1060 
'THIS RURAL NK.W-YORKER 
Deccmher 4, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal (or Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
I'ablinhrd wrcltly by the Itaral I’uliliahine Company, 40!) Pearl Street, New fork. 
Herbert W. Oolungwood, President and Editor, 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manacer. 
Wm. F. Djllon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Koyirs, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8 s. (id., or 8*2 marks, or 10*12 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 swindlerwill be publicly ex- 
posed. Wo 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 have mentioned The Rural Nkw-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, wc send it 
3 0 weeks for 10 cents for strictly introductory pur¬ 
poses. We depend on our old friends to make this 
known to neighbors and friends. 
* 
Mortimer William Lawrence, general manager of 
the Ohio Farmer, died at his home near Cleveland, on 
November 11. Mr. Lawrence was 36 years old. He 
was a successful business man, respected by the news¬ 
paper fraternity and loved by his associates. 
* 
Shall wo over got the parcels post? A few (lays since 
I received by express from Ann Arbor, Mich., a box, 
weighing a trifle over 18 pounds. The charges were $2.25. 
Three companies managed to get a cut at It; 75 cents each. 
Florida. w. j. k. 
The chances are that if you would complain to the 
Interstate Commerce Commission and give all the 
facts you will get part of this back. That will be 
good practice, and it is the best sort of work for a 
parcels post. It will show you the power of a postage 
stamp properly “licked” and also show the express 
companies what is coming to them. We shall have 
no parcels post in this country until we really show 
that we want it. 
* 
The last tariff “adjustment” seems to have devel¬ 
oped a new business of importing cream from Canada. 
The tariff on butter is six cents a pound; on cream 
five cents per gallon, which amounts to about two 
cents a pound for the butter churned from it. Thus 
by bringing cream from Canada, churning it on this 
side of the line and selling the butter at American 
prices the butter-makers can make a fair profit on 
the deal. This is about the way our tariff laws work 
out in their effect upon producers. In this case the 
butter manufacturers arc helped to some extent, while 
the producers or cow keepers receive no benefit, but 
rather an increase of competition. 
* 
The New Jersey Supreme Court has decided sev¬ 
eral questions raised by automobile owners. ' It states 
legally what everyone knew physically, that the auto 
is a dangerous machine. Taxing the cars which come 
in from other States is really a form of license and 
therefore constitutional. No one has any inherent 
right to use the roads for automobile traveling, there¬ 
fore a license is a privilege under restrictions. Any 
man driving a motor car into New Jersey is obliged 
to agree to submit himself to the State courts, no 
matter what the law is where he came from. With 
its long and narrow shape and lying between two 
great cities New Jersey has been like a trough for 
the auto hog! 
* 
The picture of Mr. Sherman’s raspberry vines m 
that outdoor evaporator will startle some of our 
berry growers. What is the use in telling about such 
things? No one can dry berries in this way except 
in a very small part of this very large country. Mr. 
Sherman seems to have hit upon the one particular 
thing best suited to his conditions and climate. He 
could grow apples or Alfalfa or other crops, but the 
dried raspberries are most profitable. Now right in 
your neighborhood or mine we can, if we are wise and 
patient enough, study out crops and methods which 
will be more satisfactory than any others. We may 
not be able to dry raspberries on the vines and clean 
them in a thrashing machine, but v r e can learn just 
what our soil and climate is best suited for, and stick 
to that. That is what Mr. Sherman did, and it is 
right along that line that real success in farming is 
found, whether we grow berries or butter or beets or 
anything else. Right in this issue of The R. N.-Y. 
are several cases where men are working this very 
thing out. There is Mr. Fagan, who depends on 
fertilizers entirely, and that Massachusetts farmer 
with a small herd of cows for the “mainspring” of 
his work. 
The articles on the Hitchings orchard have drawn 
out a large correspondence. One thing is made sure— 
many growers are working into some modification of 
this plan. They understand too that “mulching” means 
the equivalent of a good-sized cock of hay around 
each tree. We have communicated with the prize 
winners at the recent New England fruit show, and 
find that a very large majority of the prize-winning 
apples were grown in sod. As a result of what we 
have learned in this discussion we cannot advise every¬ 
one to grow orchards in sod, yet it is settled, we 
believe, that in naturally damp grass lands mulching 
will pay. There are also thin hill lands where it will 
pay to haul straw or coarse material from the valleys. 
* 
And now it is the Hope Farm man who is in water 
a little hotter than usual. He spoke of growing 8,000 
quarts of Marshall strawberries on an acre to be sold 
at 15 cents a quart. Now several people rush forward 
to say it cannot be done, and that such prices are out 
of the question. As for the yield, it is not remarkable. 
Many growers have picked 10,000 quarts from an acre. 
As for price, we have seen commission returns which 
reported wholesale sales of 50 crate lots at 18 and 
20 cents. These doubting Thomases must remember 
that within 30 miles of Hope Farm, including Greater 
New York, Jersey City, Newark and other towns 
there are nearly 0,000,000 people. At least 500,000 of 
these rarely consider the price of an article if they 
want it. Many of them willingly pay 50 cents a box 
for berries. 
* 
I believe that our fence manufacturers are short-sighted. 
The dissatisfaction with the modern makes is deep and 
general. Any firm that will produce a fence that will 
last as some of those of earlier make still last will And 
it highly profitable. a. d. m. 
“Short-sighted” is a very mild term to use in this 
connection. It has been demonstrated that a wire 
fence can be made that will resist rust far better 
than the stuff we have been obliged to use during the 
past 10 years. Miles and miles of this so-called fence 
hang in rusty strings—disgraceful evidence of squan¬ 
dered money. The manufacturers now know how to 
make long-lived wire. With this knowledge has 
come the time when some, one should guarantee that 
his fence will stand for a term of years. Where is 
the man? That is the most important fence question 
at present. 
* 
“WELLS FARGO CUTS BIG DIVIDEND MELON.” 
That heading blazed out in the daily papers last 
week. The Wells-Fargo Express Company declared 
a dividend of 300 per cent. Its capital has been 
$8,000,000, but the company has accumulated nearly 
$ 26 , 000,000 in cash and loans. Now each stockholder 
is to receive two new shares of stock for each one 
he now holds, and a large dividend on the whole thing. 
There might be a kind of business in which such 
tremendous earnings would not concern the public. 
In this case, however, the public has a right to find 
fault. This vast surplus was contributed by the 
people in small sums for a service which is performed 
for much less in other civilized countries. With a 
fair parcels post the Wells-Fargo Co. could still pay 
its stockholders a fair dividend and, at the same time, 
the public would have saved $ 15 , 000,000 or more. 
Why should you be held up for high express rates 
in order that this company shall have more money 
than it knows what to do with? ‘Please send the 
answer to that question to your Congressman! 
* 
Wf. have an ambition to give our readers the full¬ 
est information regarding the use of lime and grow¬ 
ing Alfalfa. There is no use of more argument to 
prove that one acre or 10 acres of Alfalfa would be 
a great help to any farmer. , The proper use of lime 
means life to many a dead soil. How shall we know 
when our soils need lime, and what form of lime 
shall we give them? On page 1043 , Dr. Wheeler, the 
highest American authority on lime in agriculture, 
discusses this subject. In addition to the well-known 
test with litmus paper Dr. Wheeler suggests another 
test with ammonia water. This is not intended as a 
substitute for the litmus test. Wc might test a sub¬ 
soil or a soil very much lacking in organic matter and 
find the litmus paper turning red, while the ammonia 
would show no results at all. The latter test depends 
very largely upon the condition of this organic mat¬ 
ter. When plants decay in the soil organic acids are 
produced. If there are large quantities of carbonates 
of lime or magnesia in the soil these organic acids 
unite with the lime. If lime and magnesia are lacking 
those organic acids are free. It is from such soils 
that the ammonia water gives the dark-colored ex¬ 
tract mentioned by Dr. W heeler. 1 he soils wherein 
these acids have been neutralized by the lime would 
not give the dark extract with ammonia. This con¬ 
dition appears to he best for Alfalfa and some other 
crops, while many others do better in a slightly acid 
dominion which would make the litmus paper a little 
red. You will see therefore that this ammonia test 
follows the other. If the soil in which it is used 
gives the dark colored liquid we may know that very 
heavy liming should be given for Alfalfa, and that 
the burned lime should be used. 
* 
A meeting of the executive board of the New York 
State Agricultural Society was held at Albany, on 
Friday of last week, for the purpose of again making 
that organization a factor in the agricultural affairs 
of the State. The State Fair was formerly run under 
the auspices of this society, and it organized and con¬ 
ducted the farm institutes for a number of years. 
When the State Department of Agriculture was or¬ 
ganized in 1893 , the functions were taken over, and 
the society has since been inactive. A committee was 
appointed to arrange for a general public meeting 
following the annual session of the society on January 
19, and to suggest and formulate plans for the future 
usefulness of the society. If the practical farmers 
of the State would now interest themselves in this 
society, revive it, and use it as an instrument of 
usefulness to themselves, it might be made a power 
of great good. Commissioner Pearson is the presi¬ 
dent of the association, and we confidently look to it 
as a useful factor under his inspiration. 
* 
In 1906 a case was started against the Standard Oil 
Company by the Government. The Standard was 
charged with violation of what is known as the Sher¬ 
man law in creating a monopoly and preventing com¬ 
petition in the sale of oil. This case has just been 
decided by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in 
favor of the Government. The court orders the 
Standard Oil Company to “dissolve”; that is, to break 
up its single immense organization and return indi¬ 
vidual power to the 19 corporations which it has 
absorbed. Briefly stated, the court declares that Con¬ 
gress has power to regulate and restrict commerce 
which passes the border of one State into another. 
This power is necessary in order to prevent individ¬ 
uals or corporations from restraining trade or pre¬ 
venting competition. The court applies the following 
test of commerce in deciding that the Standard Oil 
Company is guilty. “If its necessary effect is to stifle 
or directly and substantially to restrict free compe¬ 
tition in commerce among the States or with foreign 
nations it is illegal within the meaning of that stat¬ 
ute.” But what does this “victory” mean and what will 
it amount to? The Standard will naturally appeal to 
the Supreme Court. This will mean delay, but the 
case is so clear that another decision against them is 
probable. They will then be obliged to “dissolve, but 
will no doubt attempt to “reorganize” in some new 
form even more dangerous than the other. That is 
the history of half a dozen of the big corporations 
already. We do not expect any great permanent bene¬ 
fit from this decision unless Congress can be made to 
pass new and stronger anti-trust laws. That will be 
impossible until public sentiment demand such legisla¬ 
tion so powerfully that Congress will not dare refuse. 
We think the chief result of this decision will be an 
increase of confidence on the part of the plain people. 
It will help to convince them that Congress, the law¬ 
making power, must he controlled before wc can hope 
for justice. The courts can only construe the laws 
as they are. Congress alone can change them—there¬ 
fore Congress represents the target for citizens to 
aim at. The hope of this nation as a Republic lies 
in a Congress dominated dirccllv by the people. Un¬ 
der our present laws the most that can be hoped from 
such -a decision, is that it will force public sentiment 
to the point of demanding what is needed. 
BREVITIES. 
MY MOTTO. 
I would be true, for there arc those who trust me; 
I would be pure, for there are those who care; 
I would be strong, for there is much to suffer ; 
I would be brave, for there is much to dare. 
I would he friend of nIK the foe, the friendless; 
I would be giving and forget the gift; 
I would be humble, for I know my weakness; 
I would look up, and laugh, and love, and lift. 
—Howard Arnold Walter. 
We know a brand of moralizing which seems de¬ 
moralizing. 
An English sheep, now living, has a record of 20 years 
of life and 28 lambs. 
“A holy horror of debt" is about the healthiest feeling 
a young man can have. 
The island of Jamaica prohibits the importation of 
American dogs on account of rabies. 
During the month of Juno, 1900, the railroads of this 
country reported total revenues of $210,357,225.80. The 
reputed operating expenses were $136,107,022.71 leaving 
$74,189,303.00 as the profits for the month. Even at that, 
they spend $28,586,182.33 for the month’s equipment. 
As an example of the fines imposed in England, n man 
who acted as “gangmastor” over two crews of potato 
pickers was fined because be had taken out no license, 
lie was told that if he employed both men and women 
lie could not work them together, but must have another 
license as “gangmlstress.” lie took out such a license 
for ills wife. 
