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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May 2, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Horae*. 
Established I860. 
l’ubliBlicd weekly by the Rural Piibltkhlng Company, 409 Pearl 8treet, New York. 
Herbert W. Colijsgwood, President and Editor, 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet and Mrs. E. T. Rotle, Associate Editors. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8s. 6a., or 8‘e marks, or lOHi francs. Remit in money order, 
express order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
"A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a 
responsible person. Rut 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 swindler will bo publicly ex¬ 
posed. We protect subcribers against rogues, but we do not guarantee 
to adjust trilling 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 NEW-YoitKKB 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. 
* 
We have learned how farmers handle their seed 
potatoes in treating them for scab. Now we would 
like to know how they dissolve sulphate of copper 
and make Bordeaux Mixture in the quickest and most 
economical way. There must be methods which re¬ 
quire less lifting and work than others, and we all 
want to know what they are. 
* 
Senator Kittredge, of South Dakota, has intro¬ 
duced Senate bill 6515, which aims to prevent the man¬ 
ufacture, sale or transportation of adulterated or mis¬ 
branded fungicides, Paris-green, lead arsenate or other 
insecticides. The bill is endorsed by the chemists of 
the Department of Agriculture. It will fix the stan¬ 
dard for poisons and insecticides and will prove a 
boon to fruit growers and farmers. Support it by 
all means. We need protection not only in the foods 
which nourish our friends, but in the poisons which 
are to make our enemies harmless. 
* 
Our picture of those “Choice New York Baldwins” 
has helped bring this packing matter to a head. At 
the Rochester meeting—noticed last week—it was 
voted to organize on the lines of the successful fruit 
exchanges which have done so much for other sec¬ 
tions. These men are far-sighted, and they realize 
that western New York will lose its reputation for 
producing good fruit if the present system is con¬ 
tinued. Every mail brings us letters from western 
and southern people who complain about the poor 
quality of apples they find in the barrel. We feel par¬ 
ticularly interested in this, because we urged our 
western friends to buy New York apples and thus 
help dispose of the crop. At Rochester leading grow¬ 
ers and dealers frankly admitted the evil of dishonest 
packing and saw no other way out than to organize 
so as to control and guarantee their output. 
What is the matter in Ohio? We have told how 
the Smith Chemical Co. has by injunction prevented 
the State Board of Agriculture from publishing the 
results of fertilizer analysis. This concern is accused 
of attempting to bribe an inspector, and in turn 
accuses him of demanding blackmail. Such charges 
ought to be promptly ripped open to the light, but, 
instead of that, the cover has been nailed down and, 
as we have said, the publication of those important 
facts held up.' The strangest part of it all is the con¬ 
duct of the farm papers which claim to represent 
Ohio farmers. They have not dared to name the 
fertilizer company which is responsible for the trou¬ 
ble, and have even carried its advertisement while 
talking in a half-hearted way about the trouble. They 
walk around the subject as if it were a bear trap. 
What is the matter.in Ohio that the State Board of 
Agriculture can be held up by a concern which faces 
serious charges? Our New York farmers are learn¬ 
ing how to handle such things. They are prepared to 
fight injustice, whether the man behind it be path- 
master or Governor. 
• * 
People who return from a trip through the Gulf 
States are impressed with the growth of prohibition 
or temperance sentiment in that section. There seems 
no doubt but that prohibition has come to stay, and 
that it is a business question of greater importance 
to the Southern people than even the tariff. It made 
but slow progress until country people saw the busi¬ 
ness side of it. We have told how the thing that 
made Southern prohibition a great issue in politics 
was the necessity of keeping liquor away from the 
idle negroes. Now that tire saloons are closed another 
business argument has been demonstrated. Sales of 
fruit, vegetables and dairy products have increased as 
the sales of liquor were shut off. Figures from sev¬ 
eral towns in Alabama show that the greater part 
of the money formerly worse than wasted in drink 
now goes to buy the things which farmers produce. 
All this makes new markets for new crops, and puts 
money into the right sort of circulation. As the 
South is an agricultural community these benefits will 
grow larger, and there seems no chance for any going 
back. Throughout rural sections in the North and 
West, too, the sentiment for prohibition is growing 
as business rather than politically. It is essentially 
a movement of farmers, and makes little headway 
in cities and towns. It seems as if it means inevitably 
a contest between country and town, such as we have 
never before seen in this land. 
* 
Last week we announced that the Executive Com¬ 
mittee of the A. J- C. C. would meet on April 23 to 
consider Mr. Keeney’s report. They met— and ad¬ 
journed for one week! Up to the day of this meeting 
883 days had gone by since Dawley sold the cows to 
Rogers. A precocious child born on that day will be 
able to understand if not read their report when it is 
made. Since they voted to investigate 1S2 days have 
passed by, and 102 days have come and gone since 
Squiers and Benedict put their hands on cows in 
Rogers’ barn and swore they were grades which 
Squiers sold to Dawley. As for the Dawley libel case, 
it came before the court again on April 21. We were 
again ready for trial, but Dawley for the third time 
argued through his attorney for a postponement. This 
was finally granted, and the case is now on the calen¬ 
dar for April 27. We assure our readers that we 
have done our best to bring the case to trial. The 
delay has been due to Dawley entirely. 
* 
Here is the latest from Brother Tucker of The 
Country Gentleman about the Buffalo Fertilizer Co.: 
It is simple justice to call attention to the fact that this 
company gives with every sale a specific covenant to re¬ 
fund, at more than market rates, for any deficiency in their 
goods discovered by a chemist of recognized standing, which 
agreement makes it perfectly safe to use their products. 
We now think Brother Tucker should hand out a 
slice of that simple justice to the parties who bought 
the fertilizers which he sampled. He went to the fac¬ 
tory and took samples of a dozen fertilizers. He 
saw the bags put in the cars and shipped. Now we 
have shown him from his own figures that the farmers 
who bought these goods should have rebates as 
follows 
Shortage 
Celery and Potato.$1.72 
Garden Truck . 2.65 
High Grade Manure. 1.79 
How many tons of “Garden Truck” did Brother 
Tucker see shipped, and who got them? He has 
proved that the Buffalo Fertilizer Co. should pay 
each of these men $2.65 a ton rebate. No doubt he 
will give them “simple justice” out of his own pocket. 
When he plays the part of inspector he should pay 
the price. What would he think of a State inspector 
who let such goods go without protest? 
We wish to quote for Brother Tucker’s benefit the 
following from W. J. Bryan’s speech before the 
American Newspaper Publishers: 
There isn't an evil in this country that could live 
twenty-four hours if the evil-doers didn’t hire brilliant edi¬ 
tors to chloroform their readers so that their pockets could 
be picked and they wouldn’t know it. 
This “chloroform” might take the form of a dollar 
packed in fertilizers. It is now admitted, we believe, 
by Brother Tucker that the Buffalo company did 
order 16,500 copies of The Country Gentleman, and 
that Dawley did buy copies of tne paper and pay for 
them out of State funds. 
* 
We have a letter from a friend in Ohio who takes 
exceptions to a statement made in The R. N.-Y. be¬ 
cause his experience is different. “An editor ought 
to know better,” he says. Another man in Pennsyl¬ 
vania comes forward with his experience and says he 
ought to apologize for doing so, but he wants to 
have it right. Now both these good friends some¬ 
how fail to get the idea of The R. N.-Y.’s policy. 
The last thing on earth that anyone here wants to 
gain is the reputation of the “know it all” man. On 
any matter involving a principle we first try to learn 
the truth. Having found what we believe to be 
right we will stick to it through thick and thin and 
defend the friends who stand with us as best we can. 
If we found that we had been deceived or had made 
a hasty judgment and were wrong we should want 
to get out of the false position at once and make 
fair acknowledgment of the error. In matters of 
advice or information concerning farm or home mat¬ 
ters we cheerfully admit that The R. N.-Y. is not in¬ 
fallible. Any opinion is at best only one way of look¬ 
ing at a subject and facts are modified by conditions 
and experience. If we are wrong we ask to be cor¬ 
rected. Our readers are like the members of a great 
family, and they all come to know that we welcome 
fair criticism and discussion. The voluntaiy bits of 
practical experience from readers form the most use¬ 
ful part of the paper. 
* 
A New York man recently read an advertisement 
of cheap farms in a certain locality. It was a fruit 
section, and the low prices for farms and orchards 
were surprising until our friend came to examine 
the trees. They were fairly crusted with scale. All 
over that section single trees and entire orchards were 
so thickly coated that many of the trees were dead, 
and others so feeble that last Winter would about finish 
them. Of course no one with any knowledge of the 
insect would ever buy fruit land in such a place. By 
neglecting to spray and care for their orchards the 
people there have cut down the selling price of their 
land by 30 per cent. There have been cases where 
orchards of dead or dying trees have been sold to city 
people in Winter as “mortgage lifters.” People with¬ 
out knowledge of fruit except that it is good to eat 
and high priced have actually bought orchards in 
Winter without knowing that scale had ruined the 
trees. What folly it is for such people to buy 
orchards, and what a sin for owners to deceive them. 
What a black eye the people can give any fruit section 
by refusing to spray. 
* 
Some weeks ago we referred to one J. C. Shaffer, 
a tree agent in Pennsylvania. This man represented 
a nursery firm in New York State and went about 
claiming that his fruit trees were grafted on white 
oak roots. Shaffer seems to have used this foolish 
statement as an argument to show that the scale and 
other insects would not molest his trees. So far as 
we can learn the nursery firm let Shaffer tell those 
stories so long as he made sales. The facts were put 
before Dr. II. A. Surface, State Zoologist of Penn¬ 
sylvania. Shaffer was tracked down and made to 
admit that he did claim that his trees were grafted 
on oak. He pleads ignorance and denies any attempt 
to defraud. It is quite evident that he could not have 
sold the trees, or at least many of them, if he had not 
told his oak story. The honorable thing for that nur¬ 
sery firm would be to repudiate the agent and cancel 
the orders. The chances are if this were done that 
those farmers would buy a fair number of honest 
trees. The firm, however, undertakes to compel the 
farmers to accept the “oak-rooted” trees. Under the 
circumstances we think the farmers are justified in 
combining to resist delivery of the trees after can¬ 
celling their orders. That is what the nursery firm 
would do if it bought a lot of trees on definite state¬ 
ments and found they were not as represented. A 
farmer was once attacked by a bulldog. He took a 
pitchfork and ran the tines into the dog. The dog 
owner found fault and asked him why he didn’t take 
the other end of the fork. He got this answer: 
“Why didn’t your dog take the other end!” 
There is only one end of the pitchfork that will do 
a rogue or a fraud any good. 
BREVITIES. 
We are putting eggs into the water-glass solution every 
day. 
Salt is used on asparagus to kill the weeds—not to 
start the “grass.” 
We are actually making progress in hunting the name 
of that apple packer. 
The fear of man and the love of God cannot occupy 
the same heart at one time ! 
Everyone on the farm remarks how mellow the soil is 
where the Cow-horn turnips grew last Fall. 
The latest is a California man who telegraphed his 
Congressman to get him an ounce of seeds of a seedless 
tomato. 
Let us begin to remember now, early in the season, that 
the so-called “dog days” have nothing whatever to do 
with dogs. 
Oxe of our readers says he subscribes to The R. N.-Y.— 
he does not buy it. That is a little distinction which we 
appreciate. 
Give the hogs a chance—this means green food, water 
and salt and wood ashes beside their grain. Rape seeded 
now will help them later. 
A good farm paper should link the man with fair ambi¬ 
tion and honest plan. Itut it never can be a connecting 
link unless the man will both read and think. 
New Jersey’s new automobile law is expected to add 
nearly $100,000 to the revenues of the State. The auto 
fees are to he used for road improvements. 
Some one recently asked the Hope Farm man what a 
woman with a swearing husband should do. The first 
answer, apparently from experience, is a reference to I 
Peter III. 1-3. 
Hard to understand. People write us about distant 
nurserymen who have made impossible offers of stock. 
Right within a day’s drive of these same readers are 
honorable nurserymen who can he trusted. 
