708 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July 31, '• 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FA BMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal lor Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1800. 
Published Weekly by the Rural Piihli&hing Company, 409 Pearl Street, New Pork. 
Herbert W. COLI-INGWOOD. President and Editor, 
John* J. Dillon. Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm.F. Dji.lon, Secretary. 
Dr. Waiter 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. fid., or 8L> marks, or 1(1 *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.” 
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 wo 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, 
ami 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. 
* 
We desire to thank the multitude of friends who 
have written us about the “Wonderberry.” This cor¬ 
respondence ranks in volume with that called out by 
the famous Jersey cattle case We are unable to re¬ 
ply personally to all, but thank them none the less 
for their good feeling. 
* 
A month ago prospects were good for a large hay 
crop in New York. The dry weather has cut it 
short in many sections, and as a whole the crop will 
be light The dry Fall and pasturing hurt many 
meadows. Those who kept the cattle off the meadows 
last Fall will get their reward this year in more hay. 
You cannot pasture a meadow and still keep it in 
line condition. 
. * 
A co-operative fruit selling exchange has been or¬ 
ganized by leading fruit growers of Western New 
York. It will be a stock company, with local as¬ 
sociations. Its object will ‘be to market fruit under 
a brand, with strict rules for packing, grading and, 
marketing. This is a very important step. It has 
long been needed, and the character of the men 
back of it will assure success. 
* 
We surely hope that no readers of The R. N.-Y. 
will stand in the way of a light against the Brown- 
tail moth, if this insect should appear near them. 
It is a dangerous pest, and will prove a calamity if 
it once gain a foothold. The Agricultural Depart¬ 
ment has power to light it, and Commissioner Pear¬ 
son is prepared to meet it with lire and ax. Do not 
stand in his way, but make common cause against 
a dangerous enemy. The insect is carried in motor 
cars. In one such car in Massachusetts sixty of the 
caterpillars were found among the cushions. 
* 
Mr. Alfred Johnson, the “one-horse Jersey 
farmer,” begins his little story this week. Next 
week he will offer advice from his experience to city 
men who think of going to the country. We saw 
Mr. Johnson a few days ago. At 7G he was just 
starting for a trip to Alaska. The best thing about 
Mr. Johnson’s experience is the -way be passes the 
evening of life in travel and reading. Life is not 
made narrow and sad, for out of the competence 
gained from the little farm he can see the world at his 
leisure. He is right in saving that brains and good 
judgment in handling and selling crops count for 
more than brute force. 
* 
Probably most of us know of cases where re¬ 
tired farmers are suffering from the out-of-work 
disease. For an active farmer that disease is a curse. 
We have just heard of a typical case. A farmer of 
SO had made a modest fortune. It came from good 
• crops and the wise sale of his land. This farmer 
had always worked hard and lived simply. His body 
had become hard and firm through labor and plain 
food. “Now,” he said, “I will move to town and 
rest. I have worked long enough.” So he hired a 
house and “retired.” Another old farmer who stayed 
on the farm met his friend on the street one day and 
made this prophecy: “Henry, you are growing soft 
and bloated. Within a year you will be on crutches.” 
It was even so. Within a year our retired farmer 
was hobbling with a cane, and suffering from gout. 
He had continued to eat as much as ever, but had 
stopped exericising. His mind, no longer on his 
work, had nothing to dwell upon except his aches 
and pains. His old friend told him frankly: “Your 
disease is laziness, and lack of a job.” This farm¬ 
er’s wife was better off than he was, because when 
she came to town she had continued to do her own 
work. There is no greater mistake that any man of 
middle years can make then to stop working after 
spending all his life at labor. If he did but know it, 
no greater curse could be put upon him than to be 
compelled to pass his days in idleness. The best 
friend such a man can have is a lively job. 
* 
The latest development in the “Wonderberry” dis¬ 
cussion is the letter from John Lewis Childs, printed 
on the next page. Mr. Childs is right in assum¬ 
ing that we desire to be perfectly fair and just. 
We will not, under any circumstances, persecute or 
misrepresent anyone. As we point out to Mr. 
Childs, The R. N.-Y. is not yet discussing the qual¬ 
ity of the Wonderberry. We are quite willing that 
our people should wait until the berries are fully 
mature and ripe before deciding as to their value. 
We are now working upon this question— is the 
Wonderberry the same as the black nightshade? We 
offer proof that it is, and Mr. Childs will admit that 
botanical proof is the essential thing in this case. 
It is not necessary to mature the berries in order to 
decide what the plant is. 
Since Mr. Childs insists that the quality of the 
fruit should be considered, we call attention to the 
extravagance of his catalogue claim, and the mild 
statement he makes when confronted with cold pub¬ 
licity. When offering the seeds at a high figure 
Mr. Childs said: “Its influence in an economic 
sense on the human race will be far-reaching, for it 
is entirely novel and a distinct and valuable article 
of food.” Now that the plant has been distributed 
and is ripening its fruit, Mr. Childs makes the fol¬ 
lowing modest claim: “ When fully matured and ripe 
the fruit is about as palatable as the tomato.” This 
will be a rude awakening for those who have been 
hanking on the great value of the greatest novelty “we 
ever had.” However, we think Mr. Childs is at least 
partly right. The Wonderberry jwill influence the 
human race “in an economic sense.” There will be 
mighty little demand for it next year, and as the 
result of Mr. Burbank’s non-performance with his 
$10,000 bluff, thousands of dollars which would other¬ 
wise be spent for untested novelties will be saved 
for the people. It will be interesting to see what 
Mr. Childs will say in his next catalogue about the 
Wonderberry! 
* 
At Fig. 404, page 702, is shown the exact size 
of a cinder thrown out of the smokestack of a 
railroad locomotive. We have seen larger ones: 
Readers who live near railroads tell us that at 
night they have seen these large coals alive with 
fire shooting out of the engine. We want positive 
information regarding this point, because railroad 
officials usually claim that these large cinders are 
never alive when thty leave the engine. They 
claim that engines are screened, that only small 
live sparks can come out, and that the large coals 
are dead, being accumulations on the stack above the 
screen. Firemen on engines have stated that this 
is not so, but if the railroad men can claim by wit¬ 
nesses that the engines were "properly screened” 
they have what is called an adequate defense. If 
it could be shown that those big pieces were alive 
when they were blown out there would be proof 
that the engines were not “properly screened.” We 
call for information on that point Among reme¬ 
dies suggested is State inspection* of locomotives, 
with severe penalties for cases where “proper 
screens” are not used This law should go further, 
and prevent railroads from overloading the engines 
on steep grades. Many, if not most, of the fires are 
started on these grades, for the extra work causes 
stronger puffing, and this forces out extra sparks. 
The question is a serious one, for the railroads 
wilfully destroy property. The single farmer has 
little chance against them, for, in New Jersey at 
least, “proof” that the engine was properly screened 
is considered full defense. When a railroad habitu¬ 
ally uses- these fire-spreading engines, it should Fe 
proceeded against by injunction. The company 
would probably answer this by saying that a farmer 
has a remedy in suing for damages But this an¬ 
swer should not hold, because the farmer has no 
such remedy, under a law which says in effect that 
a “properly screened” engine can do no harm when 
the damage it has done is -evident to all. In New 
Jersey such an injunction ought to he tried. In 
New York we hope to have the Public Service Com¬ 
mission compel the railroads to stop burning prop¬ 
erty. Last year’s forest fires should be enough. 
On page 707 Mr. Coe voices a criticism which 
we have heard from a good many farmers. The 
New York Experiment Station conducted some 
orchard experiments to test the plan of thorough 
culture against that of mowing the grass and let¬ 
ting it rot on the ground. We went to see the 
orchard two years ago, and the cultivated part 
certainly made the better showing. It has been 
claimed; and with justice, that this grass orchard 
was not a fair test for the mulch system. We 
know that our own trees in sad hive made a 
satisfactory growth, and that growers in many 
places have been successful with mulched trees. 
We think it has been demonstrated that there are 
locations and sections where it is the better plan 
to keep the trees in sod, with some sort of mulch 
culture. It is, we think, a fair criticism to say 
that the Geneva bulletin is so written as to make 
it appear that all forms of mulching are as un¬ 
successful as the single plan of cutting grass 
once and letting it lie on the ground. There are 
too .many farmers who know better, since they 
have the evidence before them in profitable sod 
orchards. We can understand why the experiment 
was conducted on its present lines. The most suc¬ 
cessful growers in Western New York—at least the 
most influential ones—are no doubt cultivating their 
orchards. Their feeling against “sod” runs high, 
and it has no doubt influenced the Station people. 
They ought to realize that “there are others,” and 
that the practice of one corner of the State, even 
though very successful there, cannot fairly be put 
forward as an arbitrary rule. 
* 
Every day comes new evidence of the harm done 
by the foolish statements of “farm prosperity” cred¬ 
ited to Secretary Wilson. Now he is reported as 
saying that this year’s crops will reach a total of 
$8,000,000,000. The daily papers at once rush in to 
tell how rich our farmers are. The Washington 
Post declares that we should have still more if 
farmers were not so “wasteful and thriftless.” Here 
is a sample of its criminal ignorance: 
“There are enough hens in the Union to reduce 
the price of eggs to 20 cents a dozen in this town — 
stj-ictly fresh eggs—at Christmas if the hens zverc 
given a fair show.” 
For a long time farmers took these fool state¬ 
ments in silence, not realizing the harm which came 
from them. Now this harm is evident, and it is no 
wonder that we get letters like the following: 
Has not our Secretary of Agriculture outlived his use¬ 
fulness to tlie farmers of this ooiintry when he allows 
his report to reach such absurdities as are contained in 
this article? In order to make the farmer so wealthy 
and reach his enormous totals he has counted twice (lie 
sees double). First lie counts the value of the grain 
crop; then he adds to this the results of the grain 
which is almost all used on the farms, end <>011018 it 
again as poultry products, dairy products and packing¬ 
house products. This is simply juggling figures, and 
people believe it; no wonder tlie papers such as the 
Washington Post think tlie farmers thriftless and waste¬ 
ful. I will give the editor a pen of birds if he will 
produce eggs at 20 cents per dozen at current feed 
prices. f. q. white. 
We know the birds would be good ones, but we 
fight shy of the 20-cent Christmas egg proposition. 
To the man who wants to get some appropriation 
to be used in “helping agriculture” these fairy-tale 
figures are good, but for practical farmers they are 
worse than nonsense, because they give the con¬ 
sumer in town and city an entirely wrong impres¬ 
sion. This man does not realize that out of the 
big dollar which he pays for food the farmer has 
only 35 cents to cut up with hired man, dealer and 
tax collector or landlord. Secretary Wilson ought 
to be able to see what this continual “blowing” leads 
to. City people come to regard the farmers about 
as they do the big corporations which have been 
bleeding them for years. The difference is that 
the farmers get very little of the dollar, while their 
“friends” do the shouting for them. The corpora¬ 
tion get about all the dollar and have sense enough 
to do no yelling at all. 
BREVITIES. 
How far docs a hoe fly with a load of honey? 
A New Hampshire buck deer is reported to have killed 
a hull and a cow. 
Try barley as a cover crop—in regions too far north 
for Crimson clover. 
Tiie first of the articles on railroad rates for farm 
produce will appear next week, having been crowded 
out of this issue. 
\Ye understand* that Luther Burbank expects to do 
great things in taming the common elderberry and mak¬ 
ing it an edible fruit. 
Oor local grocer charges us 20 cents a pound for 
very poor cheese of inferior flavor. The lack of quality 
lessens consumption, while the price suggests that the 
dairyman, too, does not get his share of the consumer’s 
dollar. 
