1909. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
©43 
buying and starvation wages apprenticeships are eag¬ 
erly sought and hard to get. The skilled workman 
is in active demand, but the work is unpleasant or 
monotonous, the hours inconvenient, and though well 
paid, panics and living expenses cut the net profits of 
a trade to a sum considerably less than the farmer 
saves. The tenacity with which a skilled laborer 
clings to a “good job” shows promotion to be rare; 
the remarkable growth of correspondence schools 
plainly shows how keenly they feel the need of more 
than practical experience. 
On the same level are men with just enough educa¬ 
tion to make them dislike the grease and conditions 
of the mechanic’s work. They have more genteel 
positions and smaller salaries. Their highest possi¬ 
bilities may be seen in the civil service. The railway 
mail branch is quite dangerous because of wrecks; 
the work is exacting, expenses high and physical 
qualifications as well as thorough preparation are re¬ 
quired for entrance. But, all considered, the place is 
as desirable as any in the service, and note the result.. 
Dozens of schools advertise helpful courses for the 
hundreds of competitors, of whom a small percentage 
receive the credits necessary for a place on the eligible 
list. From this list the persons having the very high¬ 
est grades are selected for appointment. Far more 
efficient than the previous classes, are the men who 
had an aim in life, working and studying for a con¬ 
sistent end. A glance at almost any technical publi¬ 
cation will convince that the specialists also have their 
troubles. Under “Situations Wanted,” may be found 
a score of advertisements on this order: “Graduate 
of approved school with ten years practical experience 
would take charge of small plant. Married. Will go 
anywhere in U. S. Salary nominal.” This formula 
is often varied to, “desires a position where merit will 
win promotion.” The men who have charge of plants 
or have won promotion meet similar difficulties. 
Their success speaks for ability; already well equipped 
for the race, they have every advantage necessary to 
prepare for further advance. But, strive and struggle 
as they will, all cannot rise higher. Even with un¬ 
usual qualifications and ambition whetted by partial 
gratification, practically all find further progress to 
be dependent upon circumstances and a sensitive con¬ 
science a hindrance. Again it is only the fortunate 
few who gain the coveted eminence and—enjoy de¬ 
clining years upon a model farm. It is, of course, 
neither to be hoped nor feared that all young men 
will turn to farming. And it cannot be denied that 
valuable pointers on the application of system and 
business principles may be obtained in the city. What 
has impressed me most strongly is that the city’s ad¬ 
vantages are most effectively counterbalanced by its 
disadvantages. And I have noticed that no matter 
how determined a man may be, if the prize is worth 
an effort, rivals just as able and just as persistent 
will be matched against him. From what I have 
seen of the industrial world, I believe the work and 
study necessary to succeed in any line will be most 
certain to return a fair equivalent if bestowed upon 
the profession of farming. ADAM G. miller. 
A FLY-BY-NIGHT GAME. 
I think you can do your readers good by caution¬ 
ing them against the “box car merchant.” A favorite 
stunt in the Northwest as well as in the Ohio River 
States, is for an agent to travel through the country 
with a nice-looking set of samples, the goods to be 
de'ivered later and guaranteed to come up to sample. 
TWO PILLARS OF THE FAMILY. Fig. 515. 
Then a car of goods is shipped to a central point 
and distribution is made from that point. When the 
goods are delivered it is usually found that while 
some of the goods are fair, the rest are rank, and 
not at all up to sample, being in fact usually the 
very lowest grade. As an instance I may mention 
the experience of a relative of mine; goods amount¬ 
ing to between $14 and $16 were purchased, some of 
them, such as extracts, were fair, but about 50 pounds 
of coffee was of the very worst character and en¬ 
tirely unusable. By the time the goods were 
delivered the purchaser had no recourse; the car had 
been unloaded and the persons making the delivery 
had taken their flight to fresh fields and pastures 
new. It is obvious that with such* “fly-by-night” 
methods it is very difficult for the food inspector, 
no matter how well equipped his office may be, to 
prevent such practice, and absolutely impossible to 
do so when the inspection is poor and ill provided 
with sub-officials. This works a double hardship; 
both upon the consumer and upon the legitimate dealer 
A SOD-GROWN DUCHESS. Fig. 516. 
who settles at one place and can therefore be handled 
by the inspection. Publicity is the best moral dis¬ 
infectant that I know of. The more publicity is 
given to the methods of such persons the better in¬ 
formed the consumer will be. You do a great work 
in exposing fake promoters and mining companies, 
etc. Cannot you ventilate the methods of these gen¬ 
try, and warn your readers against them? o. s. 
EXPERIENCE WITH EXPRESS COMPANIES. 
What can a woman farmer do to help on the 
parcels post movement? It is surely exasperating 
to ship three bundles (30 four-pound baskets) of 
grapes 25 miles (to Troy), have them sell at eight 
cents per basket, $2.40, and out of this pay $1.10 for 
express. Deduct further commission, cost of bas¬ 
kets and their freight, labor of picking and packing, 
and what is there left for the producer, to say noth¬ 
ing about cultivation and fertilizing? There is much 
talk of the increasing wealth of the farmer. Possibly 
express companies have a finger in the pie of such 
reports. Also one more grievance. Recently I sent 
a basket of choice plums to a friend in Providence. 
Great pains were taken in the packing, and an extra 
cover was sewn on. The basket, for which I paid 50 
cents expressage, reached my friend in a broken 
condition with one-third of the fruit gone. Complaint 
was at once made to the company and an immediate 
investigation promised by them. Two days passed 
before the agent called, and this delay meant more 
loss by the decay of fruit, so that out of 18 quarts 
but few plums were fit for use when my friend could 
touch them. Similar fate has met baskets of peaches, 
and I am longing for the time when Uncle Sam will 
protect us from the extortionate rates and the care¬ 
lessness of the express companies. Cannot we do 
'something? I have talked parcels post (having 
known it in England and on the continent of Europe) 
to several men here, but no one stirs—at least not as 
far as I have learned. edith e. chase. 
SETTING AN ORCHARD WITH PRECISION. 
The fact that a grower of fine fruits must neces¬ 
sarily be a very particular person, is sufficient reason 
for assuming that the orchardist desires to start off 
with the trees set as precisely as may be consistent 
with economy. 1 he Dawson method enables one to 
set trees with geometrical precision, and rapidly. 
The following description will indicate its simplicity, 
although it cannot be fully appreciated until tried. 
The outfit consists of two equal lengths of jack 
chain (frequently termed “muskrat” chain*), with a 
two-inch iron ring made fast at each end of each 
chain; a sufficient number of pegs, made from useless 
saplings, 12 inches to 15 inches long, and somewhat 
the diameter of the trees to be planted; and a board 
four feet long, V 2 foot wide, and one inch thick, 
with a V-shaped notch sawed about midway, which 
will fit up to the pegs when driven, and a hole at 
each end through which iron pins can be driven. 
To begin laying out the orchard, establish a perfectly 
straight line and drive a peg at every chain length; 
when this first line is completed, establish another 
line, at one end of the first line of pegs and at right 
angles with it. These may be termed the basic lines, 
and care should be taken to have them straight and 
true. Then work with the two chains begins, by 
dropping the ring of one chain over the first peg 
from thfe corner peg on one line and the ring of the 
other chain* on the first peg from the corner peg of the 
other line; bring the other ends of the two chains 
together and placing a peg through the two rings, 
pull taut and drive the peg firmly. Continue the use 
of the chains in this manner until a peg is driven 
where each tree is to stand. To set the trees, first 
place the board with the peg snugly in the V notch 
and drive an iron pin through the holes at either end 
of the board; then lift one end of the board clear of 
the pin at one end, and s-wing it around, out of the 
way of digging a hole, using the other pin as a pivot, 
or hinge; when a proper sized hole has been dug 
about where the peg was, place the tree, and bring 
the board back in its original place by putting the 
free end over the pin from which it came; place the 
tree in the notch and set it firm4y before removing 
the board. When the orchard is set, if care has 
been taken, it will be found that the rows are abso¬ 
lutely straight and true, whether sighted lengthwise, 
crosswise or diagonally. Also, it is a more rapid 
way of work than the old way of running out the 
rows with a plow and then “crossing.” The origina¬ 
tor of this method has proven both its economy and 
its accuracy, notwithstanding the land was slightly 
undulating. _ wilmyr. 
THE LEMON CUCUMBER. 
Last Spring the newspapers contained a startling 
account of a “cross” between the orange and the cu¬ 
cumber. Seeds were sold at one dollar each! The 
“Technical World Magazine” told a great story of how 
the “originator” “has succeeded in producing a re¬ 
markable fruit-vegetable, which he calls an “orange- 
cucumber.” “He began his experiment by mixing the. 
male pollen of the orange with the female pollen of 
the cucumber. The result was a strange looking 
product with an orange taste. Seen to-day at this 
greenhouse as fruit on the vine, the color is much 
like that of an orange, yet shaded with green. There 
is the smooth skin of the cucumber, the navel seed 
bag of the orange, and also seeds in other places, 
suggesting the cucumber. The combination is a bit 
more attractive to the taste than the cucumber. In 
his last year’s experimenting, he mixed the male 
orange pollen with the female ‘cuke-orange’ pollen, 
and the result was a still more marked orange sort 
of ccuumber.” Such fool statements about this 
“cross” no doubt attracted a full crop of suckers. 
The chief reason they have for complaint is that 
they paid too much for the seed. We believe the 
fruit shown at Fig. 517, is the same that the fakers 
were selling. The following description is from one 
of our readers: 
My attention was first called to the lemon-cucupiber 
by an article in the “Garden Magazine” for February, 
1906, page 21. The cucumbers vary from lemons to 
oranges in size, shape and looks, some very much like 
a navel orange at the blossom end, only smaller 
They are great curiosities, many stopping to ask what 
they were; but all, without exception, declaring them 
to be the very best cucumbers they had ever eaten. 
The flavor is entirely free from bitterness, slightly 
sweet, and very faintly aromatic; in fact, after seeing 
and tasting the fruit, ninety-nine out of a hundred 
people would believe the statement that it was the 
result of a cross between the orange and cucumber, 
THE LEMON CUCUMBER. Fig. 517. 
and if they had lots of money would readily pay a 
dollar a seed for such an exquisite novelty. This 
is the first year that I have had any fruits to spare, (I 
picked 20 a day for awhile), and all to whom I have 
given them unite in its praise and want some of the 
seed. I have not found anyone who ever heard of 
such a cucumber, even among people who are always 
trying all the novelties. I hope that you will bring 
this attractive novelty before your large circle of 
readers, partly to get them interested in growing the 
fruit and partly to nail the fakers who are trying to 
sell seed worth 25 cents an ounce at a dollar apiece. 
I have no seed for sale. Stephen j. griffen. 
Connecticut. 
