1070 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Hornet. 
Established 1850. 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 409 Pearl Street, New York, 
Herbert W. Oollingwood, President and Editor, 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. P. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Roylk, 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 lO'e 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 backod 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. We protect suberibers against rogues, but wedo not guarantee 
to adjust trifling differences between subscribers and honest, respon¬ 
sible advertisers. Neither will wo 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 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. 
♦ 
THE HERON NEST 
For some years past The R. N.-Y. has made a 
point of sending its readers a little gift offering on 
the renewal of their subscriptions. For the last four 
years this has taken the form of a book specially 
prepared for our people. We now announce another 
book which will be given this season: 
THE HERON NEST 
BV 
W. Bert Foster 
This is a wholesome and strong story which cannot 
fail to interest and help our readers. Last year’s 
book, “Nell Beverley, Farmer,” was a nowerful story 
of the struggle of a brave woman to hold together 
and save a country home. “The Heron Nest” pre¬ 
sents another picture—that of the penniless and in¬ 
experienced town family struggling to make a home 
in the country. Full particulars will be given in due 
time. We know the story will appeal to you, and we 
want you to have it. 
* 
We call attention to Mr. Slocum’s article on first 
page as a good illustration of the methods which made 
“old-fashioned farming” successful. This careful sav¬ 
ing of all farm manures, and hauling frequently to be 
spread on the grass lands, was the backbone of a system 
which has probably never been surpassed for general 
farming. Mr. Slocum writes a valuable article because 
he describes his own actual practice. He is right in 
saying that a man would better sell straw, hay and 
stalks, and depend on fertilizer rather th .11 feed those 
crops and waste the manure. 
* 
The New York daily papers made a mutual agree¬ 
ment this year not to issue any evening edition on 
Thanksgiving. The object was to give employees a 
full chance to enjoy the holiday. We would like to 
see a larger agreement among the people to give up 
so much Sunday work in the postoffices. Every man 
who works for a living is interested in this. Aside 
from any religious consideration, Sunday is the last 
refuge of rest for the working man. We should do 
all we can to save it for all laborers. Give up the 
convenience of Sunday mail delivery and defend the 
principle of rest. 
We hope all our people who can will attend the 
farmers’ institutes and 'Other farmeis’ gatherings 
this Winter. Make the attendance as large as pos¬ 
sible. It is a good thing all around to let people 
know that farmers are more interested in their own 
gatherings than they are in party political meetings. 
It will help us all if every farm meeting can have 
a crowded hall. We particularly hope that all 
practical dairymen who can do so will attend the 
State Dairymen’s meeting at Watertown, Decem¬ 
ber 14-16. Let the men who really milk the cows 
go and see for themselves what -this association is 
doing to advance their interests. 
* 
Farmers in Virginia are starting a movement for 
cheap ground limestone. It is reported that the State 
of Illinois is using convicts to manufacture this lime¬ 
stone, and selling it at a low rate to farmers. The 
railroads haul it at a rate of half a cent per ton per 
mile, with a minimum charge of 25 cents per ton. 
Most Virginia soil needs lime, and the farmers will 
organize a campaign to compel the legislature to put 
the State in the lime business as Illinois conducts it. 
The plan is for convicts to be put at work crushing 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
oyster shells and limestone, which will be sold at cost 
to the State. And why not? Bad soil made good by 
bad men! What better work could these convicts 
have to do? How can Virginia help herself more 
than by improving the soil and increasing farm crops? 
North, south, east and west—the farmers are finding 
that they will get what they really work for—and not 
much of anything else. 
* 
We receive many questions about feeding animals. 
What we try to do in answering is to give suggestions 
rather than direct rules. If asked about mixing con¬ 
crete or making a fertilizer it might be possible to 
give exact advice. When it comes to a feeding ration 
we must remember that no two animals are just alike 
in their tastes and food requirements, and that all 
food stuffs vary somewhat in composition. It seems 
absurd to think that anyone can measure out to a 
pound the proper food for a cow he has never seen, 
and which is to be fed by a stranger. At the same 
time all successful feeding of animals or plants must 
be based on a fair knowledge of what foods or fer¬ 
tilizers contain. What we do therefore is to make the 
best suggestion we can, and leave the feeder to modify 
the advice after observing the effect. 
* 
What has been the result of your campaign against 
the Wonderberry? j. s. A. 
We can answer that better when Mr. John Lewis 
Childs issues his next catalogue. Some of the other 
catalogues will also help answer the question. We 
understand that Mr. Childs has a very large stock of 
Wonderberry seed on hand. It was also reported at 
one time that he intended spending $20,000 in adver¬ 
tising it. We have proved beyond any question that 
the seeds which Mr. Childs sold developed into plants 
of the black nightshade. Luther Burbank offered 
$10,000 if we or anyone else could prove that the 
Wonderberry was a black nightshade, and we have 
offered him proof from hundreds of sources. Among 
others who testify are the experts of the United States 
Department of Agriculture, dozens of botanists at the 
State experiment stations, Dr. C. H. Peck, New York 
State botanist. Dr. L. H. Pammel of Iowa, the botanists 
of the celebrated Kew Gardens of England, the Har¬ 
vard Botanical Garden, the Royal Horticultural Soci¬ 
ety of England and the National Horticultural Society 
of France. It has also been proved that the Wonder¬ 
berry contained the characteristic poison of black night¬ 
shade. In addition to this plants identical in char¬ 
acter with the Wonderberry have been found growing 
in Mexico and Texas, where they have been known 
for years. All this has been put up to Mr. Burbank, 
and he can have more if he wants it. Thus far not a 
dollar of that $10,000 has been separated, and not a 
word of apology to the American people for letting 
loose his “Wonderberry” as a new “creation.” The 
effect of this childish folly upon Mr. Burbank and 
his later “creations” remains to be seen. The general 
effect upon the seed and nursery trade will be good, 
for there is nothing more demoralizing to legitimate 
business than this howling over fakes and untried 
novelties. 
* 
What is the best crop for the “long range” farmer? 
Who is he? The man who buys a farm but keeps 
his job in the city. He cannot yun his farm by direct 
oversight, yet wants to make it self-sustaining at least. 
Many of such men have large ideas. They invest in 
expensive dairy buildings, or outfits of machinery for 
potatoes or garden crops. As a rule they fail, because 
they cannot be on hand when the boss ought to be 
there. We consider good hay the best crop for such 
farmers. If the owners can get the land well seeded 
and use fertilizers freely each year they can turn off 
good crops. Let them take their vacation during hay¬ 
ing season. If they can get Alfalfa started they would 
have a small mine of money. In connection with this 
hay let them start a choice apple orchard on the rough¬ 
er land. That is where the future apples are to be 
grown. 
* 
There is sure to be a hard and bitter fight in the 
next Congress over the oleomargarine question. The 
manufacturers of oleo will endeavor to change the 
law so as to wipe out the present 10 cent tax on 
colored oleo. The object of this is not to give the 
people a cheaper product, but to enable dealers to 
sell colored oleo so it can be used in restaurants and 
public places as butter. These proposed changes 
would make it possible and easy to sell large quan¬ 
tities of a colored fraud as honest butter. It will be 
the old fight over again, with complications which 
make it harder than ever. There is no time to spend 
in dreaming or speculating. The cow and what she 
stands for is in danger. Farmers should begin to 
organize at once, and be prepared to put up a lively 
battle. To revive the old war cry, the time has come 
to lick a stamp for bossy and the baby. 
December 11, 
The following note from Indiana is a fair sample 
of what happens in hundreds of cases: 
I took a trial subscription to Tub It. N.-Y. through 
curiosity. Really, T was already prejudiced against the 
paper. Now I am a regular subscriber, and no other farm 
paper has helped me so much in so short a time. 
c. l. w. 
Some of the seed may fall in stony ground, but 
most of the 10-cent subscriptions stick. If we can 
get a man to read The R. N.-Y. carefully for 10 
weeks we feel sure that we can, in that time, give 
him something that will appeal to him. 
* 
In his annual report this year Secretary Wilson 
tells a larger story than ever. He says the farm crops 
this year are worth $8,760,000,000! In consequence 
of this the daily papers broke out last week into a 
great song about the wealth of the farmer! The 
Secretary tempers the breeze of prosperity this year 
by showing where some of the money goes to. By 
investigating markets in 50 cities it is found that the 
retail price of beef is over 31 per cent higher than 
the wholesale price. This difference varies—being 
largest in the smaller cities. The difference between 
the wholesale price and what the farm receives is 
30 to 40 per cent more. When we began to talk 
about the 35 cents which the producer gets out of 
the consumer’s dollar many so-called authorities said 
the statement was “nonsense” and could not be proved. 
Everyone who investigates the question comes for¬ 
ward with additional proof that our figures are cor¬ 
rect. When you dig the farmer’s share out of the 
Secretary’s $8,760,000,000 and divide it by the number 
of farms in the country there is not such a mammoth 
showing after all. 
* 
lx round figures Now York spends annually for uncooked 
food, for borne consumption, about £500,000,000, of which 
$275,000,000 represents the first or primary cost and 
$225,000,000 the excess which is paid by the consumer 
to the retailer to cover the cost of handling and profit. 
It is this local advance over primary cost, in the most 
accessible market in America, whteh makes living so high 
in New York.—N. Y. Evening Post. 
These figures are, if anything, under the mark. To 
figure the proportion of this money which finally gets 
to the farmer or producer we must take off at least 
$100,000,000 more which goes for transportation and 
to the wholesalers. The New York City retailer is 
forced to pay a tremendous rent, and both the con¬ 
sumer and the producer are held up to contribute a 
portion of it. One remedy for the consumer would 
be an extension of public markets in this city. In 
Baltimore, Boston and other cities the public markets 
are well kept and well patronized. I 11 many cases 
farmers have stands or stalls, and drive in with pro¬ 
duce which they sell direct to customers. New York 
being built on a long and narrow island, could not 
be reached so well in this way, but through coop¬ 
eration country communities could combine and send 
goods to such markets for sale. A saving of at least 
$100,000,000 could be divided between New York City 
consumers and the farmers if some such system of 
markets as Baltimore people enjoy could be located 
here. The city people want good food at first hand. 
The more other hands reach in between the dirtier 
the food and the more dirty money goes with it. 
BREVITIES. 
American cotton-seed oil is now used successfully in 
Norway for packing sardines. 
Anything we can do to get our readers more interested 
in improving corn and growing Alfalfa is work well spent. 
The old-age pension law in Great Britain and Ireland 
called for $26,298,565 last year. Indigent persons over 70 
years old receive $1.21 per week from the government. 
A great investment for the man who knows how is to 
buy an old orchard which has been permitted to run down, 
and build it up by proper pruning, feeding and spraying. 
And now a man in Washington has come forward with 
another “coreless” apple. We think we can safely guar¬ 
antee 50 of these freaks growing in fence corners in New 
England and Virginia. 
The Delaware and Hudson Railroad will offer reduced 
rates for those who attend the 14 Farmers’ Institutes 
from West Chazy to Glens Falls, N. Y. The Erie and the 
“Central” will also offer these reduced rates. 
“You say you think that The Ii. N.-Y. readers 'know 
a good thing when they see it.’ That’s correct. I believe 
that 1 am in that class, and that’s why I have taken The 
R. N.-Y for the last 10 or 12 years, though my farm (?) 
is only a town lot, a “home acre,” says C. A. B. 
Switzerland is a country entirely dependent upon the 
outside world for raw materials. Metals, cotton, fuel and 
light and largely food must be imported. The total im¬ 
ports into Switzerland in 1908 was $287,019,757, or $78 
for each inhabitant. Yet through industry and thrift the 
Swiss are about the most prosperous people of Europe. 
Great piles of redwood sawdust are found in Cali¬ 
fornia. Even in that State the time has come for-utilizing 
waste. First it was thought this sawdust would serve 
ns fertilizer—but it decays too slowly. It is now said that 
paper can be made from it. Recent experiments in ship¬ 
ping grapes show that fruit packed in this redwood saw¬ 
dust decayed far less than with other forms of packing. 
