190S.' 
the Yu. kima Valley. Land sells all the way 
from $100 per acre unimproved to .$2,000 
per aero improved. e. s. w. 
New Mexico For Me. 
On the first page of The It. N.-Y. of No¬ 
vember 23 appears an article by Mr. Cos¬ 
grove iliat is very unfair to the West. He 
quotes from John Burroughs in support of 
his contention that the West has only 
hardship and sacrifice to offer the farmer. 
We have a high opinion of Mr. Cosgrove 
in many matters. In this matter, however, 
we suspect he talks hearsay. The writer 
was born in the West and grew up on the 
frontier, and knows what the isolation of 
the frontier means. But those days are. 
long since past and we think the West 
more than equal to the East, even when 
comforts of life are considered. The 
writer made his first visit to the East two 
years ago, and spent about four months 
there. The East was disappointing. Its 
farmsteads hundreds of years old were far 
from attractive. Yet I think from such a 
short stay I am not competent to pass any 
opinion. Car window observations are not 
reliable, even in the East. I have seen 
much of the West, but shall name only one 
place, the Pecos Valley "n southeastern 
New Mexico, where I now farm. Less than 
20 years ago this was a howling wilder¬ 
ness, the home of the coyote and the jack 
rabbit. To-day it is dotted with homes of 
contented Americans. Large shade trees 
line every street in the towns: telephone, 
local and long distance, electric light, 
water works, ice factories, newspapers, 
schools, churches, modern substantial 
buildings of brick or stone, etc., show that 
these towns are modern. In the country 
the farmer has telephone, rural mail, etc. 
His farmstead has been laid out with care, 
and he has trees just where he wants them. 
I nder irrigation small farms are the rule 
and neighbors are near. The season is 
long, and he need not rush his work, and 
he has time to see his neighbors. He who 
talks about isolation and sacrifice of family 
comforts in the West just babbles. Civili¬ 
zation never reaches its highest develop¬ 
ment except under irrigation, as history 
proves. The irrigated West is the country 
of homes. The city man with $2,000 can 
do more with his money in the West and 
at the same time have all advantages of 
the East. a. m. hove. 
No Place Like Colorado. 
Cosgrove’s comparative estimate of New 
England and the country west of the 
-Mississippi River is based on entirely in¬ 
adequate information, and reminds me of a 
man who in 1893 spent three days on the 
grounds of the Columbian Exposition at 
Chicago and declared he had seen the whole 
show. “Out West” is a very indefinite 
term, and is applied to a territory ap¬ 
proximately 1,800 miles north and south 
and nearly 1,800 miles east and west, and 
“honest and accurate” as is John Bur¬ 
roughs. no man can see but an infinites¬ 
imal pUnrt of the vast country lying west of 
the Mississippi by riding across and back 
once, and perhaps over the same route. 
And while we must admit that there are 
such scenes as described, we must still in¬ 
sist that the country is not by any means 
all like this. I have seen some of the 
most desolate, God-forsaken homes im¬ 
aginable in this West country, and have 
seen some of the same sort “tother” side 
the Mississippi. To-day myself and wife 
ale dinner at a farmhouse and it was a 
good dinner, with fresh roast beef, plenty 
of vegetables, pickles, canned peaches, etc. 
We ate from a table spread with a good 
white linen cloth and napkins to match; 
the tableware and dishes were as good as 
anyone need. The telephone rang while we 
ate and the foreman had a talk with the 
owner of the farm, who was absent in the 
town 214 miles away. The children were 
also in town at school, being carried to and 
fro in the school stage. This same 
wretched, outcast farmer lives in a good 
substantially built eight-room farmhouse, 
and shipped 30 carloads of apples and 
plums from his farm last year, beside 
raising 50 tons of Alfalfa and considerable 
other farm produce from his 120 acres. 
From his home he can see miles of snow- 
covered mountains, but no snow in the val¬ 
ley: the mountainsides covered with tim¬ 
ber, but no stumps to grub out on the river 
bottoms or mesa lands that are used for 
farming. Good coal is abundant in the 
foothills, and water good and pure, and 
when it comes to climate Colorado has it. 
Since September 1 we have had just one 
rainy day and two or three light showers, 
and last year where we were on the east 
side of the State we had no snow or rain 
from November 1 to April 15, and as I 
waded snow in North Michigan up in the 
vicinity where S. A. K. says there isn't 
much and “seldom gets below zero” (sel¬ 
dom is another indefinite term), I ant con¬ 
tent when I can see it on the surrounding 
mountains, but don’t have to wear four- 
buckle arctics for five months in the year. 
Would space permit. I would like to'tell the' 
THE; RURAb NEW-YORiIeR 
63 
city man with $2,000 more of the oppor¬ 
tunities of this Uncompahgre Valley and 
the great work the United States Govern¬ 
ment is doing here in tunneling six miles 
through the base of a mountain range and 
turning the water of the Gunnison River 
into tin’s valley, to give us an abundant 
water supply for irrigation. o. L. c. 
Delta, Col. 
The Truth About Washington. 
Mr. Cosgrove in his interesting way gives 
on page 853 a somewhat convincing re¬ 
capitulation of the better features of the 
New England farm life versus that of the 
West. I passed my first 30 years under 
the New England conditions, and the later 
30 odd years in those of the remote west¬ 
ern slopes of the continent, and, of course, 
there has come to me a goodly array of 
experience. As a matter of fact it must 
be said that the “experience” in life here 
on this coast, from my point of view, over¬ 
balances any and all the advantages of the 
better natural conditions coming to one 
who locates “out West.” I would note 
what seems in general the difference of ex¬ 
isting conditions, some tending towards the 
support of one point of view, and some in 
favor of the other. Here, west of the 
Rockies, we are yet mostly under what may¬ 
be properly termed pioneer conditions com¬ 
paratively, even in our older districts of 
country. With you, it may be said, is the 
opposite. Money is more easily made and 
accumulated here than in the East. Here 
we are to a certain extent in the throes of 
a modern, lawless form of barbarism. The 
weekly record of foul murders and suicides 
common to our towns is simply appalling. 
The lists of marriage licenses and of 
divorces, as published in our Seattle papers, 
seem to be getting nearly equal, one week 
with another. However, as regards the 
general principles of truth and righteous¬ 
ness, they are perhaps but little more es¬ 
teemed in the East than in the West: the 
worship of gain and of ecclesiasticism 
occupying more fully the attention of all. 
Here the farmer and landowner is taxed 
to the limit. It would take the breath 
away from the average eastern farmer to 
have assessed against him an annual tax of 
$3 per acre on his farm land, improved or 
unimproved. Much land in this county has 
paid this for years, and it is even higher 
in another county in the State. Our 
county town. locally, raises a revenue this 
year of $7,000, $<>00 of which is devoted 
to the building and repair of streets, etc. ; 
the remainder goes for the machinery of 
government—that is to those in control. 
The county, of which. Seattle is the county 
seat, pays a. tax the current year of close 
on to $7,000,000 Tor the different expenses 
of government. We pay for what govern¬ 
ment we have with a vengeance. But we 
certainly have here on this Pacific coast 
the most pleasing and genial natural con¬ 
ditions, and which cost nothing. Your New 
England climate in comparison is a harsh 
and rigorous one. Nature seems to have 
intended that there should be a Paradise 
here. And there doubtless would be were 
the ordinary man eliminated. Moral :— 
Let no one rush unto conditions that they 
know not of on the word of the modern 
real estate boomer or newspaper of the 
western type. Only last week our princi¬ 
pal newspaper of Seattle, as characteristic 
of the reliability of the intelligence of the 
half-fledged youths who do this kind of 
writing here, staled that the 200-eggs-a- 
yeac hen was quite common in this State, 
and often there are instances of their 
reaching the 300 mark. And there is sel¬ 
dom a week that these verac!ous(?) sheets 
are not enriched with the details of some 
story or fairy tale of some people in the 
State realizing $2,000 to $8,000 a year pet- 
acre from some fruit or other crop grown 
in its most favored sections. This seems 
to tickle the fancy of their readers, and is 
the popular form taken to jolly them up 
and to induce the incoming of others to the 
State from the East. If a fake story is 
sufficiently far-fetched it is supposed that 
it will usually find credence with some. 
Washington. c. 
GOOD—Empire Broadcast Fertilizer Sower 
A Machine Every Farmer Needs 
CONGO 
\OOFING 
Nevei^J* 
Leaks 
* 
Congo Roofing 
is proof against decay because 
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It is proof against water be¬ 
cause it contains nothing 
which is soluble in water. 
It is proof against heat be¬ 
cause there is nothing in it 
which even the tropical sun 
can soften. 
It is proof against cold be-i 
[cause there is nothing in it 
[which even the climate of] 
Alaska can freeze. 
It is proof against leaks be¬ 
cause it is so pliable that any¬ 
body can lay it right, fitting it 
tightly and snugly around the 
chimneys and valleys. 
It is proof against dissatis¬ 
faction because it is made to 
endure, and people who once 
buy it, buy it always. 
Sample Free on request. 
BUCHANAN*FOSTER COMPANY, 
532 West End Trust Building, 
PHILADELPHIA 
CHICAGO and SAN FRANCISCO. 
Cider Machinery—Send for Catalogue to Boomer & 
Bosehert Press Co.,118WestWater St.,Syracuse,N.Y 
For Rapid, Easy Spraying—The 
**AlltO-POp” NOZZLE 
Slight pressure on lever starts dense 
spray. Automatic shut-off. Doubles ca¬ 
pacity. Saves solution, time, labor. 
INCREASE THE CROPS 
by using the “Auto-Pop” nozzle on 
the “Auto-Spray” pump. 
Write if you want agency. 
E. C. Brown Co., 88 j.yst,, Rochester, M. Y, 
The Famous 
PACE FENCE 
The Pioneer Woven Wire Fence Is 
the best fence in the world for any 
purpose. Twenty-five years of ex¬ 
perience, science and skill in every 
rod of a Page. Twice as strong, dur¬ 
able and economical as any other 
fence. Requires but few posts. It 
means money to you to learn about 
a Page Fence. Folder and Catalog 
free. Write a postal for them now. 
PAGE WOVEN WIRE FENCE CO. 
Box 715, Adrian, Mich. 
Ornamental Fence 
Cheaper than wood. Artistic. 
I ik LlW Strong. For lawns, churches. 
cemeteries. Send for fro© Cata- 
log C. Address Th© VVurd 
Fence Co., Box (100 Decatur, lnd. 9 
also manufacturers of Stcol Picket Fence 
and Dou t-Rust Farm and Poultry Fence. 
Cl 
i_l 
Selling Fence 
Selling fence is an easy 
and profitable business. We 
want agents everywhere to sell 
FROST WIRE FENCE 
Exclusive territory. This is a big 
money maker. Write for catalogue. 
THE EliOST WIRE FENCE CO. 
Cleveland, Ohio. 
T 7 
g 
7± 
FENCE MadolHS’* 
Made of High Carbon Double Strength' 
Colled Wire. Heavily Galvanized to 
prevent rust. Have no agents. Sell at 
factory prices on 30 days’ free trial. 
iWe pay all freight. 87 heights of farm 
land poultry fence. Catalog Free. 
| COILED SPRING FENCE CO. 
;Box 2 C 3 Winchester, Indian* 
When Traveling 
is Bad— 
the telephone has an added value, because it 
affords the one method of rural communica¬ 
tion not affected by road conditions. When 
snow or mud makes traveling difficult or im¬ 
possible, a telephone in your house proves not 
only a means of social intercourse that does 
away with the old-time Winter loneliness of 
the farm, but also a means of transacting 
much of your business that would otherwise 
be neglected. To get the full value of a tele¬ 
phone, however, you must be able to depend upon it—and that means that 
you must have reliable apparatus and equipment. Therefore, buy and tise only 
New York 
Philadelphia 
Atlanta 
Standard “BELL” Equipment 
made by Western Electric Company, to the reliability of which may 
be largely credited the universal adoption of the telephone in the 
business and social life of to-day. 
Write Us for Prices and Information 
on Rural and Suburban Equipment 
WESTERN ELECTRIC CO. 
Manufacturers and Suppliers of All Apparatus and Epuipment used 
in the Construction, Operation and Maintenance of Telephone Plants 
Pittsburgh Chicago St. Louis Dallas Seattle 
Cincinnati St. Paul Kansas City Denver San Francisco 
Indianapolis Des Moines Omaha Salt Lake City Los Angeles 
Northhrn Elbctric and Manufacturing Company, Ltd., Montreal and Winnipeg 
Use Address Nearest You 
