishment, to send the offenders to jail 
like common criminals. 
* 
Last week a man was discharged from the New York 
police force for cowardice. A murderer had killed a 
woman and run into a store. This policeman knew he 
was there, yet he was afraid to go in after him, evi¬ 
dently through fear that he, too, might be shot. As a 
result the murderer made his escape and killed another 
victim. The policeman and the soldier go into a dan¬ 
gerous business from choice. There can be no flowery 
paths about such a job—it is one of blood and steel and 
fire. 1 he man who goes into such a business knows 
that the time is liable to come when he must take his 
life in his hands and follow duty hand in hand with 
death. The man who does not realize this has no right 
to take up such work. Society cannot rest easy if it 
is to be “protected” by cowards. It may seem like a 
hard and stern doctrine, but every man who assumes 
a public position also assumes an obligation. He is 
put where he is to protect society, not simply to live 
upon it, and stand aside when called upon to face dan¬ 
gerous or unpleasant things. This obligation runs all 
through the line from soldier or policeman, through of¬ 
fice holder, scientist to editor. Each has a certain pub¬ 
lic duty to perform, and it is their personal duty to face 
danger when it presents itself. 
He fcareth not the face of man!” Every public char¬ 
acter ought to size up to that description, from the 
policeman with a pistol in his pocket to the writer with 
pen in his hand. We cannot understand why so many 
of our papers, supposed to represent the poor and those 
of the middle class, shrink from the iron of opposition 
until all the danger has been taken out of it. 
* 
An Iowa reader recently asked how rural cemeteries 
may be cleaned and kept in order. As all know, 
some of these “cities of the dead” are in hor¬ 
rible condition. We are receiving a good many 
suggestions. The following comes from central 
New York. We agree with our correspondent that it is 
a public duty to keep in decent order the places where 
the pioneers rest after their years of toil which meant 
so much for their country. 
On page 57G is an article desiring information on how 
to care for and beautify our rural cemeteries. After am 
experience of 30 years or more in trying to keep up our 
cemetery in the country I am farther from a solution of 
that subject than ever. But I will offer a suggestion that 
may help in a way to keep the old grounds from being pas¬ 
tured and plowed sometime in the future. I know of no> 
other way but that the State at no distant day should! 
appropriate money whereby the old cemeteries will be kept 
fenced and free from weeds and underbrush; that is as; ear¬ 
ns I could hope for them to go. It is a public duty Hint 
we all owe to our ancestry, as fully 75 per cent of the- 
pioneers of the country are buried in these old grounds,, 
and it is a shame and disgrace that they should be so- 
neglected. Yet if you will stop to think it is not strange- 
they should be neglected. In my own vicinity all of the- 
genorations preceding myself and those of my age are dead 
and gone. Some left no children, while with those that 
did most of the old homesteads have been sold to divide 
the property and the locality has been newly peopled by 
those who have no interest whatever In our cemetery. 
Nowadays no one is buying lots in these grounds, but all 
are going to the towns where they are incorporated, and 
are always certain to have proper care, and in many cases 
when friends are living and able, the bodies of their 
friends are being removed to the town cemeteries. This may 
not be any comfort to the inquirer, but we must work now 
and hard, before we are no more, to have the State or 
counties care for these sacred places, for in no other way 
can it ever be done. 
BREVITIES. 
The most remarkable Jersey cow 
That now remains alive 
With eight years showing on her horn 
While pedigree says live ! 
Work for the frost is coming. 
A few weeks ago a reader asked how to kill coons. The 
coon killers are coming with experience! 
1 oba< co dust for the Asparagas beetle. We wouldn’t 
mind if all tobacco could be used as insecticide. 
Nature has little use for living things that are not exer¬ 
cised. They pass away. For example, if a man will not 
exercise his brain or his hand—w-hat happens? 
It’s a good plan to clip the lawn frequently and leave the 
clippings on the ground. That’s the ideal mulch culture, 
and you can see how shrubs and trees grow on a good lawn.' 
We are told that in building the great dam which holds 
back the waters of the Nile for irrigation, flocks of sheep 
and goats were driven back and forth to pack down the 
earth. A roller with teeth like a sheep’s hoof has now been 
invented for packing oiled roads. 
The Connecticut Experiment Station states that 5,000 
tons of cotton-seed meal are annually used as fertilizer by 
tobacco growers in that State at a cost of $155,000. In 
1S99 the acreage cost was $22.80 per ton, making nitrogen 
cost 12.9 cents a pound. Last year the price had risen to 
$31 per ton of meal or 19.4 a pound for nitrogen. 
