808 
November 21, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER’S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 409 Pearl 8treet, New Pork. 
Herbert W. OOLLINGWOOD, President and Kditor, 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet and Mrs. E. T. Royle, Associate Editors. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8s. 6d„ or 8 *-a marks, or 10'u 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 backed by a 
responsible person. But to make doubly sure wo will make good any 
loss to paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler 
advertising in our columns, and any such swindler will be publicly ex¬ 
posed. We 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 oi 
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 annual meeting of the New York State Fruit 
Growers’ Association will be held early in January at 
Medina. This is in the heart of the great apple Sec¬ 
tion of western New York—and all will be well cared 
for. You ought to go and help put up a protest 
against such packing of “Choice New York Baldwins’ 
as was done last year! 
* 
Several times each year some one starts the sug¬ 
gestion for co-operative laundries for farmers. The 
idea is for a number of families to buy a set of 
laundry machinery, locate it at some place where there 
is steam power, and take all the dirty clothes there to 
be washed. We have often hunted for places where this 
plan has been carried out, but never found more than 
one or two—which we understand were finally given 
up. As a labor saver and help for the women folks 
the scheme is ideal, but as it brings no cash income 
to the farm it seldom receives support from the men. 
* 
We think the time has now come to make a dead 
set fight for a fair parcels post. A large proportion 
of the members of the next Congress had the views 
of the people on this point well drilled into them be¬ 
fore election. The last Congress was playing for 
political advantage, and would not antagonize the 
powerful interests opposed to a parcels post just be¬ 
fore a Presidential election. Now the situation will 
be different, for every politician knows how the people 
have demonstrated their power. The fight will be a 
long and hard one, requiring great patience and per¬ 
severance. We think it is a good time to begin, and to 
hang on until the end. 
* 
A number of our readers have asked why the seeds¬ 
men insist upon using the “disclaimer on packages 
of seeds. This is a refusal to guarantee the seeds in 
any way, and it is made as strong as sharp legal 
minds can put words together. A seedsman of na¬ 
tional reputation has answered the question, and we 
shall print his article next week. We can safely 
guarantee an article worth reading. The R. N.-\. 
will not permit any injustice to the seed trade to stand 
uncorrected. We try to act in the interests of seed 
buyers as well as sellers. The latter are very well 
able to take care of themselves, while we are safe in 
saying that the buyers have less chance of guaranteed 
protection than those who purchase any other class of 
goods. We are going to tell our readers where the 
seeds offered for sale come from—if we can find out 
and we shall do our best to tell the people how they 
can make sure of obtaining true and strong seeds. 
The seedsmen are invited to take a hand in the discus¬ 
sion at any time. 
* 
Prime Minister Asquith has just reported to the 
English Parliament that the application for old age 
pensions from persons 70 years of age or moie from 
Ireland are three times as many in proportion to popu¬ 
lation as from Scotland, and four times as many as 
from England. The allowance is $1.25 pei week. 1 he 
conclusion is that the hardships of the Government’s 
laws are driving the strong and ambitious youths 
away from the Irish soil to other countries, and leaves 
only the poor, the weak and the aged. These statistics 
of the Prime Minister confirm the observations of 
anvone who travels through that fertile country with 
his eyes and ears open. While a little over a century 
back England took over a sturdy race of yeomanry.. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
whom by oppressive laws she has >driven to the shores 
of other countries, she finds herself now confronted 
with one-half of her former population, and that half 
without independence, strength or hope. Recognizing 
now the havoc she has made, England is reluctantly 
and somewhat deliberately attempting to encourage 
the agricultural interests of Ireland, but the landlord, 
like all other men with special privileges which en¬ 
able him to live luxuriantly on the labors of others, 
yields grudgingly, and the English Government is not 
just yet radical enough to insist that he earn his own 
living. There is a lesson in this for our own Gov¬ 
ernment. Those who would continue the enactment 
of laws and conditions which discriminate against the 
American farmer would do well to study the causes 
of the agricultural decline in Ireland and the emigra¬ 
tion of her people. The sturdy ambitious youth of 
Ireland left the fertile Irish farms for other lands for 
much the same reason that many an ambitious boy 
leaves the American farm for the city—better oppor¬ 
tunities. So long as the farmer realizes only 40 per 
cent or less of the retail price of his product, and 
the city merchant 60 per cent or more, so long will 
annual lectures on the glories of farm life fail to keep 
the ambitious boy on the old homestead. 
* 
We are receiving letters from farmers in New York 
who name the men they would like to have sent to 
the United States Senate. We want many more of 
them, for such an expression of desire will be the 
nearest we can get this year to an election of Senators 
by popular vote. Something of the sort is needed 
right now. New York needs a grown-up man of 
courage and strength at Washington—and not some 
petty figurehead who will change like a weather cock 
when the wind blows bard. There are strong men in 
the State who could represent New York with credit. 
The first thing to do is to name them and get them 
out in the open. The people ought to know by this 
time that the only way they have to beat the poli¬ 
ticians is to come right out squarely and make the 
fight where all can see it. We all remember how, 
by those tactics, the people forced the renomination 
of Gov. Hughes. Now for the same methods in elect¬ 
ing a Senator. Give us a strong man who will rep¬ 
resent us fairly, and then make the Legislature elect 
him. Who is your candidate for Senator? 
* 
We would like to hear from anyone who has tried 
using “floats” in the manure pile or in stable. By 
“floats” we mean the ground raw phosphate rock be¬ 
fore it has been treated with sulphuric acid. The ob¬ 
ject of this expensive treatment is to make the phos¬ 
phoric acid in the “floats” available for plant food. 
It has been claimed that when these “floats” are put 
in the manure pile they are acted upon by the chemi¬ 
cal processes of the manure so that they become more 
available without the acid treatment. If this is so to 
any extent the fact should be made known, for the use 
of acid is expensive and adds to the cost of phosphoric 
acid. Good results from this practice are reported 
from some of the experiment stations, but we want to 
hear from farmers who have actually tried the plan. 
We also want to know what changes, if any, take 
place in the manure pile. Why cannot the chemists 
analyze the manure and the floats, and thus see how 
much available phosphoric acid there is? Then, after 
a fair period, analyze again and see if the amount 
available has increased. This might not give exact 
figures, but it would help. 
* 
For more than a year The R. N.-Y. printed the 
names of 15 members of the New York State Senate 
and asked our readers to keep them at home. They 
all came from districts which are controlled by the 
votes of farmers. All we did was to print those names 
week after week with 10 lines of comment. As the 
time for nominating arrived one by one the names 
dropped from the list like leaves from a tree. Most 
of them saw the writing on the wall, and found some 
“important business which demanded their full time.” 
A few tried for renomination, but all fell down except 
four—and not one of these could ever have been re¬ 
nominated by a primary election. Two weeks ago we 
printed the names of this lonely quartette and ex¬ 
pressed the hope that at least two of them would be 
defeated. That hope was realized, for Joseph Ackroyd 
and Wm. W. Wemple ran far behind, and were beaten. 
Thus out of the original 15 only two are left, John 
Raines and Jotham P. A lids. Both of these men 
came in tagging behind the ticket with the dust still 
on their jackets where the farmers had planted their 
ballots like horsewhips. When we get the complete 
returns we shall print them to show just how these 
men ran—or rather limped into the Senate. We pre¬ 
dict that they will both cut a much smaller figure at 
Albany during the next two years than they ^ever did 
before. - The outcome of the battle against these 15 
men is one of the most hopeful things that ever hap¬ 
pened in New York. It shows what the farmers and 
country people can do if they once get together for a 
worthy purpose. A few more object lessons like 
this and New York farmers will secure the recogni¬ 
tion which farmers in western States obtain. We 
hope it is evident by this time that The R. N.-Y. is 
not in favor of going hat in hand with deep humilia¬ 
tion to the politicians to beg for a small piece of the 
earth to stand on. 
* 
Many farmers are disappointed with the outcome 
of the law removing the tax from denatured alcohol. 
They were led to believe that within a few years 
farmers would be making alcohol on the farms out cf 
waste products—thus saving bills for gasoline, oil and 
coal. In the Far West there is great need of substi¬ 
tutes for these articles, since they are all controlled 
by combinations until the price is excessive. If the 
alcohol could be made on the farm at a fair price a 
crop of sugar beets or the waste from the orchards 
would supply it at low cost. In Europe small stills 
are used, either located on each farm or traveling 
from place to place like a trashing machine. Such 
stills cannot be bought here at a fair price, and there 
is a growing demand that importers be permitted to 
bring them into the country free of duty so that our 
farmers may try them. Several of the western ex¬ 
periment stations have secured such stills, and are 
experimenting to see if they are practical. We hope 
they will prove so, and that farmers can use them to 
provide cheap light and heat. We still think, however, 
that larger stills run for a community like the cream¬ 
ery or beet sugar factory will prove more satisfactory. 
* 
It is not generally known that the last New York 
Legislature passed a law prohibiting dealings in 
“futures” or sales where there is no actual delivery. 
This law took effect September 1, 1908, and in sub¬ 
stance prohibits the following: 
(1) The making, offer to make, or assistance in making, 
by either principal or agent, of any contract respecting 
the purchase or sale of any securities or commodities, where 
the intent of hotli parties is that such contract shall or 
may be terminated, closed or settled, without hona fide 
purchase or sale, upon the basis of public market, quota¬ 
tions; or when such quotations shall reach a certain figure; 
or where both parties do net intend actual bona fide receipt 
and delivery, but a settlement based upon the payment of 
differences : 
(2) The keeping, conducting or operating of any place 
where such a contract is made or offered, or knowingly al¬ 
lowing or inducing anyone to make or offer such a con¬ 
tract therein : 
(3) The receipt, communication, exhibition or display of 
such public market quotations with intent to offer, make 
or assist in making any such contract. 
A pamphlet by Rufus B. Cowing, Jr., and Henry 
C. White gives a synopsis of the laws regarding 
wagers and speculative dealings. It seems that the 
U. S. Supreme Court has declared that all wagering 
contracts, being against public policy, are illegal and 
void. Under the New York law a corporation found 
guilty of “gambling” in prices (that is, settling sales 
without actual delivery) shall be punished by a fine 
of not more than $5,000 for each offense. All other 
persons are liable to a fine of $1,000 or five years in 
prison, or both. The law is intended to stop the 
operations of bucket shops and prohibit gambling in 
prices. It is a good beginning, and should be en¬ 
forced. Mr. White gives a review of court record 
on the subject of wagering which indicates that the 
New York law will be upheld. We hope so, and if it 
is not, public sentiment will demand one that will 
stand the test. The people are satisfied that this 
gambling in prices is all against public interests. 
BREVITIES. 
Here is a true one from Massachusetts: “The better 
grade of farming we do, the harder to hire help to do it.” 
In Italy railroads are beginning to use concrete ties in 
place of wood. These ties are reinforced with steel and 
weigh about 275 pounds. 
The set of questions from the “Commission on Country 
Life” are certainly having a “wide circulation.” We have 
received four copies already. 
We are paying 18 cents for a pound of rather inferior 
cheese at retail. Now will some of our cheese dairymen 
tell us what part of that they get for their milk? 
“Why not compel the grocer to brand cold storage eggs 
and fowls as such?” asks a reader. It Is a good idea— 
under the pure food laws, such goods cannot legally he 
marked “fresh.” 
Oitr old friend. Geo. A. Cosgrove, is now president of the 
Connecticut Poultry Association. The society could not 
have a better head. The annual meeting at Hartford 
promises to be a rouser. 
According to law in New Jersey no saloon shall ho 
placed within 200 feet of a public school. An investigat¬ 
ing committee has found one case at least where the 
dance hall of a saloon is used as a school room. There is 
“higher education” for you ! 
