30 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 409 Pearl Street, Sew 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 
8 s. 6 d., or 8*2 marks, or 10*2 francs. Remit in money order, 
express order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates 50 cents per agate line—7 words. Discount for time 
orders. References required for advertisers unknown to 
us; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
"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 ourcolumns, and any such swindler will be publicly ex¬ 
posed. We protect subcribers 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 
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. 
* 
I have just finished a lazy day by reading, this 
afternoon, “Nell Beverly, Farmer.” It is a bully 
good book, and true to a whole lot of back-country 
life that 1 have seen and been up against myself. 
I am sure you struck a rich lead when you got 
hold of this story. Nell is typical of the grit that 
a lot of our Yankee schoolrnarms and farmers’ 
wives are made of, and the conditions she faced 
can be duplicated over and over again in many 
sections of New England. Whatever your readers 
in other sections of the country may think of ii, 
I am sure it will touch the spot with our eastern 
people who in a measure have been there them¬ 
selves. j. H. HALE. 
Connecticut. 
* 
The meeting of the Western New York Horti¬ 
cultural Society at Rochester is the great event of 
the horticultural year. It would be wellnigh impos¬ 
sible for a fruit grower to attend this meeting with¬ 
out learning something to his advantage. The date 
this year is January 27-2S. Come if you can get 
there. 
* 
Several candidates for Secretary of Agriculture 
in Mr. Taft’s Cabinet seem to be “in the hands of 
their friends.” Some of them are perennials who- 
are “mentioned” at regular intervals. The R. N.-Y. 
has no candidate and no “endorsement” for anyone. 
We regard it as something of an impertinence to 
Mr. Taft to try to force him to select certain men 
for his Cabinet. He should be left entirely free to 
choose the head of the Agricultural Department, and 
we hope he will pay little attention to the “boom¬ 
ers.” 
* 
“You hit it exactly when you ask for a list of Mr. 
Burbank’s really superior productions as compared 
with those of other poor originators.” 
Thus writes an Ohio reader. We are still waiting 
for that list. It will be a good way to settle an im¬ 
portant matter. One can hardly pick up a paper or 
magazine without finding some reference to the won¬ 
derful creative work of Mr. Burbank. Now it is 
sage advice about the rearing of children, then 
some argument against the use of tobacco, or again 
some dream of a happy time coming when all of 
man’s wants will be supplied from a single plant. 
“By their fruits ye shall know them!” Without in 
the least disparaging Mr. Burbank’s great ability we 
think it about time some one made a list of the things 
he has created which have run the gauntlet of prac¬ 
tical use! 
* 
One of the things which the incoming New York 
Legislature must do is to give the Agricultural De¬ 
partment authority to prosecute violations of the 
agricultural law. At present the Attorney-General’s 
office attempts this work, and often makes a great 
mess of it. The Agricultural Department may make 
up a good case against an offender and be all ready 
to proceed. It cannot do this, however, but must 
turn the case over to some deputy of the Attorney 
General. Such men will rarely take any personal 
interest in the case, or be ready to study out the 
peculiar details which must be mastered if suits are 
to be won. The result of this is long and wasteful 
delays, increased violation of law and increased bold¬ 
ness on the part of violators. The way to remedy 
this is to give back the power of enforcement to 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
the Agricultural Department. Other departments, 
such as Excise and Forests, Fish and Game, have 
this power, and it belongs to agriculture. The 
statement here made will explain why there have been 
no prosecutions in some cases or, at best, very feeble 
ones. We cannot fairly hold the Department respon¬ 
sible until it has the needed power. The Legislature 
must give this power. 
* 
I hose were true “Choice New York apples” de¬ 
scribed by Mr. Bradley on page 3. Whoever bought 
them got what he paid for. Mr. Bradley has a small 
orchard—of six acres. He set the trees himself 34 
years ago. For 17 years he got practically nothing 
from them, and 20 years ago he had about decided 
to pull them out. Thus far the story is like a dash 
of cold water over those who see visions when they 
plant an orchard. The trees have now made good, 
and Mr. Bradley says he has sold, including packages, 
$19,000 worth of fruit! 
* 
We could fill a page showing the different meth¬ 
ods our friends employ in spreading what they learn 
from The R. N.-Y. Here is one from Pennsylvania: 
"We post portions of it, cut from the paper, in a 
conspicuous place in the bank here, where all farmers 
can see it!’’ 
When a rogue is exposed or something advocated 
which needs help from farmers, up goes the clipping 
at the bank. That means bringing the heart close to 
where the treasure is, and it is a fine idea. We doubt 
if any paper on earth has warmer and more sincere 
friends than those who compose The R. N.-Y. family. 
* 
"ll c don’t sec how you dare print such articles 
as those about ‘dishonest apples’ and similar things." 
The man who wrote that must have a poor opin¬ 
ion of farmers and very weak faith in their integ¬ 
rity. These “dishonest Baldwins” did not come in 
barrels bearing the grower’s name! There was no 
name on them at all. The farmers want a chance to 
put their name on the package and stand by it. 
Every time we print such articles people start up 
everywhere asking where they can find farmers who 
will give them honest apples. We have been able to 
satisfy them and make permanent customers. It 
would be a curious thing if we did not “dare” to 
print things which help our readers to a direct 
trade! 
* 
During the 10 months ending November 1 there 
were exported from this country 1,064,082 tons of 
phosphate rock—valued at $8,330,340. The total 
production in 1907 was 2,265,343 tons. Thus nearly 
half of this supply of phosphoric acid was sent out 
of the country. Most Americans have been led to 
believe that the supplies of mineral phosphates were 
inexhaustible. We now suddenly wake up to find 
that this is not so. The United States Geological 
Survey finds that the South Carolina deposits are 
nearly exhausted, while Florida has reached the 
limit of production. In Tennessee the geologists 
find 11 years’ supply. Most of the remaining de¬ 
posits are on public lands in the West. President 
Roosevelt was so much impressed by this report that 
he has ordered the public lands which contain phos¬ 
phates withdrawn from entry. It will be held by 
the Government for the benefit of the people, the 
main object being to prevent its, export to foreign 
lands. This is a wise thing to do and Congress 
should at once remove the tariff on basic slag. This 
will enable us to bring from Europe more phosphoric 
acid to offset the loss in exporting our phosphates. 
* 
The New York Times has an editorial headed 
“The Farmers,” which would win the blue ribbon if 
it were entered either for stupid ignorance or pure 
'unadulterated impertinence. The Times refers to 
Secretary Wilson’s statement that even with short 
crops the year’s product of American farms is worth 
nearly $8,000,000.000.Then it goes on: 
It is pertinent to ask whether the farmers want all the 
money there is. The farmers' extortion rivals the trusts’, 
and their methods in many cases are worse. The manner 
in which the tobacco and cotton crops have been mar¬ 
keted is worse than anything told of the Steel Trust, and 
rivals the worst alleged of the Oil Trust. Nobody grudges 
the farmers whatever they earn, hut ought they not to 
practice a like philosophy? In particular, ought they not 
to leave the railways alone and not worry them with two- 
cent fare laws and increases of taxes at a time of deficiency 
of profits? Particularly is not this true when the defi¬ 
ciency in the railway profits is due to a decrease in 
rates and to embarrassment in financing the improvements 
to which the farmers so largely owe their fabulous gains? 
That is certainly worthy of our old friend, T. J. 
Norton, and is a fair sample of the reasoning of most 
of the city men who attempt to discuss the ques¬ 
tion. If “nobody grudges the farmers whatever 
they earn,” why are they forced to be content with 
less than 35 cents out of the dollar which consum- 
January 2, 
ers pay for their produce? We are very glad to 
learn that nobody grudges them this 35 cents. Ex¬ 
cept in individual cases here and there, where pro¬ 
ducer and consumer come close together, the handlers 
take 65 cents and give the farmer 35 of the final 
consumer’s dollar. If this is all they really “earn” 
it is about time we found it out. Of course the 
farmers ought to let the railroads alone. They do 
nothing except provide freight and life for these 
railroads. If the plows stopped for a year you 
could pasture cows where the trains now run. There 
wouldn’t be money enough left in “Wall Street” 
to get up steam in a freight engine. It would all 
be spent for food, and the farmer would “earn” 
just the part of the dollar he saw fit to dictate. And 
if he really did put the screws on he could truth¬ 
fully sav that he learned how to do it from “Wall 
Street” As for that last sentence, it certainly en¬ 
titles the author to a life pension from the railroads. 
Practically every railroad in the country owes its 
very existence to special gifts and privileges from 
the people. Vast tracts of land have been given 
them for nothing, and they have dictated legislation 
in their own way. Many of them are over-capital¬ 
ized and paying dividends on a sum several times 
the actual value. What farmers and other shippers 
complain about is that they are forced to pay high 
rates in order that all this “watered stock” shall 
draw “profits.” Ever since the world begun “ Let us 
alone! has been the cry of the men who got 65 
cents of the laborer’s dollar. Who wouldn’t ask to 
be let alone with that slice of the cake? Yet all 
real progress in human history has been won by 
pitchforking the strong away from unjust special 
privilege. They never have left their booty willing¬ 
ly. We are_ glad to have papers like the Times talk 
this way. The brutal ignorance of it is so clear that 
it all helps to make people see that they must work 
out their salvation with their own weapons. 
* 
Suppose you had a man working your farm while 
you were paying the bills. You get a bill from a 
livery-stable keeper for hauling coal, freight and 
other things from town to the farm. You look it up 
and find that every week-day in the year your team 
has gone to town with a load of milk or other pro¬ 
duce and has come back with an empty wagon. In¬ 
stead of hauling coal, freight, or whatever there was 
the man who works for you has made a rule to hire 
all this done. He might just as well have carried 
every pound of the freight, but the livery man 
wanted the job and got it. How long would it take 
you to upset that nice little arrangement? You 
would cut off that livery bill at once, and use your 
own horses to do that work. That would be the 
only thing for you to do, for a few bills like that 
would in the course of a few years eat up your 
farm. Now Uncle Sam has about 39,000 rural de¬ 
livery mail wagons running about the country deliv¬ 
ering letters to farmers. Many of them do not carry 
mail enough to pay the salary of the mail carrier— 
for just the reason that the horses on that farm 
scarcely earned their feed. The mail wagon runs 
nearly empty, while at the same time the public along 
the mail route may be paying out hundreds of dollars 
to express companies for carrying goods. Either that 
or they go without things which they would buy if 
these could be carried by mail at a fair rate of 
postage. By making these 39,000 wagons carry such 
mail packages your Uncle Sam would pay expenses, 
and either wipe out the yearly debt or pay better 
salaries, or reduce present postage. Now why 
should not the Government service be run as you 
would run your farm or your business? Give us a 
reason why we should be held up in this way to 
support the express companies. We shall continue 
to be held up until we force Congress to give us a 
fair parcels post. 
BREVITIES. 
Better baked beans paid for titan roast beef on trust. 
Where your fight is your heart ought to be. if it is 
not—give up the fight! 
It cannot be said that the Japan plums are rushing 
many fruit growers into great profit. 
“Your paper fits the people,” writes one subscriber. 
It may fit because we try to fight for them. 
Some ef our readers report the worst consequences of 
a drought—ground frozen before sufficient rain fell to fill 
wells or springs. 
We are sometimes asked if Dwarf Essex rape can be 
used for Winter feed. Only in a latitude like Florida, 
where it grows all Winter. It cannot be cured like hay. 
"Tiie hayseeds are spouting.” is the way a politician 
refers to the way farmers are talking. You are right, they 
are. and the politicians will go through a course of sprouts 
as a result of It. 
You wouldn’t from choice buy water for fuel. That is 
what you do when you buy coal in a wet time. In some 
cases there are 200 pounds of water in a ton of wet coal. 
You make that much in buying dry coal. 
