©40 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Published weekly by the Hural Publishing Company, 409 Tenrl Street, Hew York. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, President and Editor, 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet and Mrs. E. T, Royle, Associate Editors, 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04. equal to 
8s. (id., or 8'e marks, or 10*3 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.” 
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 columns, and any such swindler will be publicly ex¬ 
posed. We protect subcribers against rogues, but we do not guarantee 
to adjust trilling differences between subscribers and honest, respon¬ 
sible 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 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. 
* 
On the next page yon will find those Jersey cattle 
questions answered by F. D. Squiers, who says he 
sold the grade heifers to Mr. Dawley and that he posi¬ 
tively identified some of them in Roger’s barn! It is 
now up to the Country Gentleman to print these state¬ 
ments and admit them or prove that they are false! 
Does it want the full proof ? 
* 
You ought to sec the flood of fact and fancy about 
the city farmer and his chances on a farm that have 
poured in. North, East, South and West have sent 
their story. We are getting the sunny side of farm 
life from all parts. To read this part of it you 
would think every county of this country would make 
a good Garden of Eden. The other side is coming, 
too—cold, hard, true experience of those who in 
middle years have left town for a country home. 
We shall have the story from time to time. 
* 
There is a great demand for facts about the use 
of dwarf apple trees. Are they really practical, or to 
be used as a toy? Quite a number of apple growers 
are using them as “fillers”—that is, planting between 
standard trees when starting the orchard. They ex¬ 
pect the dwarfs to come in bearing early, give small 
yields of fine fruit, and get out of the way before the 
permanent orchard is ready for business. We have 
used several hundred in this way, and thus far like 
their looks. We doubt if anyone is ready yet to give 
a decided opinion about the use of dwarfs. They 
start well, and some very shrewd and experienced 
fruit growers feel very confident about their value. 
* 
There is one thing about those orchard “mulchers” 
that all will admire. They are hard to down and they 
stick to their mulch. Mr. Ballou and Mr. Hitchings, 
as we see this week, give reasons for the faith that is 
in them. They think that experiment in western New 
York is like an investigation with only one side heard. 
It seems as if the true way to mulch an orchard is to 
start the tree in sod, keep the grass cut and pile it 
around the young tree, adding manure or fertilizer as 
you would in cultivated ground. We know that good 
trees can be grown that way—we have them growing. 
.The point to be decided is whether this is the best 
way to do it. Under some conditions we think it is— 
under others, not. 
* 
It is interesting to watch the development of farm¬ 
ing in the Far West. The earlier settlers found a vir¬ 
gin soil richer than some of the fertilizers sold in the 
East. They scoffed at the idea of using manure. 
Great piles of sheep and cattle manure were allowed 
to accumulate. In some cases it was cheaper to move 
the barn than to haul the manure away. In the dry 
countries this manure became hard and kept well. 
There came a time when the land failed to respond. 
Then these old manure piles were dug up, crushed 
fine and bagged for sale. In some cases the manure 
on old sheep ranches in California has been bagged 
in this way and shipped East or mixed with chemicals 
to make a rich fertilizer. Every country, no matter 
how rich to begin with, must in the end begin to 
save wastes of fertility. It is much the same with 
irrigation. When the water was first turned from 
the rivers upon the land farmers could afford to be 
wasteful as there was enough for all. Thus it ran in 
open ditches, often in soft ground where a large 
part of it was lost by soaking or evaporation. After 
awhile more land was taken up and every drop of 
water had its value just as every forkful of manure is 
THE) RURAL NEW-YORKER 
finally needed. Not only this but the open ditches 
became foul with weeds or trees, so that it cost $80 
or more per mile to keep them clear. Then it became 
necessary to make a ditch that would carry more 
water and keep itself clean. In California and Arizona 
the experiment stations have taken hold of this prob¬ 
lem in earnest. In California ditches have been 
coated with cement and also sprinkled with crude oil. 
The latter is cheaper. Ditches well oiled carry the 
water well and do not grow up with weeds and grass. 
In Arizona there is plently of sand and by importing 
cement a large drain tile can be made which carries 
the water perfectly. A bulletin on the subject has 
just been issued. We mention this to show how 
farmers are finally driven to all sorts of devices to 
save even water. It is true of all of us that our 
future profits must come out of what are now re¬ 
garded as wastes. Lets begin to study them. 
December 28, 
Suppose you were buying a ton or more of fer¬ 
tilizer and were a little doubtful. The Agricultural 
Department offered to take a small, fair sample and 
tell you the truth about it. Suppose you bought a 
purebred cow and got a little tangled over her papers 
and again the department offered to fix the papers 
for you. You would jump at the chance to have this 
work done b} r the highest authority. Now the govern¬ 
ment cannot do these things, as we can easily under¬ 
stand, but it can and will test your seeds. You can 
send them a sample and they will detect the weed 
seeds, if any, and tell you what per cent of the seeds 
ought to grow. With some seeds they might possibly 
tell you if varieties were mixed. You can readily see 
how such work would help you. Why not take advan¬ 
tage of it? Write the Seed Laboratory, Department 
of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
* 
* 
A HAPPY AND HELPFUL NEW YEAR. 
The writer has helped make 1,171 issues of The 
R. N.-Y. We have seen the matter in the issues 
thought out, put together, corrected and finally printed 
on the white paper—an enduring record. Through 
all these years we have watched the paper grow and 
develop. It is remarkable how much friends and 
readers have had to do with that development. Best 
of all and the thing for which we have labored 
hardest is the feeling of confidence which the paper 
has inspired. An elderly man who was raised on a 
farm put it the other day in a few words: 
“I know liow people feel about the Rural. When 
I was a boy we had confidence in what it said. If 
some one had been able to prove that the paper had 
knowingly deceived us we should have felt that a 
trusted friend had lost his choicest possession — char¬ 
acter.” 
We are proud to close the year knowing that never 
before in the history of the paper was this feeling 
of confidence stronger than it is to-day. Both dollars 
and good wishes prove it. There lias never been 
anything like the way our friends are now pouring 
in their -renewal subscriptions and bringing others into 
the family. Nearly every letter contains some hearty 
word of good cheer. It is not the hackneyed con¬ 
gratulation or soft word of “taffy” but strong, sen¬ 
sible, earnest sentences which carry conviction of 
sincerity. It is a great, wonderful thing to feel that 
these strong and earnest people believe in us and give 
us their support. No man need have a higher ambi¬ 
tion than to be found worthy of it. This confidence 
is peculiarly gratifying because, as all know, the past 
year has been one of battle while the coming year 
promises even more of a fight. We shall not put on 
velvet gloves and gently tap evil on the shoulder, but 
we shall smash straight into the vitals of public sin— 
at the most vulnerable point. We realize what such 
blows mean because the more we strike the more we 
learn that politics and business are so built up to¬ 
gether that one can hardly pull a rogue out of his 
place without finding strings which run out to highly 
respected men. In the exposure of “graft” and in¬ 
competence, which is surely coming, many honest men 
will grieve to see that some of their idols need to be 
cleaned. Indly realizing this we shall go on in the 
strength which comes to us in the confidence of read¬ 
ers and friends. There will be much to do in public 
matters. Wadsworth must be kept out of Congress. 
That Jersey cattle case must be pushed through to 
the end. We are within sight of a parcels post if we 
can all get together and work for it. There are 
dozens of ways in which we can be useful together. 
As usual we make no definite promise for the year. 
What we say is that all we are and everything we 
have that is worth while will go into The R. N.-Y. 
for 1908. We thank you for your help and confidence 
and invite you to labor with us to make the New Year 
a happy one through self-denying service for others. 
* 
There are some men in this country who ought to 
celebrate Christmas in the following manner. Let 
some big, husky farmer play Santa Claus and present 
them with a full stocking. Inside the stocking let 
there be his foot and leg and outside of it the heaviest 
cowhide boot he can put on. One man we nominate 
in particular for that treatment is the agent who 
wrote that insurance policy mentioned last week on 
page 929. As for the higher officers in that company 
it is doubtful if any outward application would reach 
them. We would like to have their nature changed 
so that they would be capable of understanding what 
legalized robbery means. Make them understand how 
the dollars that went with those payments came like 
clots of blood from worry and self-denial. Then 
make them realize what it means to lose the home 
after all this grinding economy. It is doubtful if a 
boot would hit them hard enough—but wouldn’t you 
like to play Santa Claus and try it? 
How would you like to get rid of “Wall Street?” 
From what you have read very likely you would call 
it a good thing if the financial control of America 
were taken out of the small piece of land at the foot 
of Manhattan Island. A large part of this so-called 
control is imaginary. Whenever there is a flutter in 
the banks here people all over the country begin to 
stop buying or paying debts and hoard their money. 
This withdraws millions of money from circulation— 
and “Wall Street” gets a new reputation for making 
times “hard” or easy. Now the way to get along 
without “Wall Street” is to get along without it. 
Let 5,000,000 farmers spend on an average $25 each 
and we' have $125,000,000 put into direct circulation 
and “Wall Street” has nothing to do with it. The 
time to buy needed goods or live stock or to contract 
for seed and fertilizer is right now. Do not wait to 
see what “Wall Street” will do but go ahead with 
confidence, within your means. Trickling streams of 
confidence from millions of homes will make a flood 
which will cover the country. 
BREVITIES. 
A man is as lie does. 
How are the hens doing? 
During the last year 1,285,359 aliens came to this 
country. 
I quite admire your habit of sticking to it as well as 
“sic-ing 'em.” s. a. d. 
Do you imagine that power of speech conies from 
power of throat? 
Get off 1 ho spectacles which make a mouse in your 
path seem like a lion. 
He is a wise man who knows how to discount the real 
estate agent's story and how to enlarge the tale of the 
bashful man. 
Denmark wants more American apples and calls for 
Baldwins, Ben Davis and Russet. The Danes are educated 
as to quantity, but they need a touch of quality. 
Has any one successfully grafted the pecan upon the 
hickory? The two are related and ought to make a happy 
family, but are they like some human relatives? 
The annual meeting of the Western New York Evap¬ 
orated Fruit Growers Association will be held at the 
Chamber of Commerce, Rochester, N. Y., January 10-11. 
A farmer with a good bed of sand on his farm and 
spare time in Winter can do a good business in making 
cement blocks for sale. That is a fine theory—is there 
any fact in it? 
Some 50.000 of those “undigestible Americans” left 
New York in one week. They took with them probably 
an average of $300 in cash, which will be spent this 
Winter in Europe. 
A pork barrel 264 years old Is reported from Connec¬ 
ticut. It is said to have acquired an especially fine 
flavor during Its years of usefulness. It seems quite safe 
to assert that this barrel was not made by a trust. 
The English sparrow is becoming such a nuisance to 
fruit growers in New South Wales that a conference is 
urged to discuss the situation, and to devise remedial 
measures. The sparrows are said to be especially destruc¬ 
tive to grapes and figs. 
The Alabama Legislature has passed a forestry law. 
While not all its friends desire the law is a start in 
the right direction. The timber in most States was 
worth to start with as much as the minerals in the soil. 
But once taken the minerals cannot be replaced, but the 
forests can be made over. 
A New York man mixed lard and gunpowder to poul¬ 
tice a horse; then casually threw the paper on which he 
did the mixing into the stove. A resulting explosion 
wrecked the room and the amateur veterinarian and his 
companion were picked out of the remains by the fire¬ 
men. The poultice escaped. 
A food faddist tells us that ordinary butter may con¬ 
tain five to ten billion bacteria to the pound—mostly 
harmful. As we can’t boil or bake butter to sterilize it, 
while spraying it with formaldehyde would not add to 
its digestibility, about the only tiling left for the con¬ 
sumer is to give up butter, or to treat the bacteria with 
silent contempt. 
Here is an English court case. A man hired a shooting 
—that is, hired the right to kill the game found on a 
certain piece of land. Two dogs belonging to a farmer, and 
worth $35, chased a rabbit on this land, and tlie man 
who “hired the shooting” killed them. The farmer brought 
suit, but lost, on the plea that the dogs would have 
killed the rabbit had they not been shot. The rabbit 
was valued at 15 cents! 
