144 
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. 
Wsi. P. Dillon, Secretary. 
Dr. Walt er Van Fleet and Mrs. E. T. Rovle, Associate Editors. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $ 2 . 04 , equal to 
8s. 6d., or 8*2 marks, or lO^ 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 
advertisingin our columns, and any such swinalerwill 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 
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 30 cents for strictly introductory pur¬ 
poses. We depend on our old friends to make this 
known to neighbors and friends. 
* 
As an argument against primary nominations some 
of the politicians have been pointing to Oregon. In 
that State the people voted their preference for 
Governor Chamberlain—a Democrat—for Senator. 
At the same time they elected a Republican Legisla¬ 
ture. Efforts were made to induce this Legislature 
to break its pledge and elect a Republican after the 
people had declared for a Democrat. The politicians 
wanted this done, as it would show the weakness of 
the primary system. But the Legislature refused to 
break the pledge and sent Chamberlain to the Senate. 
We know little about the fitness of the men, and 
care nothing about their politics, but we rejoice that 
the Oregon Legislature respected the primary pledge. 
* 
One reader of “Nell Beverly, Farmer,” thinks it 
improbable that anywhere in this country automobiles 
and ox-teams can be found side by side in public 
places. We have found a place in Connecticut where 
both autos and ox-carts come regularly to church 
or camp meeting—both bringing passengers. The 
autos are owned by “city farmers,” and the oxen by 
hill farmers. There are times when the patient ox 
walks past the auto and its impatient driver. There 
is probably no other State in the Union where this 
strange combination can be found. It is charac¬ 
teristic of Connecticut that the State contains some 
of the most profitable farms in the world, and also 
some of the most unprofitable. That is why Con¬ 
necticut is a State of mighty half-worked possibili¬ 
ties—for many of the farms can be made to rank 
with the best. 
* 
Tennessee is the latest State to prohibit the sale 
of intoxicating liquor. Here, as in every other pro¬ 
hibition State, the movement started in the country 
and was carried through by country people. The 
present demand for temperance legislation comes 
from the farm home. It is sure to grow stronger, 
because of the very fact that farmers are conserva¬ 
tive. They are slow to start, and only decide to 
act after careful deliberation. After they once start, 
however, there is no heading them off. We there¬ 
fore expect to see other agricultural States adopt 
State prohibition. In other States we believe that 
the legal sale of liquor will be finally limited to the 
larger towns and cities. Country people have for a 
long time realized that liquor selling and saloons 
were hurting them. Not only is the saloon a curse 
morally, but it is a business evil as well. Nothing 
will do more to demoralize farm help, while a great 
share of the vast sums paid for liquor are taken out 
of legitimate markets for food and other things 
which farmers produce and offer for sale. The 
question has now gone past sentiment and has be¬ 
come a business proposition, with peculiar significance 
to farmers. That is why prohibition is spreading. 
* 
Senator Root went before the New York Legis¬ 
lature to express his views on public matters. He 
gave a guarded endorsement of the parcels post— 
evidently feeling his way along to sense the voice of 
the Legislature. The newspaper reports printed “ap¬ 
plause” at this point. But they did the same when 
Mr. Root said he was opposed to electing Senators 
by popular vote. At the Republican State conven¬ 
tion Mr. Root was in favor of a primary nominations 
law. Before the Legislature he failed to put himself 
on record. He did not, as was the case with parcels 
post, make a guarded statement to see how the Legis¬ 
lature would take it. Our opinion is that Senator 
1'HE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Root looks over the heads of those legislators and 
sees the writing on the wall. As a shrewd lawyer 
he knows what evidence is. From his letter printed 
on tWk page we see that he wants true sentiment 
and not the manufactured article. Thus, when men 
like Senator Raines talk against primary nomination 
Mr. Root will look up the figures. He will find 
that the people gave Gov. Hughes a majority sev¬ 
eral thousand greater than they gave Senator Raines. 
Gov. Hughes stood for primary nominations and 
Senator Raines opposed the plan. Tt will not be 
hard for Senator Root to find that this vote for the 
Governor is “true feeling” and not manufactured 
sentiment. Let him go into any rural county and 
he will find the same thing. He will also find that 
in the end it will not make much difference what 
the bosses in the Legislature say. They are “manu¬ 
facturing” sentiment for their own advantage, but 
the machine is breaking down. 
* 
What does a farmer get out of the tariff on 
sugar? Last week we gave some figures showing 
the cost and profit (?) in growing sugar beets. If 
this is not a true statement we stand ready to cor¬ 
rect. The point to take up first is the “default” 
clause in that contract,—where a grower is unable 
to sow all the beets named in the agreement. Jerome 
Botsford brought suit against the Lyons Beet Sugar 
Refining Co. to recover $2,120. Mr. Botsford claims 
to have delivered 124 tons of beets to the company 
in the Fall of 1907, and that payment of $620 there¬ 
for has been refused. He also claims that the con¬ 
tract work of topping and piling his beets was so 
carelessly done that 300 tons were frozen—at a loss 
of $1,500. The Sugar Company puts in a counter¬ 
claim of $1,968.44. They claim that Mr. Botsford 
agreed to sow 50 acres of beets, while he only put 
in 35. They charge him a “default” of $25 per acre, 
and also for $1,21S.44 for money advanced. This 
case came to trial in Rochester, January 11-16, and 
the jury failed to agree. We understand that the 
jury voted unanimously that Mr. Botsford had a 
cause for action. On the question of damage the 
vote stood 11 to one. The case will be tried again. 
* 
Gov. Harmon of Ohio decided to shake up the 
Ohio Board of Agriculture. His object evidently was 
to obtain as many Democratic officeholders as pos¬ 
sible. We are informed that he stated emphatically 
that he would, if need be, remove every member of 
the Board in order to obtain a Democratic secretary. 
That is not the way to talk, but as Gov. Harmon 
dictates the talking in this case there was nothing else 
to be said. Mr. A. P. Sandies was elected secretary 
in place of Mr. Calvert. Mr. Sandies will, we believe, 
make an excellent officer. He has been in full sym¬ 
pathy with the Board in its fight with the Smith 
Fertilizer Co., and we confidently expect him to 
carry the fight to a finish. Gov. Harmon expresses 
amazement that the Smith Fertilizer Co. has been 
able to hold up the State of Ohio. Much additional 
testimony against the concern has been obtained, and 
the Supreme Court has now appointed a referee to 
hear the testimony in the case. It is also claimed 
that if the new “combination” of fertilizer manufac¬ 
turers is made the Ohio Attorney-General will do his 
best to prevent its incorporation in that State. This 
is because he claims that this combination is made 
to enable several companies which have sold poor 
goods “to get away from their old names.” 
* 
The Virginia Horticultural Society is branching 
out in a new line. Several varieties of apples grow 
well nigh to perfection in parts of Virginia. Most 
of them are eagerly taken by European buyers for 
export. New these Virginia growers have seen the 
Pacific coast apples coming across the country and 
selling at prices which gave the grower more for a 
box than many of us get for a barrel. The Vir¬ 
ginia growers bought boxes of this fruit and opened 
them at their society meetings. Thus they found 
that the best Virginia apples were just as good. In 
New York alone there are nearly 50,000 natives of 
Virginia. They with their families would make a 
market for half a million boxes of apples if they 
could be sure they were getting Virginia fruit. As 
a matter of fact, “Cape Cod” and “Virginia” will 
make about the best trade-mark names that could 
be found in American geography. Many of the 
southern people did not at first like the idea of ped¬ 
dling or trying for retail trade while foreign buyers 
will take entire crops. The Plorticultural Society 
has begun to advertise “Virginia apples.” An exhibit 
of boxed fruit has been made in New York, and the 
apples will be put on sale under a trade-mark. That 
is the way to do it. We never expected that Vir¬ 
ginia would kick down tradition and get in ahead 
of Vermont—but it has been done. 
February 13, 
The United States Supreme Court has decided 
that a trust doing business “in restraint of trade” 
cannot collect debts from a customer. The Conti¬ 
nental Wall Paper Co. has nearly or quite a monop¬ 
oly in the manufacture of wall paper. This com¬ 
pany sold paper to a customer who refused payment 
on the ground that, since the wall paper company 
was a combination which restrained trade by pre¬ 
venting competitive conditions, it was illegal and 
could not therefore legally collect debts. The court 
has upheld this claim and decides: 
A court will not. lend its aid in any way to enforce or 
to realize the fruits of an agreement which appears to be 
lainted with illegality although the result of applying the 
rule may sometimes be to shield a defendant who has got 
something for which as between man and man he ought 
perhaps to pay but for which he is unwilling to pay. 
Four out of nine justices of the court held that 
“a lawful purchase is not made unlawful merely by 
being the fulfilment of an unlawful contract,” but 
the majority ruled against them. The effect of this 
decision will be far-reaching, and will affect dealers 
in oil, shoes, school books and other products. They 
will be obliged to give up trade agreements or sell 
for cash. In the end we think it will help break 
down monopoly. Under this decision the Govern¬ 
ment could now seize goods made by the Wall 
Paper Company when they entered interstate traffic. 
It probably will do so, unless the trust is dissolved 
and reorganized legally. 
* 
A s we expected and predicted, the New York 
Legislature elected Elihu Root as Senator from New 
York. The State now has a strong man in the 
Senate, and his power will soon be felt. We have 
had some correspondence with Senator Root regard¬ 
ing the needs of farmers and the feeling of public 
men toward farming. In one of his letters he says: 
I am glad that the farmers of New York are getting 
waked up to the Importance of looking after their repre¬ 
sentatives in regard to matters which affect their in¬ 
terests. A pretty close observation for a good many years 
has satisfied me that both in Congress and the State 
Legislatures our representatives really wish to do what 
is for the interest of their constituents, but they are 
assaulted on every side by people who want to get things 
done, and who make a great noise about it and bring 
pressure to bear, so that it is very difficult for the rep¬ 
resentatives to tell what is the true feeling of their con¬ 
stituents and what is a manufactured appearance of pub¬ 
lic sentiment. This is especially true of matters which 
are complicated and require a good deal of investigation 
and study, which it is often difficult for legislators to find 
time for amid the enormous mass of questions they have 
to act upon. Some newspapers really try to represent 
public opinion, and I believe your paper to be of that 
class. A great many papers, however, express views which 
are dictated by special interests and represent opinion as 
being what they want it to be rather than as it really is. 
Farmers as a class have been at a disadvantage in mak¬ 
ing their wants and needs known, and impressing them 
upon their representatives because they do not get to¬ 
gether in organized bodies to the extent that business 
men do, and because then are not in the habit of writing 
freely about the matters they are interested in. 
That is what we have claimed for years. It is why 
we have urged farmers to vote with the postage 
stamp. The public man does not care for manu¬ 
factured sentiment unless it is in his own interests. 
What he respects and fears is genuine sentiment 
coming straight from voters. Thus it is that peti¬ 
tions and “resolutions” have little weight, while per¬ 
sonal letters carrying your real feelings over your 
own signature always receive attention. The farmers 
of New York should not trust to their various 
organizations to speak for them, but speak for them¬ 
selves through ink and postage stamp. 
BREVITIES. 
We would like to own that span of mules pictured on 
first page. For cultivating in narrow rows the mule is 
hard to beat! 
Last Fall we seeded Alfalfa in drills something- over 
two feet apart. The plants made a good growth, and are 
likely to live through the Winter. As an experiment, we 
expect to cultivate them like corn. 
‘‘Delegated investment” is a good name for the money 
people send to strangers who have little beside a patent 
•r tome undeveloped wild land. Better primary investment 
—which means investing your money where you can 
watch it. 
A farmer sent some goods to a New York commission 
man and failed to get returns. Finally a check came, 
which was refused at the bank. Then the farmer came 
up here and hunted up the man. He found the dealer, 
who pleaded that he was “hard up.” “Yet,” says the 
farmer, “he was smoking a fine cigar!” 
Talk about advice to those bashful Vermonters, here 
is a little of it: “Dear Sir; I noticed in your paper that 
a certain fellow had his apple trees eaten up by the deer. 
He is bashful, lie is modest, he is a woman ; let him stay 
in the kitchen, give him an apron.” 
Indiana. old alkali ike. 
The Australian salt bush (Atriplex semibaccata) has 
been grown with fair success in Colorado, California and 
some other western States. It grows in alkali soil and 
makes a quantity of coarse hay. It will no doubt be 
boomed by seedsmen as a general cropping plant. Do not 
attempt to grow it where corn does well. 
