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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S RATER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established, 1800. 
Published weekly by tlie Knrnl Publishing Company, 400 Pearl Street, New York. 
HekbebtW. Couingwood, President and Editor, 
John J. Dillon. Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet and Mrs. E. T. Kovle. Associate Editors. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8 s. Gd., or 8*2 marks, or 10*2 francs. Remit in money order, 
express order, personal cheek 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. Wc protect suberibers against rogues, but we do not guarantee 
to adjust trifling differences between subscribers and honest, respon¬ 
sible advertisers. Neither will we bo responsible for the debts of 
honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. Notice of the complaint 
tuust bo 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. 
* 
No! 
Mr. Burbank has not yet replied to the letter 
printed on page 791. Mr. John Lewis Childs has not 
offered the $20,000 to be used for the benefit of needy 
“creators.” Mr. Childs has not given the names of 
these seedsmen who substituted garden huckleberry 
seed. He has not yet named the other persons whose 
names we demanded, nor has he repeated his claims 
for the Wonderberry. We are still waiting for these 
gentlemen to supply the money and the information! 
* 
The New York State Fair for 1909 was a great 
exhibition. The beautiful new buildings give promise 
of what the grounds will be when the plans are fully 
carried out. New York fanners will then have the 
finest exposition park in the country. This year’s 
exhibits were larger and more interesting than ever 
before. Great crowds attended and extra care was 
taken to insure their comfort. The fair was a credit 
to the managers and will be remembered as a clean, 
successful show. 
* 
Congress yielded in some degree to the demand for 
a tariff commission. It provided for a board of 
three members to be appointed by the President. 
These commissioners are to investigate the tariff ques¬ 
tion, gather facts and -submit them to Congress. Presi¬ 
dent Taft has appointed Professor Emery of Yale, 
J. B. Reynolds and A. H. Sanders of Chicago. The 
latter is understood to represent the farm interests— 
particularly the West. We shall see what such a 
board with its restricted powers can accomplish. We 
have no right to expect great immediate results, but 
we hope it is only the beginning of a tariff commission 
with full powers to regulate tariffs. 
* 
Clover peddling is an industrial side line noted 
in the outskirts of New York. Peddlers buy stand¬ 
ing clover sown on vacant lots by realty companies, 
or seeded by truckers and florists; it is cut as needed, 
and made up in small bunches, which the peddlers 
sell, two for five cents, to livery stables, truckmen, 
or other drivers who wish to give their horses a 
treat. One man in the outskirts of Brooklyn has 
been trying Alfalfa as a soil renovator, seeding a 
little over an acre of it. He sold two cuttings of the 
Alfalfa this season to clover peddlers, receiving $(55 
for it, on which the peddlers realized a satisfactory 
profit. The sowing of clover on vacant lots by real 
estate promoters seems to us a very commendable 
practice. 
* 
An Orange County, N. Y., fruit grower bought 
2.700 peach trees from a New York nurseryman. 
After three years’ culture it was found that the 
trees were untrue to name. The grower figured the 
damage done him at $5 per tree and brought suit 
to recover over $13,000 damages. The case was 
tried last year. For its defense the company pro¬ 
duced a written contract signed by the buyer. This 
contract contained, in very small type, a clause which 
permitted the company to replace the trees or refund 
the purchase money. The buyer started to introduce 
testimony to prove the amount of his damages, and 
would have had but little trouble in doing so, but 
the court would not permit this testimony. He also 
refused to let all the questions in the case go to the 
jury. The court held in sustaining this decision 
that the clause of the contract printed in small type 
limited the damage to the cost of the trees. He 
therefore directed a verdict for the grower for only 
"$236.50, that being the cost of the trees at % l / 2 cents 
each. This case has been appealed and will soon be 
argued. We state the facts here for the information 
of hundreds of growers who have suffered loss 
through the failure of nurserymen to furnish trees 
true to name. Let every man read his contract with 
great care before he signs it, for he may be held to 
it later and suffer great loss through no fault of 
his own. 
* 
The season for Fall planting trees is at hand. 
We find a good many planters who seem to be 
afraid to cut a tree back for planting. Somehow 
they seem to feel that trimming it close will hurt 
it, when such pruning is the best thing that can hap¬ 
pen to the tree. In one case a woman had planted 
several trees in a yard. She called in an “expert” 
to look at them. Those trees had not been cut at 
all; the expert at once pulled out his knife and cut 
nearly half of one of them off. The woman caught his 
arm and nearly cried to see him “butcher” her trees 
—yet he was doing the rigi.t thing by them. With 
a young tree well cut back the head can pretty 
nearly be formed with the finger nail by pinching off 
a few buds as they grow. Do not be afraid to cut 
back the trees. 
* 
The world seems to be fil’^d with people who insist 
upon being “shown.” A good many of our readers 
evidently believe that there is no such person as the 
“Hope Farm man,” and that the only farm he has is 
a small board floor. We are quite well aware that 
this man cannot size up in the flesh to the mental 
picture some friends have made of him—but such as 
he is, he exists! Now, a few investigators want to 
know if there is really any such person as Alfred 
Johnson, the “One-horse Jersey farmer.” "Well, we 
saw him the other day just ba^k from the Pacific 
coast—hale and hearty and ready for another trip 
after a look over his farm. He is certainly in evi¬ 
dence, and we shall hear more from him. Mr. John¬ 
son has nothing to sell our people, but he has much 
that he can tell them. 
* 
From the best information we can obtain the 
great promise of a large corn crop given in July 
will not be fulfilled. The prospect now is for a crop 
shorter than the last ten-year average. This will 
mean high grain food for men and beast, for corn 
is the great regulator of prices. We ought to have 
all the corn grown in this country for home con¬ 
sumption. Twenty years ago there was but little 
corn exported, and agents were sent through Europe 
telling the people about corn food. A great foreign 
trade has resulted from this, but we are now reach¬ 
ing the point where this country can take care of the 
entire crop. We urged our readers to plant corn, 
and thousands of them followed the advice. They 
are to be congratulated, for the grain never was 
worth more, or more necessary. 
* 
Every year at this season we have many questions 
about killing weevils in peas and beans. There is 
great loss from this insect when no steps are taken 
to destroy it. The question is important enough to 
warrant its discussion here. The only practical place 
to kill these insects is in the stored beans or peas. 
Put them in an air-tight box or barrel. At the top of 
the beans place a deep bowl or dish, and pour into it 
bisulphide of carbon. Then throw a blanket or cover 
over the barrel to exclude the air, and let it stand. 
The liquid bisulphide when exposed evaporates, form¬ 
ing a gas heavier than air. This, when confined., 
works its way down through the beans or peas. Its 
fumes mean death to all breathing things, and the 
insects are killed as the fumes reach them. No harm 
comes to the beans after the weevils are killed. This 
insect is one of the easiest to destroy. It means much 
to farmers, who often depend on the bean crop for a 
good share of their Winter’s food. The barrel or box 
containing the beans must be air-tight. When the 
beans are ruined and they must be fed to the stock, 
the weevils get too much of the consumer’s dollar. 
Cut them out. 
* 
Our old friend A. I. Root of Ohio has been in¬ 
vestigating the eating qualities of the Wonderberry. 
Many samples were sent him, and they were tested— 
raw and cooked. One sample, particularly large and 
fine, was cooked and pronounced fair. These turned 
.out to be the old garden huckleberry. Mr. Root’s 
investigations thus far show him that the favorable 
reports regarding this “novelty” come from those 
who have fruited the garden huckleberry thinking it 
was the “Wonderberry.” Our own reports from those 
who have tested the plants side by side -show that 
the garden huckleberry is the better of the two. 
This adds a new side to the Wonderbery discussion, 
which will be appreciated by anyone with the faint¬ 
Septcmber 25. 
est touch of humor. Both Burbank and Childs have 
been greatly shocked at the suggestion that the 
garden huckleberry had been mistaken for “Won¬ 
derberry.” Yet, according to Mr. Root’s investiga¬ 
tion, the plant which Burbank and Childs condemn 
is giving character to the plant which they have tried 
to “boom.” And, by the way, what about the fol¬ 
lowing? 
“The North Foie topic is about the wonder of the 
universe just now; next to it come fiying-machincs. and 
last but not least is the Wonderberry, and I think the 
whole tiling is going to be a good lasting rebuke to 
seedsmen who drag out old things under new names 
with a fixed-up wonderful story. Don't you think so? 
And, by the way, why do not our experiment stations 
come out in the open and make themselves heard?" 
A. i. root. 
If this discussion does not cut out some of the 
wild stories about untested novelties—a continua¬ 
tion of it will. No greater good could come to the 
people who buy seeds, or the honorable seedsmen 
who sell them. It is a question whether the experi¬ 
ment stations should regard it as a part of their 
function to get into a fight of this sort. 
* 
As you know, we have again and again called 
upon the promoters of “co-operative” land schemes 
and colonies to tell of one that has actually paid 
dividends to stockholders. There are thousands of 
such concerns, and some of them have been opera¬ 
ting for years. If it is possible for them to pay out 
they should have done so by this time.* We have 
called and called, but thus far there has been no 
response. We often wonder how it comes that 
people continue to invest their money in such 
schemes. A savings bank or a five per cent mortgage 
has no charms for them, but some fairy tale of a 
gold mine or a rubber plantation pulls their money 
like a porous plaster. A shrewd judge of human 
nature tells us that most of these investments are 
made by people who want to show how sure their 
judgment is. Their friends know they lack judg¬ 
ment in financial matters, and the knowledge is gall¬ 
ing. So these people, wishing to show their shrewd¬ 
ness, give up the safe four per cent and chase after 
the unsafe ten per cent. It is not unlike the dog 
who let go the small piece of solid meat to snap at 
the large piece of shadow in the water! 
* 
A Massachusetts friend sends us the following 
doggerel with the remark that it fits some humans: 
There was a lieu too old to lay; the farmer men often 
looked her way ; she saw them at her slyly winking' and 
so she began to do some thinking; she knew that she 
could earn no corn and fricassee might soon adorn; but. 
boldly, she the problem tackled, when others laid she 
loudly cackled. Her little scheme worked well indeed, 
her owners deem her worlh her feed: about the yard she 
waxes fatter and still escapes the dreaded platter.—Car¬ 
rollton. Mo., Republican Herald. 
It certainly does, and the scheme often succeeds 
through the failure to use a trap-nest and thus 
measure actual performance. An expert blufier can 
often make out to live on the real performance of 
people who are too modest to insist upon due credit 
for their work. Sometimes . they do the bluffing 
themselves. In other cases they permit others to 
cackle for them and thus get a great reputation out 
of the mouths of their friends. Then when the 
trap-nest is used they can always say; “I have 
never boasted about my own ability—my friends did 
that, and I never wanted them to.” All through the 
sickening course of extravagant over-praising these 
shrinking creatures stood by dnd enjoyed it—until 
the folly of it was exposed. We have greater respect 
for the plain out-and-out bluffers. 
BREVITIES. 
The foul fair is not so popular as it was. 
What is your remedy for the yellows in Alfalfa? 
Y t es/ the poisonous dogwood carries its bite in its bark. 
The Crimson clover now forms a mat on our corn¬ 
fields. 
Keep the soil covered with some living crop. Get in 
rye if nothing else can be used. 
Rain and snow bring some five pounds of nitrogen each 
year to an acre of soil. It is washed out of the air. 
We still receive those circulars stating that orris root 
brings 40 cents a pound! The commercial quotations 
now are 10@11 cents. 
Ground oats and peas make a fine feed for any stock. 
It pays us better, though, to cut the oats and peas early 
and make them into green feed or hay. 
The German hay crop is reported light, and there will 
be need of large imports. The Argentine Republic has 
sent considerable hay to Germany. The tariff on Amer¬ 
ican hay is nearly $5 per ton. 
We have seen it stated that the oyster shells on the 
Delaware peninsula are largely used for lime burning. 
They are worth more for road making and starting new 
oyster beds. Limestone is mostly used for farm lime. 
After October 1 it will cost .$10 to register a pure¬ 
bred Guernsey in the Guernsey Cattle Club after six 
months of age. The object is to induce breeders to 
register entile early. Then with a map or color picture 
it will be quite easy to identify them. 
