1909. 
401 
NO TARIFF ON PLANT FOOD. 
No American tariff should ever be levied on plant 
food or fertilizing material. As a people we have 
been for years squandering our natural resources, 
with the result that chemical fertilizers are now 
more or less necessary on 60 per cent of our soils. 
This need will go on increasing, and we must now 
compete with Europe in the world’s market for 
manures. Instead of making it harder to import 
plant food from abroad the national policy should 
be to make such imports as easy as possible. There¬ 
fore no tariff or hindrance should be placed upon 
any imports of potash, phosphoric acid or nitrogen 
for use as fertilizers. That should be adopted as a 
national policy. 
There may be fair chance for an argument over 
the justice of a tariff on wool, hides, sugar or po¬ 
tatoes, because these things are produced here by 
our farmers, and there can be no doubt that free 
imports of foreign-grown articles may affect prices 
which farmers receive. In such cases it becomes 
a question between producer and consumer, for a 
tariff may make the price too high for one or too 
low for the other. In the case of imported plant 
food no such argument can hold because there is no 
American industry that could possibly be helped or 
“protected” by a tariff on plant food. We need all 
the plant food we can get, and any duty upon it 
would simply add to the price paid by farmers for 
their fertilizers without any compensating advan¬ 
tage. 
Under the present tariff potash salts and ashes are 
admitted free, while basic slag and sulphate of am¬ 
monia are taxed. For some years Congress has 
been asked to remove the duty from basic slag. 
There never was any reason for this tariff. The 
slag was classed with iron ores and those were taxed. 
The slag is a phosphatic fertilizer, and brings to this 
country the small amount of phosphoric acid which 
we get in return for the millions of tons of phos¬ 
phate rock now sent to Europe. Under the tariff 
bill now being discussed by Congress all of these 
fertilizing materials are put on the free list—where 
they belong. It was felt that Congress had at last 
realized the true American policy regarding imports 
of plant food. Later a serious “joker” was found 
in the bill. This is a clause which is designed to 
put a tariff weapon in the hands of our officials by 
giving them a chance to retaliate. There are some 
200 articles put on the free list. Of these some 70 
are selected as tariff brickbats to throw at any nation 
which discriminates against any American goods. 
For example, suppose Germany should use such 
discrimination. Under this clause in the tariff bill, 
our Government could put a duty of 20 per cent ad 
valorem (according to the value) on slag and all 
potash salts. The result of this would be an increase 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
of $8 to $10 a ton for potash and $3 or more on 
stag. 
Under present conditions this tariff would be paid 
by the fertilizer manufacturer and later by the farm¬ 
ers. There would be no getting away from it, for 
there is no place in this country where available 
potash can be obtained. We are absolutely depend¬ 
ent upon Germany for our fertilizer potash, and this 
tariff would fall more directly upon farmers than 
any other which can be thought of. It would be 
another matter if there were any substitute for pot¬ 
ash or if we could get along without it. There 
is no substitute. We cannot fertilize without it and 
we are obliged to obtain it in Germany. No greater 
piece of folly could be thought of than for the Gov¬ 
ernment to use this absolute necessity with which 
to fight a tariff war. It would be worse than a man 
going to the house for lbaves of bread or cans of 
fruit to throw at some enemy when the yard was 
full of stones and brickbats. 
These fertilizing materials should be taken from 
the list of the products named for a retaliatory duty. 
Let there be no possible chance to injure our farm¬ 
ers in this way. Every man who uses fertilizers 
should at once write to Hon. Sereno E. Payne, Wash¬ 
ington, D. C., and ask that all products used as fer¬ 
tilizers be taken from this retaliatory list. 
STANDARDS FOR NEW YORK FRUIT. 
The best producers of both green and dried apples in 
New York have long recognized the handicap they labor 
under in having no regular standard for fruit. There are 
different grades with no uniformity in appearance and 
quality. One reason why western fruit is so popular in 
our markets is that it is uniformly packed. When a man 
buys a certain grade he knows just what he will get. 
With a view to remedying this trouble meetings have been 
held in Rochester wnich were attended by delegates from 
all the large horticultural organizations in the Stale. The 
evaporated fruit men take a lively interest in the pro¬ 
ceedings and at the meeting of three weeks ago it was 
decided to ask all having evaporated fruit to send samples 
of their “ideal standard” of “prime,” “choice” and “fancy” 
to Ilown Bros., of East Rochester, that a committee with 
experts from New York dealers may select from numerous 
samples a “type” of each grade; then analyze and de¬ 
scribe those, for the benefit of inspectors to be appointed 
later to pass upon grades. Later on it is suggested that 
the same plan of “optional inspection” 1 h> followed with 
barreled fruit, and when so inspected to be stamped with 
inspection brand as a guarantee to jobbers and consumers. 
This seems to be a substantial effort to improve the con¬ 
dition under which fruit is sold. All fruit growers should 
help the plan along._ 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The eighteenth annual meeting 
of the Connecticut Beekeepers’ Association for the election 
of officers and the transaction of other business, will be 
held Friday, April 9, room 50, State Capitol, Hartford. 
There is to be a fine programme with Mr. J. E. Crane, of 
Vermont, as chief speaker. James A. Smith, Hartford, is 
secretary of the Beekeepers’ Association. There ought to 
be 500 new members. 
A heavy fall of snow was reported throughout western 
Kansas and eastern Colorado March 30. The precipitation 
will be of great value to wheat. 
DIRECT PRIMARIES AND CONGRESSMEN. 
Your editorials on Gov. Hughes’ direct nomination pro¬ 
gramme have been particularly satisfactory, because Con¬ 
necticut follows New York in all such reforms, and we 
need this one mightily, it occurred to me that the re¬ 
cent “insurgent” move in Congress might furnish some 
pretty good arguments in this matter. Without knowing 
anything about it I feel that it is a pretty safe guess 
that those Representatives who defied Cannon were mostly 
from direct primary districts, and conversely. 
Connecticut. chhistoi’heu m. callup. 
R. N.-Y.—The New York Tribune prints the follow¬ 
ing list of 31 “insurgents”—that is, those Republicans 
who broke away and voted for fairer rules to govern the 
House proceedings: Cary, Cooper, Davidson, Ivopp, Kiister- 
mann, Lenroot, Nelson and Morse, of Wisconsin; Fowler, 
of New Jersey; Gardner and Lovering, of Massachusetts; 
Gronna, of North Dakota; Hayes, of California; Hollings¬ 
worth and Johnson, of Ohio; Madison and Murdock, of 
Kansas; Good, Haugen, Hubbard, Kendall, l’ickett and 
Wood, of Iowa; Hinshaw, Kinkaid and Morris, of Ne¬ 
braska; Lindbergh, Davis, Steenerson and Volstead, of 
Minnesota, and Poindexter, of Washington. It is a fact that 
all but five of these men were nominated by direct vote 
of the people. Three of the live are from districts where 
the majority of the voters demanded a change and would 
have resented any other vote. Never before the days of 
direct primaries has there been such a serious stand for 
independence. You will notice that eight men from Wis¬ 
consin and six from Iowa and four from Minnesota joined 
the “insurgents.” These men were nominated by direct 
vote; they knew what their people wanted, and were thus 
able to represent the true policy of their State. Speaker 
Cannon and the rest of the “stand-pat” Congressmen know 
well enough what all this means. It is only the begin¬ 
ning. The trouble with the New York primary bill is that 
it gives the politicians too great a chance to select candi¬ 
dates. 
I hope your State will get a primary nominations law. 
It knocks out the political ring. Farming has certainly 
paid well the past season. My grain crop was better 
than ever before. My crops consisted of the following: 
80 acres of wheat, yield, 3,248 bushels, price 1 Y> cent; 
40 acres of oats, yield, 2,902 bushels, price 1%” cents; 
45 acres of Red clover, yield, 214 bushels, price 9% and 
10 cents pound; 47 acres of potatoes, yield, nearly 0,000 
bushels, one cent. The prices given are what I sold at 
except on the potatoes; I got from .$1 to $1.10 per hun¬ 
dred. I sold between $7,000 and $8,000 worth of produce 
the past season. After paying expenses I had a little over 
$5,000 for profit. I keep one hand all the time; think I 
could make a good showing if I had all my land cleared. 
Clackamas Co., Oregon. u. h. b. 
The fruit on the plateau lands of southern Kentucky, 
the Middle South, was never in better condition for a full 
crop than at the last of March. We have no San Jose 
scale on our plateau. j. a. m. 
Kingsville, Ky. 
A new German method of keeping potatoes without 
sprouting is to pack them in coke. 
Don’t blame the creamery for giving your milk a low 
test until you are sure the cows are not the robbers. 
The city of Aberdeen, S. D., has just finished an eight- 
inch artesian well for fire protection which is 1,210 feet 
deep and has a pressure of 205 pounds per square inch. 
Colorado claims an authentic yield of 847*4 bushels 
of potatoes on a measured acre of land at Del Norte. Two 
governors measured the land and the yield. The potato 
has come to be such a standard crop in Colorado that a 
special potato institute train was run for a week over the 
Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. 
c 
Paint Talks, No. 6—Painting Metal Work 
There are many places on the farm where iron, steel, tin and galvan¬ 
ized iron are used. These metals require different paint from wood, 
brick or concrete. • 
I in roofs, water-spouts, the steel skeletons of wind-mills and water 
tanks, metal parts of wagons, implements and machinery—all these and 
similar things should be painted with National Lead Co.’s Red Lead 
paint—one gallon of linseed oil (one-third being boiled oil) to 28 to 33 
pounds of red ,ead. 
After thoroughly coating the metal with red lead, the surface can be 
brought into harmony with any desired color scheme by finishing with 
National Lead Co.’s pure white lead (Dutch Boy Painter trade-mark) 
tinted to the desired shade. 
DIRECTIONS FOR USING RED LEAD 
Send for Painting Outfit No. 8* It contains specifications detailing 
every step in preparing the surface and painting with red lead, as well as 
other helpful directions for general painting with white 
lead. Ask your dealer for our red lead or white lead. 
If he hasn’t them write us. 
NATIONAL LEAD COMPANY 
A n office in each of the following cities: 
Now York Boston Buffalo Cincinnati Chicago Cleveland 
tit. Louis (John T. Lewis <fc Bros. Oo.. Philadelphia) 
(Nationul Lead & Oil Company, Pittsburg) 
SOFTLY and QUIETLY the hayl” 
L is being elevated and loaded J 
He is using with great satisfaction 
_ The NEW DEERE „ 
Cylinder loadeK 
It’s worth any fanner’s time to investigate a hay'* 
loader that gathers up all the hay, but leaves the _ 
bottom trash — •'-‘■ft ”7 .. ^ 
That will load anything from the lightest swath to the heaviest windrow — 
That will pick up large separate bunches of hay, or separate sheaves of any crop, 
whether bound or unbound. 
That works just as well on rough as on level ground, and that handles hay in a soft, 
persuasive way under all conditions — 
That is at home in any field and can follow the mowing machine in every kind of crop 
which can reasonably be called hay. 
If there is any comparison between the “rake bar” type of hay loader and the New 
Deere Loader it is all in favor of the New Deere. 
Mechanically considered, our two-cylinder loader is absolutely right in principle. 
Its gathering fingers are not “hook formed,” consequently they pick up hay and noth¬ 
ing but hay. 
Once started up the elevator, the strongest wind cannot dislodge it, and as it nears the 
operator, it is gradually compressed into a narrow stream making it easy to handle. 
The New Deere Loader is of durable construction, light of weight and dialt —altogether 
the best loader on the market. 
AUTOMATIC HITCH AND UNHITCH 
Deere hitches automatically, as show in small cut below, and unhitches from 
the load. It is absolutely the only loader having both of these im¬ 
proved features, which are labor and time savers. 
WRITE A POSTAL for free Loader Booklet, very fully illus¬ 
trated. Goes into the question of hay¬ 
making from a practical standpoint. Will 
surely interest you if you raise hay. 
Deere & Mansur Co. 
** Moline, Illinois 
I (\1V ^ 
LUMBER 
f Send Us Your Lumber Bill 
for Our Estimate! 
We urge you to send us your building list for our estimate. 
Make up a list of every single Item you will need and send it to vs. 
We guarantee to go overit carefully and itemize It fully, and to 
send you a statement of just what we will furnish. You can In¬ 
clude in your list of material everything needed; that means even 
plumbing and heating material, furniture, rugs, etc. 
100,000,000 FEET OF NEW 
LUMBER AT WRECKING TRICES 
We purchased direct Iron the Mills, at various Forced-Sales, 
thousandsof carloads of high-grade, first-class, brand new Lumber. 
We bought It at sacritice prices and we are offering It for sale at a 
reasonable margin of proflt. This is an opportunity of a lifetime 
to buy the very best Lumber manufactured at prices less than the 
dealer or jobber can ordinarily buy it for. Write us today. 
CHICAGO HOUSE WRECKING CO. 
35th & Iron Sts., CHICAGO 
Send for Free Catalog A io. 57. 
Wo publish a book of some600pages, contain¬ 
ing a general record of our goods and showing 
millions of dollars worth of merchandise 
secured by us at Sheriffs* Sales, Receivers* 
Sales and Man'f'rs’ Sales. It lists Building 
Material and Supplies, Machinery, Hoofing, etc. 
