740 
'I'HED RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 14 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Pabliehed weekly by tbe Kura] Publishing Company, 409 Pearl Street, New York* 
Hkkbket W. Cou.ixgwood, President and Editor, 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. P. 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 lCv 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 
Joss to paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler 
advertising in our columns, andany such swmdlerwill 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 liave mentioned The Rural Nkw-Yokker 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 hope you are reading carefully the articles by 
Mr. F. L. Allen on “Problems of Poor Land.” This 
is one of the strongest sots of articles we have ever 
printed. Anyone can understand what Mr. Allen is 
talking about, and his argument is sound. What he 
says about lime this week covers the ground. 
* 
In parts of the West a new use for small gasoline 
engines is growing quite common. A small engine— 
often one made for marine service—is mounted on the 
frame of the grain binder and connected with the ma¬ 
chinery. Thus the horses simply pull the machine, 
while the.engine drives the machinery. This is a 
great advantage in heavy soil, and would enable one 
pair of horses to -cover much ground in a -day. The 
same thing might be used -on manure spreaders or 
other implements where great power is required to 
drive machinery. By relieving the horses of this work 
one good team could easily haul the load. 
* 
We shall do all we can to help the Growers’ and 
Shippers’ Exchange, recently organized at Rochester, 
N. Y. It is an honest effort to co-operate in the sale 
of fruit. The officers elected are: President, S. W. 
Wadhams; first vice-president, Frank Bradley; sec¬ 
ond vice-president, T. B. Wilson; third vice-president, 
W. R. Teats; secretary, Irving Rowley; treasurer, A. 
Emerson Babcock. No better man than Mr. Wadhams 
could have been chosen as president. His name is a 
guarantee of square dealing. One of -the first things 
this exchange .‘will try to do is-to establish a rule of 
packing and grading so that the apples will fit the 
label. The exchange expects to have fruit for sale 
during every week in the year. Good luck to it. 
♦ 
As original charter member of the American Ap¬ 
ple Consumers’ League, we take a kindly interest 
in all apple matters, especially when some distin¬ 
guished citizen joins the league. The Toledo Blade 
gives the following news: 
A missionary family in Uganda entertained Theodore 
Roosevelt and bis friends at dinner. Good things, native 
and exotic, were brought to the table and set before the 
distinguished guest. The dishes were quickly unloaded 
of their precious weight and hurried hence to give way to 
others and more toothsome wonders of the missionary 
larder. For, as in the case of his successor, Mr. Roose¬ 
velt is a man regular to his meals. And then, after a 
dramatic pause, an apple pie was brought on! 
Picture yourself in the wilds of Africa, far from 
baked beans, fish balls, doughnuts and other Ameri¬ 
can dainties. The fish, meat anci fruit of the tropics 
have merely made you homesick, when, without 
warning, they put before you an apple pie. Let 
us imagine one of the plates of paradise that mother 
used to make. The crust melts in your mouth like 
a piece of honeyed short cake. Thick slices of 
Greening apples, with a pinch of butter and brown 
sugar, have reached just the right melting point in 
a deep dish. And all this not on the farm, but in 
a distant land, where the old home is but a mem¬ 
ory. Under such conditions a pie made of Ben 
Davis apples, or even of Kieffer pears, would be 
acceptable We trust that this experience has taught 
Mr. Roosevelt one of the great lessons of life. 
When he comes back to take his old share of the 
blows which fall thick and fast in public life, he 
will no doubt always carry a good apple in his 
pocket. A man thus defended can be a philosopher 
in the face of adversity. 
We ask you to read the series of articles beginning 
this week on railroad charges. We have obtained 
records of actual cases which came before the Inter¬ 
state Commerce Commission on complaint. We shall 
see that these extortionate charges are not limited to 
any one part of the country, but that all over the 
railroads are liable to make excessive rates and will 
continue them unless called to account. For, as we 
see, the railroad makes its own rate—the Government 
having only the power to review it after complaint. 
It will be brought out clearly in other articles how, 
under competition, the shipper has a fair chance to help 
himself, while when competition is cut off through 
combination he has no chance save what he can get 
through the Interstate Commerce Commission. 
* 
Lenox College in Iowa is a Christian college or de¬ 
nominational institution. It trains many teachers and 
clergymen, and, like the many other colleges in Iowa, 
lias much to do with shaping public thought. It has 
just started a strong agricultural course, which will 
stand on an equal footing with the other courses. 
Lenox is the pioneer among the Christian colleges of 
the West in this respect, but its example might well be 
followed by others. Teachers and clergymen get 
close to the very mainsprings of social life. Those 
who labor in the country in particular have a great 
responsibility. In the message they carry to their 
people should be all the hope and character and dig¬ 
nity for farming that can be put into it. It is an ex¬ 
cellent thing to carry the study of agriculture right 
into the college where men and women are trained for 
schoolroom, platform or church—and for the farm. 
* 
Dr. Van Fleet’s description of the Wonderberry, 
page 738, will be accepted as fair and conservative. 
The “wonder” about this plant seems to be that the 
“creator” and introducer should have shouted so loudly 
over such a poor thing. Dr. Van Fleet suggests a use 
for it—as a trap for Potato beetles and flea-beetles. 
Most likely these insects would only get up “muscle 
and appetite” on these plants. In the trucking dis¬ 
tricts near Norfolk the black nightshade grows abun¬ 
dantly among crops as a weed. The Pacific Rural 
Press prints the Massachusetts Horticultural So¬ 
ciety’s report and then says: 
We shall watch this matter with interest, and, if those 
Yankee judges have done the fruit injustice, see to it 
that they are forced to eat their words and a quart of 
Wonderberries at a sitting. 
Suppose on the other hand their verdict is sus¬ 
tained—as it will be! What about Burbank and 
Childs? Their words would make a good dish of 
crow for most people. If the Wonderberry makes a 
good sauce a bushel of them might make Mr. Burbank 
saucy enough to back up his $10,000 bluff. 
* 
We asked our readers to help those Texas farmers 
who are trying to obtain the right to send a man 
with each carload shipment of truck. Our folks 
came forward, as usual, with facts. One man in 
Florida tells how he was robbed of tomatoes. He 
sent 10 crates as a sample shipment, and received 
$3.50 per crate. • Then he got up a carload of nice 
ones. Just before the car arrived the commission 
house wired him, “Market strong at $3 to $3.50; ship 
second car sure.” He induced his neighbors to make 
up another car, which went on at once. It was 
nearly two months after shipping that any returns 
were made, and then the first car averaged 34 cents 
and the second one 15 cents per crate. The only “sat¬ 
isfaction” given was an insulting letter about “poor 
packing.” This farmer knows that the carload lots 
were just as well packed as the 10-erate lot which 
brought $3.50, but as he had no friend in the mar¬ 
ket, there is no way of proving his case, and he 
must take what the dealer sees fit to give him. If 
some live man could have gone with that shipment 
the commission dealers never could have stolen the 
goods. This is but one case of hundreds where the 
distant shipper is robbed, with no chance of redress. 
* 
Many of us remember how hard farmers worked 
for the removal of the internal revenue tax on dena¬ 
tured alcohol. This tax would never liave been re¬ 
moved if farmers had not thrown their influence 
against it. They would not have done this had. they 
not been told that the result would mean cheaper alco¬ 
hol and then cheaper light, heat and power. Many 
of them believed that in a year or so small stills would 
be operated on many farms, turning waste products 
into alcohol—which would take the place of gasoline, 
coal or wood. We know that little or nothing of this 
has occurred. As usual the manufacturers were bene¬ 
fited, while the farmers did most of the work. In 
Germany and France the plan of making farm sup¬ 
plies of alcohol in small stills is followed with suc¬ 
cess. Many of our own farmers could do the same 
thing if they could get the machinery at a fair price. 
The tariff on the foreign-made stills makes the price 
too high. Thus the farmers, having helped cut off a 
revenue tax to help manufacturers, are now held up 
by a tariff and unable to obtain their share of the 
benefit. 
* 
The following is as strong a statement of the great¬ 
est need of most of the soil in the Southern States as 
we have read. It is understood that by “Winter le¬ 
gumes” is meant Crimson and other clovers and vetch. 
We would also include the Summer legumes like cow 
peas and Soy beans. The beauty of the Winter le¬ 
gumes is that they make the soil work and earn nitro¬ 
gen, while otherwise it would be an idle spendthrift. 
It is my belief that a proper understanding and ap¬ 
plication of Winter legumes would mean more for the 
material prosperity of the South than any other one 
thing. Properly used they would lie a great, if not the 
greatest, factor in conserving our national resources. 
They would conserve the natural fertility of the soil 
tour greatest asset) better than anything else, because 
they naturally fit iu with our king crops—cotton and 
corn. It would increase the humus content faster than 
any other rotation. It would improve the soil and give 
a cash crop each year. My brother has some naturally 
poor sandy land which gave two tons of Crimson clover 
hay per acre, and now promises from 60 to 75 bushels 
corn per acre. Winter legumes used properly will be a 
great help toward conserving our forests, as with good 
land, there would be less desire for virgin soil. They 
will conserve our water courses and power, because wisely 
used they will almost prevent soil erosion, the great agri¬ 
cultural sin of the South. A regular conservation con¬ 
gress. Enough; you know by this time what my hobby 
is; Winter legumes. w. r. b. 
That hobby is as good as an automobile for com¬ 
fortable riding. One great sin of Southern farming 
is that fanners have gone fertilizer crazy. They use 
tons of chemicals on soil which cannot respond be¬ 
cause it lacks organic matter. We do not condemn 
the legitimate use of chemicals, for we know they are 
necessary. 1 liese very chemicals cannot give a fair 
account of themselves unless the soil is filled with 
organic matter and put in good condition. 
* 
We have a good friend in Virginia—one of those 
gentle, kindly souls who wishes only good for every 
one- He has suggested the following explanation for 
the “Wonderberry” puzzle: 
“Is it not possible that some of the seeds have pro¬ 
duced one of the parents, while the others have 
yielded plants such as Burbank describes? I would 
like to find some such excuse for him, and for Childs, 
too.” 
It seems to us that this explanation would leave 
Mr. Burbank in a worse position than ever. In his 
famous send-off for the Wonderberry he said that it 
“Always comes as exactly true from seed as any 
species pi oduccd by nature.” 
Either that cuts out this explanation, or it shows 
that Mr. Burbank did not know what he was talking 
about when he said the seed would always come true. 
If we accept this explanation there will certainly be 
no excuse for Mr. Burbank to hold his $10,000 any 
longer. If his seeds have “sported back” and pro¬ 
duced a black nightshade like their father, of course 
that is what the plant is. There is no getting around 
the fact that seeds bought from Mr. Childs grew 
into plants which are identified as black nightshade. 
Every day brings us additional testimony to prove 
that. It is our understanding that the seeds which 
Mr. Childs sent out were grown for him by Mr. 
Burbank. If this is not correct no doubt either or 
both of these gentlemen will set us right. That 
being so, it is evident that Wonderberry seed has 
produced black nightshade plants. The seed is to be 
judged by what it produces. Mr. Burbank says the 
verdict of the public must stand- How much more 
proof does he want that the public regard his Won¬ 
derberry as a humbug and a black nightshade? 
• BREVITIES. 
Is it true that prohibition in Southern towns has 
caused an increase in sales of fruit? That is the report. 
Yus. sir, you keep on putting clover, turnips or cow 
peas into a sand bank, and in time you make it a savings 
bank. 
No, a potato plant that lias been badly eaten by bugs 
will not produce high quality tubers. Neither will a 
plant prematurely killed by blight; only the mature plant 
makes good potatoes. 
The Delaware peninsula, onee famous for peaches, is 
now moving toward more diversified farming, with special¬ 
ties of such crops ns potatoes and melons. The Crimson 
clover and cow pea crops give great opportunities for 
farmers. 
The Government is trying to encourage willow grow¬ 
ing by sending out sprouts for planting. At tbe same 
time there are farmers who find large willows a nuisance, 
and will gladly pay for some disease or insect to kill 
them off. 
Judge Pritchard of the United States Court has decided 
that railroads are responsible for the action of their 
employes in handling live stock. This decision was given 
in a case where calves on board oars were kept more 
than 28 hours without food and drink. 
