688 
September 14, 
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. Collinowood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, 
Mrs. e. T. Boyle, 
j Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to 8s. (id., or 8 Vi marks, or 10 Vi francs. 
“ A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is 
backed by a responsible person, lint 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 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. 
TI1E RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 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. 
* 
An argument sometimes used to defend or excuse a 
small sin is that it is “only a drop in the bucket.” We 
know in these days more about bacteria than we once 
did. For instance, if we put a drop of tainted milk in 
a bucket of sweet milk the pure will not overcome the 
impure drop, but the latter will taint the whole, and 
that is just the danger in not scorching out the drop 
of evil! 
* 
Just as we expected, the announcement of those suits 
against The R. N.-Y. brought by Frank E. Dawley 
has called out more letters from our readers. In¬ 
formation of the most important character is being 
volunteered. It seems that before these suits were 
brought people thought with us that nothing except 
Mr. Dawley’s connection with this cattle case could be 
fairly discussed. Now, however, he has touched the 
spring which rolls up the curtain and exposes his 
entire career. We told Mr. Dawley that he was badly 
advised when he refused to investigate and began to 
fight! 
One great value of the Grange is the fact that it 
gives men and women the power of expression. 1 hou- 
sands of hard-working people have been denied the 
form of education which makes it easy to express 
thought. They have done much thinking while at their 
work, for there are many kinds of labor where the 
brain can work over one problem while the hands are 
busy with another. Those men and women have well- 
ripened convictions, hut they lack the power to get up 
and discuss the things they have mastered. 1 hey are 
afraid of ridicule. The Grange gives them a chance, 
for there they feel free to talk, and after awhile they 
gain confidence, and with it comes the power of clear 
expression. The Grange has done more of this excel¬ 
lent work than any other organization in the country, 
and among the class of workers that are in greatest 
need of this practice. 
In our annals of the Seedless Apple Company we 
told how the Michigan branch threatened to sue Prof. 
L. R. Taft of that State for telling the truth about 
the apple. They did not sue, and we never thought 
they would. No sane man would ever come into court 
and explain some of those famous circulars if he could 
help it. There may be few seeds in the apple, but the 
Michigan company seems to be going to seed like a 
raspberry jn a drought. A receiver has been appointed 
on complaint of a stockholder, lhe Toledo Blade 
says: 
According to> the plaintiff, the company has leased six 
and a naif acres of land in Perry township. Wood County, 
and ten and a half acres in Washington township, Lucas 
County, which liave been set out with 350,000 seedlings. 
These, the plaintiff says, would he ready for the market 
in October next, if they were given proper cultivation. He 
alleges, however, the crop has had no care for the last 
six weeks, and the ground has been allowed to grow up 
with weeds, so that the trees will ail be choked out and 
destroyed, unless something is done. As these trees com¬ 
prise the entire assets of the company, the plaintiff says, 
the concern will he ruined and the stock will he worthless 
and there will he nothing for the creditors, who have 
bocome pressing in their demands. The plaintiff also 
alleges that the owners of the land demand their rent and 
that they will bring restitution proceedings unless paid. 
We recently told how 35,000 “Seedless” trees in a 
Missouri nursery were to be almost given away. One 
by one the corners of this slick scheme are tumbling 
down. Scripture gives the house built upon the sands 
as an illustration of an unstable thing, but a house built 
upon wind is worse yet. If from the first the Seedless 
people had sold their apple simply as a long-keeping 
novelty, and offered it at a fair price, they would have 
done a fair business and maintained an honorable 
record. The disaster which has attended their work 
is due to their own questionable methods in trying to 
make the public believe that a very ordinary fruit 
possessed great value. 
* 
THE TRUTH IS NOW, KNOWN. 
The mystery that has heretofore hovered around 
those Jersey cows in the Rogers-Dawley controversy 
has at last been explained. All the living animals have 
been positively identified by men who bred them, and 
who cared for them, and who knew them intimately. 
To make sure of this identification they were inspected 
by different men at different times. Each inspector 
had no knowledge of the other’s conclusions. Each 
man, when he made the inspection, did not know that 
there was to be another examination for the purpose 
of identification. The inquiry led to two other herds 
which had consignments from Mr. Dawley, and in 
both of them conditions similar to those of Rogers’s 
were found. 
Satisfied that Mr. Dawley would continue to resist 
an open investigation, and fearing that more of the 
cows would die before the A. J. C. C. would take up 
the matter, even if they consented to do so at all, The 
R. N.-Y. undertook the job single-handed, and bore 
all the work and expense of the investigation. The 
natural difficulty of the inquiry was increased by the 
refusal of Mr. Dawley to submit any stable records, 
and by attempts that had been made to induce those 
familiar with the facts to withhold information. We 
were, however, greatly assisted by suggestions and in¬ 
formation from subscribers. Indeed, the principal 
credit is due to those readers, who hesitated at first to 
interfere, but who in the interest of truth and justice 
finally concluded to overrule their personal preferences, 
and perform a disagreeable duty. Many who had here¬ 
tofore remained silent were influenced to a prompt de¬ 
cision when they read of the suits filed against this 
paper by Mr. Dawley. It is also due to the A. J. C. C. 
to say that its office rendered valuable service in allow¬ 
ing us access to their records. The full details will be 
published as soon as our attorneys have completed their 
answer to the complaint in the Dawley suits. Just now 
we can only say that these details will astonish the 
agricultural interests of this whole country. Every 
honest farmer in the State of New York will be filled 
with disgust and indignation, and the rank and file of 
honest breeders in the American Jersey Cattle Club 
will blush for the shame brought on their membership. 
It would be too much to expect contrition or even 
apology from the Country Gentleman, which insisted 
that there was nothing to investigate, or from the 
Jersey '•Bulletin, which could see nothing but buncombe 
and playing to the galleries in our efforts to straighten 
out the record of the A. J. C. C. We do, however, 
look for .enough decency and manhood in the New 
York State Breeders’ Association to repudiate at their 
next meeting the false position in which the Associa¬ 
tion was'.placed at their last annual meeting in Syra¬ 
cuse, when a little clique of the State Agricultural De¬ 
partment politicians spread on the minutes a resolu¬ 
tion of censure for The R. N.-Y. because of its initia¬ 
tive in this case, though reputable breeders who at¬ 
tended every session insist that the resolution was 
never openly presented to the meeting. We hesitate 
to speculate on the feelings or sentiment of Mr. Daw¬ 
ley when these details are published. Already familiar 
with the facts as he must be, he will at least be spared 
the sensation of a surprise, unless it be at the details 
and accuracy of our information; but of one thing 
we have no doubt. He is nearing the end of his official 
connection with the farm institute work of the State 
of New York. 
* 
Those New York State Senators who prevented Gov. 
Hughes from removing the State Superintendent of 
Insurance should never be permitted to go back to 
Albany whenever it is possible to vote them out. We 
hoped there would be an election of Senators this Fall. 
That would have eliminated other issues, and forced 
these men to run on their State records, with no im¬ 
portant national question to help them along. The 
Supreme Court has not decided the matter fully yet, 
but even if it finally decide that there shall be no elec¬ 
tion until next year we shall continue to name these 
men as enemies of true popular government. At least 
75 per cent of the intelligent people of New York were 
back of the Governor in his demand. During the last 
50 years there has not been a case where the people of 
New York were so nearly unanimous in supporting 
their governor in a matter which was entirely above 
“politics.” We print the names of these 11 senators 
because they defeated the true desire of the people, 
and because every one of them can be made or unmade 
by the votes of farmers. If it is possible to do so this 
year z’ote them out o~j office. If we cannot get at them 
until next year paste the names over the clock and 
feed memory to strengthen the blow at them then. 
* 
We sometimes hear from readers who have lost 
valuable shade trees through leaking gas pipes. They 
would he interested in the last report of the Massachu¬ 
setts Experiment Station. Illuminating gas leaking into 
the soil will in time poison a tree and it appears that 
considerable damage has been done in towns and cities. 
In Massachusetts many gas companies know that such 
leakage occurs, recognize that trees are killed by it 
and try to settle claims for damage out of court. In 
that State the courts have decided that a good sized, 
sound tree in front of an estate is worth from $150 to 
$200 in the valuation of the property. If it can be 
proved that such a tree has been killed by gas the owner 
is entitled to damages. Settlements have been made 
for such trees at all the way from $5 to $150. There is 
more of t' is daniage than many people imagine. It is 
stated in this report that in one small city where four 
miles of gas pipe were laid there were four I 100 trees 
injured beyond recovery by gas poisoning two years 
after the pipes were laid. There were probably 300 
to 400 more trees more or less injured. Few men 
appreciate the value of a tree more than the owner of 
a town lot who has seen the thrifty giant grow from 
a small whip. To see such a good friend slowly die 
from gas poisoning is like watching a member of the 
family waste away with consumption. All who are 
interested in this should get the facts given in this 
Massachusetts report. 
* 
We were recently talking with a man who has had a 
hard fight with the San Jose scale . The insect appeared 
in his orchard three years ago and crusted a good 
portion of the trees before the owner realized his 
danger. As often happens he became discouraged and 
was inclined to cut down and stop planting. He finally 
decided to fight and sprayed thoroughly with soluble 
oil twice, once in late Fall and again in Spring. As a 
result his trees have made a good growth and whereas 
last year most of his fruit was so badly marked that 
it was rejected for first-class, now a spotted apple or 
peach is the exception. This map has regained his 
courage and firmly believes that lie can hold the scale 
in check. Now, having saved his orchard, as he believes, 
with soluble oil he wants to know why the scientific 
men are so cautious in advising its use. He thinks they 
must know its value and yet they strongly advise lime 
and sulphur and “treat the oil washes like criminals.” 
The same question has occurred to many others and is 
not hard to answer. The most dangerous thing a 
scientist can do is to make guesses or jump at conclu¬ 
sions. In a few cases where they advised methods 
before they were entirely sure they did considerable 
damage. They are right in making every new com¬ 
petitor for lime and sulphur run the gauntlet. This 
very thing was true of lime and sulphur itself. It 
was used with success in California some years before 
our Eastern fruit growers felt sure it would help them. 
It became the standard remedy for scale only after 
long experiment and practical test. The scientists would 
not be true to their obligation if they did not compel 
the advocates of soluble oil to prove their claims by 
the most thorough tests. We think they are doing so. 
In our own orchards the oils have proved very effec¬ 
tive and we do not hesitate to depend upon them alone 
for fighting the scale. At the same time we recognize 
that the lime and sulphur mixture is useful for com¬ 
bating certain fungus diseases, while the oils have little 
value in this way. The advantages of the oil are that 
it is easy to mix and very much surer in the hands 
of careless or incompetent belli, and it is also - better 
for Fall or '.Vinter spraying than lime and sulphur. 
Th'se growers who find it necessary to do some Fall 
spraying in order to get over all their trees should 
certainly try the oil, even though they use lime and 
sulphur in Spring . 
BREVITIES. 
Portland cement in whitewash—bow much? Any value? 
Don’t spend your energy trying to “break records.” 
Better patch up a few already made. 
That terrible weed pest the sow thistle knows enough 
to run into good soil. Its appearance Is a pretty sure sign 
that the soil would produce good crops If permitted. 
It is said that there are only two things in life that 
are absolutely sure—death and taxes. In Massachusetts 
ah undertaker was elected tax collector. A pretty sure 
thing—that. 
