December 21, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S BARER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established. 1850. 
IMtHabad weekly by tUo Rural Publishing Company, 409 Pearl Street. New York. 
Herbert W. Colungwood, President and Editor, 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. P. Djllon, Secretary. . 
I> B . Walter Van Fleet and Mrs. K. T. Kqvl k, Associate Editors. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8s. «d., or 8'-j marks, or 10‘u francs. Remit in money order, 
express order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
“A SQUARE DEAL.” 
Wo 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 ourcolumns, and any such swindler will be publicly ex¬ 
posed We protect suberibers against rogues, but we do not guarantee 
to adjust trifling differences between subscribers and honest, respon¬ 
sible advertisers. Neither will we be responsible for the debts of 
holiest 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 Thjc Rural New-Yorker when 
writing the advertiser. 
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 pur¬ 
poses. We depend on our old friends to make this 
known to neighbors and friends. 
* 
Read over that article on corn testing and then 
begin on your own crop. We have laid aside the 
best ears while husking, and as the grain goes into 
tlie crib other ears will be taken. These will be kept 
in a dry place and tested in Spring. Get the ears 
now and give them good Winter care. 
* 
Where are the ninety and nine? 
The Hope Farm man wants 100 fruit growers to 
make a test of this mulch method. He will plow 
up part of an apple and a peach orchard now in sod 
and agree to handle the cultivated part as Prof. 
Hedrick advises and the sod as Jrlitchings says. Why 
not form a “Culture Club” of our own ? Who comes in ? 
* 
On page 917 is a statement concerning a farm in 
New York State. Here is a chance for that city 
man with his $2,000, and there are hundreds more like 
it. Where can we go in the North. West or South 
and find such an opportunity? Yet with all these 
opportunities and all the people who need them little 
is being done to let the public know what New 
York can offer! The time is ripe now for just such 
public advertising. New York needs a first-class 
man at this job right away! 
* 
It is now reported to us that John F. Spencer, the 
“Seedless apple” man, has evolved a new variety. 
This time it is an apple without any seeds, and said 
to be identical with Jonathan. The funny part of it 
is that this apple is said to be “an improved seedling 
of the original Seedless apple.” That beats anything 
Burbank has ever done—in fact, it is ahead of per¬ 
petual motion or spontaneous combustion. How can 
Spencer obtain a seedling from an apple which has 
no seeds? There is another great question for him 
to answer. 
* 
The R. N.-Y. is very often called upon to investi¬ 
gate cases of attempted or alleged swindling. We 
have frequently referred to the fact that the envelope 
in which a faker’s letter is received is necessary to 
complete the evidence, where the Post Office Depart¬ 
ment is expected to punish the offender. Very often 
people do not keep these envelopes, being satisfied to 
file away the letter, and thus the postal inspectors 
find necessary evidence missing. We therefore re¬ 
peat the warning to preserve the envelope, as well as 
the letter, when any communication is received from 
a firm whose good faith seems doubtful. 
* 
The man in the parable who hid his one talent in 
the ground because he was afraid to put it into cir¬ 
culation has come down through history as a poor 
citizen. His little capital became a loafer—worse 
than useless, because he prevented others from hiring 
it and putting it at work. The danger in the present 
situation is that thousands and millions in this coun¬ 
try will act as this man did and hoard their money. 
There never was a worse time for doing this. Both 
private interest and patriotic feeling should prompt 
us to put our money at work. Money is in demand 
with good interest on safe investments. This is also 
one of the best times for buying machinery, house¬ 
hold goods, stock or other things needed on a farm. 
You cannot only obtain good bargains, but the money 
you spend enables the manufacturer to keep his fac¬ 
tory running, and thus provide work for his hands. 
While they draw wages they spend freely for food 
and farm supplies. Thus, while money is kept in cir¬ 
culation, the demand for what farmers have to sell is 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
kept up. The money in “Wall Street” available for 
general business is small compared with the vast 
amount of cash available in millions of farm homes. 
If this is hoarded and kept where it cannot circulate 
trade will suffer. Do not play the part of the man 
who hid his talent in a napkin, but get every spare 
dollar into a bank or some safe place where it can 
be used. 
* 
Just as we expected; the “mulch culture” men are 
not satisfied with that orchard experiment in western 
New York. They think the sod part of the orchard 
is not what they call “mulch.” According to them 
it has been shown that where a fruit grower is giv¬ 
ing high tillage he should keep on doing it, and not 
expect good results at once after seeding down. The 
writer is very willing to have any theory he ever had 
knocked sky-high if in that way the truth can be ad¬ 
vanced. Like the rest of the “mulchers” he intends 
to have the facts all brought out before the final 
decision. The mulch men go to bat next week. 
* 
Let every farmer remember that the United States 
Department of Agriculture stands ready to test his 
seeds. They will take a fair sample of your seed, tell 
you if it contains weed seeds and let you know what 
per cent of it will germinate. The seedsmen offer 
a sort of guarantee and say that the seed must be 
returned before planting if not satisfactory. You 
can have a fair sample tested at Washington and re¬ 
port to the seedsman if it is not satisfactory. This 
would be especially useful with clover or grass, or 
seed grain. You can write direct to the Seed Testing 
Laboratory, Department of Agriculture, Washington, 
D. C. 
* 
We think the officers of the various horticultural 
societies should pay close attention to the entertain¬ 
ment feature of their meetings. At some evening 
session it will pay to arrange a programme of partic¬ 
ular interest to town people. 1 hese people are con¬ 
sumers, and it is just as necessary to interest them as 
it is to learn how to produce more fruit. If we can 
get a lot of town people out and give them good 
apples to eat, or pass around pieces of apple pie, we 
are sowing the seed of a good crop of trade. There 
may be those who consider such things undignified. 
We do not consider that fruit meetings are intended 
to cultivate dignity, but to help create new markets. 
* 
There are some men who find it hard to realize 
that it pays to make the house comfortable inside, and 
the yard and surroundings neat. They are often well 
able to heat the house and put water inside, but have 
an idea that these conveniences are intended only for 
city people. For a few dollars they could buy trees 
and shrubs, and with a little care and labor make 
them grow so as to make all the difference between 
ugliness and beauty in the surroundings of their 
house. When asked to do these things such men 
often ask, “What good will that do me?” We might 
refer them to the Alabama colored man who was 
induced to paint and fix up his house:— 
I tell you, when I saw de paint gwine on my house, my 
house look like it say to me, “You ain't got no business 
here,” and den I looked at de house, and said, “I is gwine 
to be a better man, and live in you.” 
And there is a commercial side to it also. Years 
ago some one planted trees and vines around our 
farmhouse. They have grown and flourished until 
today they add at least $500 to the selling price of 
the farm. Go where you will in any community and 
you will find that the neat yard adds to the value of 
the place. 
You may have noticed that a good many associa¬ 
tions of farmers start and progress rapidly up to a 
certain point. Then they seem to hesitate and stand 
still. Up to that point there are plenty of members to 
take hold and work. After it is reached a few faith¬ 
ful ones must carry it on or it will die. The interest dies 
out when the association stops doing something use¬ 
ful for its members. Most associations run the regu¬ 
lar course of holding meetings, listening to speeches 
and getting acquainted. While this is a novelty the 
interest is kept up, but there finally comes a time 
when something else must be done if the society is to 
live, even as a toy. The most useful thing such a 
society can do is to begin an honest and fearless plan 
for cooperative buying and selling. Now this is usu¬ 
ally opposed to the interests of certain men w;ho have 
been selling to members, but unless a cooperative 
society is run for the mutual benefit of all this fea¬ 
ture will become a farce. What eastern fruit growers 
in particular need is an association for selling fruit 
and buying supplies like the famous Hood River As¬ 
sociation in Oregon. Out there the apple growers 
really get together and pool their issues, so that they 
can pack and guarantee uniform goods. Then, having 
done this, and obtained control of a good supply, they 
call for bids, and buyers are glad to come to them. 
So far as we are informed there is no fruit growers’ 
association in the East that has attempted to handle 
and sell apples in this way. As we have said, most 
societies reach a certain point and then stand still— 
content with gathering crop reports or holding an¬ 
nual meetings. They ought to go on and take hold 
of the vital part of their business. 
* 
Our sly old friend, James W. Wadsworth, has been 
getting in a little of his fine political work at Wash¬ 
ington. The voters of the Thirty-fourth New York 
District turned him down last year after a desperate 
struggle. In order to beat him it was necessary to 
make a combination of Democrats and Independents, 
and so thoroughly disgusted were the people with 
Wadsworth that even though he had the best local 
political machine in New York at his back, the voters 
turned his former majority of 13,000 into a majority 
against him of over 6.000. It would seem as if any 
man with an ordinary skin ought to realize what that 
meant, but Wadsworth seems to be encased in tin 
thicker than that used on a can of beef. Condemned 
and rejected by the voters of his district, he can only 
use his political pull at Washington in an effort to 
discredit the man who beat him, Peter A. Porter. 
Through Wadsworth’s influence Mr. Porter has been 
refused membership in the Republican caucus, and 
denied rights, on committees which belong to him. 
Evidently Wadsworth’s object is to ridicule Mr. Por¬ 
ter and make the district believe that it will be with¬ 
out representation. That is where he has made a 
mistake. The farmers of the Thirty-fourth District 
will rank in intelligence and independence with the 
residents of any district in the State. It was just 
these qualities which beat Wadsworth and the voters 
regard his action not so much an injury to # Mr. Por¬ 
ter as an insult to the district. We believe that more 
Republicans voted for Porter than for Wadsworth, for 
the latter toward the last part of the campaign boasted 
of the great number of Democrats who supported 
him. Be that as it may, the time has come to finish 
Wadsworth for good. The farmers of the Thirtyr- 
fourth District must take care of him. The best way 
to do it is to send Mr. Porter back—next time as a 
Republican, so that there can be no question about 
it. We think also that this situation calls for the 
Knights of the Postage Stamp. We advise every 
farmer in the land to write Speaker Cannon and ask 
him to appoint Peter A. Porter to a place on the 
Agricultural Committee. We will give full reasons 
for this later. Let every Knight get busy with a 
postage stamp on the back of “Uncle Joe.” 
BREVITIES. 
Some men make time—others do nothing but mark time. 
Rnx your household ou “the rule of three"—father, 
mother and forbearance. 
Both ends of a man are meat, but they should not he of 
the same kind, or head will he worth no more than heel. 
There were 3,258 orphan children sent for adoption 
from England to Canada last year. The applications for 
such children were 19,374. 
A Canadian clergyman hoard of a gambling scheme in 
his town. He broke into the game, offered his money and 
then took his evidence into court. We call that good pul¬ 
pit work. 
According to present prices of beef it is said that an 
ox team is worth about twice as much per pound as a 
modern locomotive, thus making it the most expensive 
power in our modern civilization. 
A Pennsylvania man had a tumor on his shoulder. A 
doctor undertook to operate and cut eight ounces from the 
wrong place. He had to pay $750 damages. How many 
of us are worth $1,500 a pound to society? 
A Georgia judge, in his charge to the grand jury, re¬ 
cently stated that it is as great a crime to furnish in¬ 
toxicants to young ladies or minors at a card club or re¬ 
ception as to furnish them from a saloon, and that it is 
the grand jury’s duty to indict those who thus violate the 
law. 
One of the questions to he discussed h.v the New Jersey 
State Horticultural Society at its next meeting is: “Would 
it be safe to invest money in a scale-infested apple orchard 
(otherwise a good one) 30 years old?” That is a question 
a good many orchard men have been forced to ask them¬ 
selves. 
The sharp-nosed pig makes a good Summer hoarder on a 
small farm where crops are crowded hard. He eats cubs 
and, inside a light portable fence, will improve green crops 
for manuring purposes. We would much prefer having all 
such crops pastured by hogs before turning them under for 
manure. 
Dering the hunting season of 1907, according to news¬ 
paper statistics, 71 persons were killed, mainly by care¬ 
lessness. Last year's record was 74. The number of 
injured is greater this year than last, being 81, as com¬ 
pared with 70 last year. Deer hunting seems peculiarly 
dangerous—to the adjacent hunters, rather than the deer. 
The total production of gold in this eoimtry in 1906 was 
$97,219,645 and of silver $38,432,846. In the same year 
$129,591,838 worth of brick and tile were made out of 
clay, while the potato crop was worth $190,000,000. The 
total value of gold taken from California was $18,732,452 
while exports of American nuts and fruits in the same 
year amounted to over $17,000,000. 
