OlO 
October If] 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE UUH 1 NK&H FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Jotirnnl for Country and Suburban Mornca. 
Entabliahed 1UM). 
I'ablluht'd wei-lil; by tin- Itural I'ulilUliin* t'limpnay, iltt Frarl Hlrei-t, N«w York* 
HERBERTW. COI.I.INOWOOD, President fttul Kditor, 
John J. Di!,i/>n, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dilixjn, Secretary. 
Im. Waijtkk Van Fleet and Mrs. F,. T. Hoyle, Associate Editor*. 
SUBSCRIPTION I ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universnl Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8s. Cd., or B'z marks, or 10‘s franca. Remit in money order, 
express order, pertsonal chock or hank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Mutter. 
Advertising rate* 90 cents per agate line —7 word*. Discount for time 
orders. References required for advertisers unknown to 
us; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
"A SQUARE DEAL." 
Wii believe that every advertisement in this paper is bnckod by a 
responsible person. But to make doubly sure wo will make good any 
loss to paid subscribers sustained by trusting nny delitmrate swiudlor 
advertising in ourcoluinns, and uny such swindler will ho publicly ex¬ 
posed. We protect suberibors against rogues, but wo do not guarantee 
to adjust trilling differences between subscribers and honest, respon¬ 
sible advertisers. Neither will wo he responsible for the debts of 
honoHt bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. Notice of the complaint 
Uiust ho sent to us within one month of the time of the transaction, 
and you must have mentioned Tub Rural New-Yorker whon 
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. 
* 
On the next page is a note about the English 
trade in Japanese Soy beans. We sec that one re¬ 
sult of the late war is a great increase in pro¬ 
duction of these beans. They are likely to affect the 
world's supply 0f oil and stock food. In this 
country we have some farmers who predict that the 
Soy bean crop will rank in importance with Alfalfa. 
One of our readers in Delaware speaks of “the happy 
land of cow peas and clover.” Year by year more 
fanners come to realize the value of legumes or nitro¬ 
gen-gathering crops. These plants are like an army 
of men hauling nitrogen to your farm and giv'ng 
it to you. 
* 
Several years ago wc gave many details about ihe 
so-called “Clark” method of growing grass. We 
thought this had been well talked out, yet every 
week letters come asking about it. Mr. Clark grew 
annually five tons and more of cured hay per acre, 
and cut the grass many years without reseeding. 
Wc often hear from people who quietly followed 
Mr. Clark’s plan and have cut over four tons. Mr. 
Clark, like most men who discover or adapt methods, 
was a little in advance of his age—yet that is better 
than to lag behind. As population increases farmers 
will he driven to more intensive methods, and we 
shall see crops on our Eastern farms that will put 
past records to shame. Clark’s plan was simple 
enough—thorough culture, heavy seeding and very 
heavy feeding. Most people who failed with it 
said—“that’s good enough” when about half done. 
t 
Mr. Stubenrauch tells us on page 905, of a new 
game for getting produce out of farmers. I he two 
buyers got the farmers to bring their potatoes on a 
certain day. Then having filled the town with pota¬ 
toes these rascals played into each other’s hands, cut 
the price in half and forced the farmers to sell. On 
a small scale that is the game that is played over 
and over again. People arc driven into a corner, 
where they arc forced to sell, and then the buyer 
names his own price. The remedy for such a game 
as was played on those Texas farmers is co-opera¬ 
tion. With what they lost on that one deal those 
potato growers could put up a storage house. With 
such a house they could have laughed at those buyers, 
stored their potatoes and hung out for a dollar a 
bushel. It was simply a question of hanging together, 
with nerve enough to hold the crop. The market 
needed the potatoes and the price would have been 
sure if the growers could have acted together. Farm¬ 
ers have been hanging separately for a good many 
years. It is time they hung together. 
* 
We have done our best to get Eastern farmers 
to increase their corn crop. Properly handled— 
both grain and stalk -coni is the best feeding crop 
our farmers can raise. Witli Alfalfa the stock 
food proposition is well provided for. Now having 
talked about growing the crop we want to help 
utilize it to the best advantage. Therefore wc print 
the following in the most prominent place. 
In this section tin* farmers have come to the conclusion 
that onts and wheat do not <ln well. We have decided 
that corn Is our Best crop. This year I have about eight 
acres of corn which Is well tilled out; will probably have 
about 1,000 bushels. I keep four horses and from eight 
to ten cows. Will you advise me as to which is the 
best way to feed out ls>th the corn and the stalks? IT 
I grind the eorn and cob will It make a good feed for 
horses? If t mix a small proportion of bran with It. 
will It b<* less likely to give them colic? Would It. be 
T M 1*0 RURAL NEW-YORKER 
better to feed this on cut hay ami stalks? How would 
you advise feeding the cows? My Idea Is to avoid buy¬ 
ing oats or any other grain ns much as possible, working 
the corn for all it is worth. M. K. 
Westchester Co., N. Y. 
Now, then, tell us how you would work that corn 
for all it is worth?. No more practical question can 
come before an Eastern farmer. Wc want to get 
down to the heart of it, and invite you to tell us 
how to feed the entire stalk, including the car, 
to best advantage. 
4 
BurbankH! If there is any smaller man in 
the country, will some one take a microscope and 
find him? Wc have proved that his “Wonderberry” 
is a black nightshade. Wc arc now ready to show 
that the plant has been growing for years in Mexico, 
and that “Wondcrbcrrics” have been on sale in 
Mexican cities. Yet Burbank stood by with the 
money in his pocket, while John Lewis Childs 
printed the following: 
We shall offer for the first In our next Spring cata¬ 
logue the greali-st novelty ever introduced by us or 
anyone else. It is a plant of such startling novelty, merit 
uud usefulness that it must be in the possession of every 
one who Inis a garden, or grows a plant at once. Nothing 
like it, or one half so valuable ever known. 
Some men will crawl through a pin hole and save 
their face, but there is not even a pin hole for 
Burbank. He has now been convicted by his own 
silence. Thousands who formerly took whatever he 
said as horticultural gospel without an argument 
now hail from Missouri, and you will have to show 
them. If Burbank had come out man fashion and 
fought for his “Wonderberry" the public would 
have had respect for him. When he runs from his 
offer to give $10,000 and chases himself into silence 
he proves that lie is not a "wizard,” hut a very 
common piece of clay. 
* 
We have had many letters about the farmers’ 
institutes, yet in all this correspondence there is hut 
little really constructive criticism. One of the 
things upon which many farmers agree is expressed 
in the following note: 
One of the most depressing features at a fanners’ insti¬ 
tute Is a college “veal” who Is reciting—simply reciting 
—some theory he has lx*en taught. He may have good 
stuff In him, but lie Is undeveloped, and is “practicing 
on the dog," ns theatrical people would say when pre¬ 
senting a new piece, with all of which you are familiar. 
It is not surprising that the so-called “dogs" resent being 
practiced on. I have often been nettled by Ihe point of 
view that some academic pimple have that an Institute 
audience Is performing It h highest function when patiently 
listening to ttie aforesaid veals. It is when the veals 
are speaking that the farmer becomes uneasy and thinks 
it time to go home to do ids chores. 
And yet, where else can the future scientists and 
orators obtain their practice? Would you actually 
ask them to wait until they have “done something” 
before they started in to educate farmers? How 
can a barber learn to shave unless he can find 
patient people to practice on? When he cuts your 
throat or slices a piece out of your chin why not 
be a philosopher and think how you are preparing 
an easy shave for those who follow? The institute 
might help develop the literary side of farming as 
well as the practical. But, seriously, this criticism 
is often made, and has justice in it. The farmers’ 
institute is not the place for the fledgling scientist 
to try his wings. 
* 
Some of our business readers are concerned over a 
report that the Government will prohibit the use 
of small checks. In order to learn the facts we sent 
to Washington and have received this statement: 
You are Informed that section 17K of lIn* new penal 
code, which goes Into effect January 1, 11)10, provide* 
a» follows: 
“No person shall make, issue, circulate, or pay out 
any note, cheek, memorandum, token, or other obligation 
for :i less sum than one dollar. Intended to circulate as 
money or to he received or used In lieu of lawful money 
of the United States ; and every person so offending shall 
be fined not more than $500 or imprisoned not more than 
six months, or both." 
'i'lie law is not a new one, but n reproduction of an 
old one In codifying, revising and amending the criminal 
code of the United States; see See. 2, Aet of July 17, 
180", Statutes at Uirge, Vol. 12, p. M2; also. See. 3583, 
Revised Statutes of tlie United Slates. It docs not 
make it unlawful to Issue a cheek for a less sum than 
one dollar except II Is* “Intended to circulate as money 
or to be received or used in lieu of lawful money of 
the United States.” Charles d. Norton, 
Assistant Secretary. 
As we understand this it will still In* legal to make 
small checks for the payment of hills—the same as 
larger ones are used. The law is revived to stop a 
bad and growing habit of passing these little checks 
from hand to hand in place of money. We have 
seen these little checks passed about in this way 
with a half dozen or more endorsements on them. 
It would be possible for some “crook” with a small 
bank balance to write thousands of these little checks 
and keep them circulating for months in this way. 
That would easily grow into a serious evil, and the. 
Government is justified in stopping it. No one need 
fear to draw a small check in paying for seeds or 
other goods, for if it is finally “put into circula¬ 
tion” the “intent” will he credited to the endorser. 
* 
Do the political papers represent real public 
opinion? At one time the county papers in New 
York really did this. Now many of them scent to 
“manufacture” public opinion and no longer reflect 
the real article. The evidence of this is becoming 
clear as the fight for direct primaries goes on. We 
doubt if any paper printed in New York can obtain a 
fairer statement of the real sentiment of the farmers 
than The R. N.-Y. For over a year now wc have 
been investigating the movement for direct nomina¬ 
tions, and we know positively that it is gaining 
strength with farmers every day. In some counties 
the demand is more pronounced than in others, but 
the movement is growing, and it is one of the things 
which never can die out. Knowing what we do 
about this, we have been amazed to see local 
county papers sneering at the movement and at¬ 
tempting to belittle it. These papers no longer re¬ 
flect public sentiment; they are simply trying to 
bolster up a falling cause for the politicians. A 
good case of what we mean is found in a recent 
issue of the Lyons Republican. This paper seems 
incapable of even imagining that a man could have 
any motive beyond an itch for an office that could 
induce him to favor direct nominations. It calls the 
men who lead the movement an “aggregation of 
misfits and failures” and says: 
"They an* making n great howl and Governor Hughes, 
with his Inexperience in politics, mistake* the nol.se of 
these malcontents for tin* voice of the people, when a* a 
matter of fact, It 1* only the discordant wall of the 
politically lost." 
In view of what we know of the feeling among 
farmers that is about the most foolish public state¬ 
ment wc ever heard from a politician. Tt is worse 
than the donkey’s bray of Woodruff and other poli¬ 
ticians last year to the effect that Governor Hughes 
could not be elected. It is worse, because these 
politicians have had a year in which to get wise. 
These men plainly see the “writing on the wall” but 
with an almost insane folly they are trying to cover 
it with a very thin whitewash. Let us look into 
the future a little. The next legislature will show 
a good gain of members in favor of direct nomina¬ 
tions. The Governor will offer another hill. The 
politicians of both parties will still be strong enough 
to defeat it. Governor Hughes would in that case 
no doubt feci justified in offering to accept a re¬ 
nomination as he did last year. What then? Last 
year, under similar conditions, the people compelled 
the President and other great party men to interfere 
and forced the politicians to renominate the Gov¬ 
ernor. We point out to these politicians that next 
year the power behind the Governor will he greater 
than now, and that the need of “saving the party” 
will be more urgent than ever. 
BREVITIES, 
They argue pretty well Hint that grass-grown peach 
orchard, page 90S. should not be plowed tills Full. 
Wh had a succession of peaches tbi* year from the 
tree from August 5 to October I), and we can have them 
in jar* until pouch time next year. 
Will It he necessary, in the near future, for u farmer 
to paint upon his barn roof some such sign ns the fol¬ 
lowing: "Airships keep off, under penalty of the law”? 
Will spraying with sulphate of iron solution kill the 
dodder In Alfalfa without hurting the useful erop? 11 
Is doubtful. The safest plan where the Held eanuot 
he plowed and reseeded is to mow off the “doddered" 
spots and turn thoroughly. 
Tins comes from Florida with a 10-ecnt subscription: 
“I try to pick out those who know a good thing when 
they ’stumble’ over It. 1 highly appreciate The H. N.-Y., 
uud will step out of my way at any time to give II a 
helping hand. I cull It the ‘three In one,’ sound politics, 
sound ‘ads,’ and sound sense.” 
Among Full chores, it will pay to give a little atten¬ 
tion to paths and roudwnys around (lie farmhouse. 
Gullied places or depressions which often result from 
Summer Htorms, become a positive nuisance in bad 
weather. A little filling and an effort ill proper drain¬ 
age now will save time Inter, and add much to personal 
comfort. 
Tuts Is the way Fall approached Schoharie County, N. Y. 
—"II freezes now pretty near every night upon this high 
country, hut only eorn in the low places shows much 
frost. Full and froul have come on so gradually that 
corn tins got toughened to It. The same degree of cold 
that wc are getting now would leave corn a blackened 
mass If It came suddenly following the hot, growing 
weather of July." 
The Republic of Chile established a foreign parcels 
post, and In one year public business In this line In 
creased from $300,250 to $089,720. A large proportion 
of these goods* came lo retail dealers who found the 
parcels post on small articles cheaper than freight. In 
this country many retail dealers In rural districts op¬ 
pose this post because they say tt would hurt their trade. 
The fact Is It would help them. They could have many 
small articles shipped in this way to better advantage 
than at present by freight or express. 
