7o4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 21, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TUB BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established, 1850. 
Entered at Nfew Ydrk as Second Class Matter. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr: Walter Van- Flee*, i . 
Mrs. K. T. Koylk, {-Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2 04. 
equal to 8s. 6d., or 8 Vi marks, or 10 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 by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one 
month of the 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. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 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. 
* 
As the season develops the prospects for high apple 
prices grow. It is now known that the crop of first- 
class fruit will not be large. Early estimates include 
all fruit, but by late September or October it is known 
just what the first-class stock will amount to. This 
year the advantage is with the grower who has good 
apples. 
★ 
Reports are that the San Jose scale has not multi¬ 
plied this year as it has the past. No one can give the 
reason for this but the fact seems to be that the insect 
has been less damaging than formerly. Some new 
remedies have been tried with fair results, but it will 
not be safe to depend upon their work this season. It 
will also be a fatal blunder to assume that we need 
not spray because the scale is dying out. We have not 
heard of any new spray mixture which can be sub¬ 
stituted for lime and sulphur or the oils. 
* 
If the officers of the Republican clubs of New York 
are wise they will call off that proposed convention at 
Syracuse to “study and “consider” plans for aiding 
New York agriculture. The New York farmer does not 
want to be held up to the worl’d as a political issue, 
lie doesn’t want to be advertised as a bankrupt and 
failure. To go around shouting about the poor 
farmers, the decaying rural counties and the 12,000 
so-called # abandoned farms would throw discredit upon 
the splendid work which our prosperous farmers are 
doing. Call off the convention, and give us a man who 
can advertise New York agriculture properly. 
* 
The Spokane Interstate Fair is usually a great event 
for the Pacific Coast. This year the city council of 
Spokane provided that pool selling should be allowed 
in that city during the two weeks of the fair. The 
State Grange decided to have nothing to do with the 
fair if this gambling were permitted, and in this the 
Patrons were joined by hundreds of country and town 
people! The fair managers offered the Grange Satur¬ 
day and Sunday for special days. The Grange would 
not celebrate on Sunday, and refused to have anything 
to do with the fair! Good! The Grange does great 
work for good citizenship when it takes such 
a position. 
* 
Notice how many people respond whenever mention 
is made of poison ivy? It is surprising how few 
people can recognize this dangerous plant. Many cases 
are reported to us where poison ivy is found growing 
near houses or in private grounds. It is supposed to 
be an ornamental vine. It seems as if one of the first 
things that should be taught in a country school is a 
knowledge of such dangerous plants. The majority of 
boys and men feel it their duty to kill every snake they 
can find, though nine out of 10 of these snakes are 
not only harmless but true friends of a farmer. The 
world would be better off if some of this fierce hatred 
of snakes were turned against poison ivy and other 
deadly plants. 
The experiment stations are testing alcohol as a 
substitute for gasoline or kerosene for light, heat and 
power. 'Phis is most useful work in view of the interest 
taken in denatured alcohol. The Iowa Station has 
found that alcohol produces, on the average, about 70 
per cent as much heat and about the same of light as 
an equal quantity of gasoline. To compete economically 
with gasoline a 94 per cent alcohol must be sold for 
less than 17 cents a gallon with gasoline at 20 cents. 
It was also found that alcohol in a proper lamp will 
ptoduce two to four times as much light as kerosene 
in a wick lamp. As for power alcohol produces from 
68 per cent to 85 per cent as much as gasolirte. It will 
thus be seen that the future of alcohol for these pur¬ 
poses depends upon its cost. At present it is not cheap 
enough to displace gasoline. 
* 
The cost of a child! We are getting some state¬ 
ments in reply to the Hope Farm man’s recent question 
about the cost of raising a child. We have also inter¬ 
viewed a dozen men who have met with more than 
average success in life. Most of them figure that $1,000 
in cash would more than cover the sums their parents 
paid out for them until they were self-supporting. 
These men agree that it will cost three or four times 
as much to put their own boys on a self-supporting 
basis. How these old boys were raised, and why the 
new boys cost more will make the basis for one of the 
most interesting studies of life that we have ever had. 
It appears that some millions of men in this country 
must be satisfied with earning $450 a year. In the 
course of a life work of 40 years this means $18,000 
as the earnings of a human life. 
* 
All who read the daily papers must have noticed the 
rapid growth of prohibition or temperance sentiment at 
the South. Georgia has just declared for State prohibi¬ 
tion, while in all the Gulf States public saloons have 
almost entirely been driven out of rural counties. The 
South is essentially an agricultural section, more so 
than any other part of the country. Is there any con¬ 
nection between this fact and the spread of temperance 
legislation? There appears to be a close connection. 
While many other reasons are given it would seem as 
if the fundamental one was an effort to keep liquor 
from colored laborers. A large share of the farm labor 
at the South is done by negroes. Unreliable at best, a 
combination with a whisky bottle changes the negro 
into a dangerous character. We have no doubt that a 
large majority of the crimes attributed to southern 
negroes can be traced directly to liquor and the saloons. 
The southern people have at last recognized this, and 
absolute prohibition bas seemed the best means of 
controlling the colored laborers. We think the plan is 
more likely to succeed in the South than it ever could 
at the North. In the Southern States the dominating 
race has a strong incentive to enforce the law. It is 
to the advantage of a large majority of white men to 
keep liquor away from the negroes. In the North there 
is no such general advantage to the ruling class, and 
the liquor interests are very strong. The situation, 
therefore, is entirely different, and the success of south¬ 
ern prohibition cannot be measured by northern experi¬ 
ence with it. We think it will prove an excellent thing 
for the South and for the negro. 
* 
M. Barbe gives us, on the next page, a very clear 
statement of the recent troubles in France. It seems 
that there has been an over production of wine, and 
that the laws aimed to prevent adulteration have not 
been enforced. Thus these grape growers must answer 
part of their demand by changing their methods, and 
look to the government for the other part of their 
relief. Such a condition of affairs is not likely to arise 
in this country. Our markets are larger, and it is easier 
for farmers to change their crops and methods. Yet, 
if Congress had not passed the anti-oleo bill, dairymen 
would have been well nigh driven to revolution. So 
long as colored oleo could be sold in such a way as to 
compete unfairly with genuine butter the man who 
fed the cow was placed at a fearful disadvantage. The 
cheap fats of the dead hog and steer passing under 
counterfeit as the more expensive fats of the live cow 
would in time have brought thousands of farmers to 
ruin and turned more farms into a wilderness. It is 
not likely that American dairymen would have humbly 
submitted to this without a fight. This experience of 
the French wine makers also shows what we might 
expect if Cuba should come into the Union as a State 
or Territory. The cheap wine from Algeria brought 
down the price of French wine. There would be a 
somewhat similar experience in this country with sugar, 
tobacco and fruit if Cuba became a part of this Nation. 
It is hard sometimes for farmers to see the difference 
between a trouble which calls for government help, and 
one which can only be removed by self-help. There have 
been dozens of cases in this country where it seemed 
as if entire sections were ruined. Just after our Civil 
War the rush of population to the West nearly ruined 
New England farming. Farmers in the hill towns were 
worse off for a time than these vine growers in 
Southern France. Yet they have found new crops and 
methods which now give them better opportunities than 
ever. The West, too, went through its trial whetl 
prices of grain fell so low that corn was used for fuel 
in many a Western town. It is greatly to the credit of 
Western farmers that they faced their crisis without 
revolution, took up Alfalfa and other new crops, 
learned how to manage and save and paid out. 
* 
We fievef knew we had so many friends Until we 
visited the New York Slate Fair last week. The 
Weather was bad and the attendance smaller than usual, 
yet we never obtained more new yearly subscribers of 
received more calls from old friends. Men came for* 
ward and told us to call upon them for money in case 
it were needed to defend those suits. Better than all 
this were the strong, hearty words of approval from 
practical farmers who have had a good chance to size 
up the situation at short range. The politicians and 
job-holders did not seem to extend the “glad hand” 
with any great vigor, but we are well satisfied with the 
backing of the plain people who gave outspoken sup¬ 
port. 
* 
One of Mr. Dawley’s friends called at The R. N.-Y. 
office last week and expressed a wish, in the interest 
of all concerned, including the institute work of which 
Mr. Dawley is the director, that the controversy in 
regard to the Rogers-Dawley Jersey cattle trouble be 
brought to a close. He said that before coming to 
us he had talked with some of Mr. Dawley’s other 
friends, and with Mr. Dawley himself, and that he 
came with Mr. Dawley’s consent. His suggestion was 
that the matter could be quite as well settled out of 
court as otherwise, and that this course would have 
the advantage of a prompt adjustment of the whole 
trouble. He wished to know if we would consent to 
such an adjustment. We answered him yes, and that 
we would go still further; that if Mr. Dawley would 
satisfactorily refute the charges that are made against 
him before a competent committee, making an open 
investigation of all the charges, Mr. Dawley presenting 
his herd and stable books, we would give him, in The 
R. N.-Y., the strongest vindication that we are capable 
of writing. We said to this man that we would do 
this without insisting, as a condition or preliminary, 
that Mr. Dawley withdraw the suits. Hp might let 
the suits stand just as they are, and prosecute them 
afterwards if he wished. Without regard to the suits, 
if he cleared himself of the charges it would be our 
duty to vindicate him, even though he held the suits for 
future prosecution, and we would do so. Our caller 
replied that he could not see that any man could ask 
anything fairer than that. Dawley, he said, if inno¬ 
cent, ought to be able to refute the charges, and he 
left us to see Mr. Dawley, with the confident assurance 
that he felt a determination of the controversy might 
be brought around on those lines. Later we were told 
by him that Mr. Dawley refused to consent to 
the investigation. We are willing to assume full 
responsibility for what has been said, but there 
are other interests concerned, and for their benefit 
we have been anxious from the first to have the dis¬ 
cussion closed. The matter of the suits would then be¬ 
an affair between Mr. Dawley and ourselves, and 1 
would not materially interest the public, if the maim 
question as to the registration records was settled. We- 
make this statement because there have- been some 
charges by Mr. Dawley and his friends that The R’_ 
N.-Y. is not treating him fairly, and that it has been 
too caustic in its criticism of him, and we want again 
to emphasize the position that we only insist on a fair, 
open and thorough investigation of the charges, and 
if the result is in favor of Mr. Dawley we will give 
him the strongest and most complete vindication that 
we are capable of writing. Can any accused man ask 
more ? 
BREVITIES . 
Fdt stripes on some of these star rogues. 
Ever see a man try to bite off his own head? Some 
do it! 
Yes, money is necessary in running a farm and so is 
manhood. 
You can put spirit into any job by learning to master it 
and do it better than anyone else. 
When ignorance and indolence combine to form a pair 
there never will be progress toward the city of “Get there.” 
Prof. Duggar of Alabama says that Crimson clover will 
make a fair growth on soil considerably poorer than that 
which Red clover demands. 
A South Jersey report: “Our rural carrier is soon to 
have an automobile from the Government. He has had 
about 12 horses per year, dear ones, too. 
Concerning San Jos<? scale infestation, Mr. Powell says 
on page 699 that the certificate of the State Department of 
Agriculture has very little value, in so far as protection 
is concerned. If this is so (and Mr. Powell is likely to 
know), why do we pay inspectors? 
