672 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July 11, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE XV XIX ESS FA EM EX'8 PAPER. 
A Nationil Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Hornet. 
Established 1860. 
Pablltbrd weekly by the Horn! Pnbliehlnjr Company, 409 Pearl Btreet, New fork. 
Herbert W. Colijnowood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon. Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. 
Db. Walter Van Fleet and Mrs. E. T. Hoyle, Associate Editors. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8 s. Od., or 8*2 marks, or 10*2 francs. Remit in money order, 
express order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Glass Matter. 
"A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We 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 swindler will be publicly ex¬ 
posed. Weprotect subcribers 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 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. 
* 
How much can you afford to pay for a good bull — 
one that would give you heifers at least 20 per cent 
better than their mothers? 
* 
What about the San Jose scale in your neighbor¬ 
hood? Last year the insect did not breed and spread 
rapidly in some sections, and some fruit growers 
thought it had “died out.” Don’t you believe it! 
This year the insect is reported worse than ever in 
many places. How is it with you? It is important to 
have full reports. 
* 
A phrase or a word can make a man’s reputation, 
or follow him like a tin can chasing a dog. Long 
after centuries have passed by and men have been 
forgotten, a few words put together so that they 
expressed a great truth or a great folly stand out of 
history. We judge from our correspondence that 
the words “stupid farmers” will live long after the 
more elaborate essays of their author have been 
forgotten. 
* 
On page 505 is a question about pensions inherited 
by widows or children. It is claimed that a pension 
is a vested right for services rendered in the army, 
and this right passes at the soldier’s death to his 
widow or minor children under 16 years of age. Such 
children receive a pension usually of $14 per month 
until they are 16. There are many provisions made for 
the support of a veteran and his family. Those who 
are interested should write to the Pension Office at 
Washington, D. C. 
* 
This is the way a New York farmer puts it: 
The coming farmer is the educated farmer, who thinks 
and reads and uses judgment. The agricultural press is 
a mighty power that should lie used for good, but that 
same thinking farmer will have ideas of his own that can¬ 
not lie controlled by the press unless that press is right. 
If instead of stooping to bickerings and petty gains or 
glory the agricultural papers all worked together for the 
uplifting of what is right and the exposure of dishonesty 
and official or private knavery they would hold the leader¬ 
ship, but they cannot do so in any other way. 
That is a truth expressed more forcibly than we 
know how to do it! 
* 
You will probably agree to these propositions: 
A farmer must do something more than produce large 
crops. He must have something to say about the way 
his goods are sold. 
Granted that he does his farm work well and that he is 
even able to join other farmers in an organization there 
must, still he help and protection from the Legislature. 
A Legislature does not do things out of benevolence, but 
because it has to. It follows popular demand whenever 
that demand Is strong enough. 
The average member of the Legislature will not hurt 
himself working for the farmers until he knows he is 
right within their reach. When he finds out that the 
farmers have cut out the politician and can touch him 
directly he will fall over himself in his efforts to do what 
they want. 
In New York State now with nominations made in 
caucus and convention public officials are out of reach 
of the plain farmers. As long as they continue so they 
will serve the politicians before they serve the people. 
You think that over and see if it is not true. The 
time is sure to come when your interests as a farmer 
will demand prompt and certain action from those 
who are supposed to represent you. It might be that 
eight out of 10 of the farmers in your district wanted 
a thing done. A few politicians may be opposed to it. 
These politicians control the machine, and your mem¬ 
ber of the Legislature is one of them. He knows 
you have no “organization” and that the chances are 
you cannot beat him for a nomination. But suppose 
on the other hand this man knew that the caucus had 
been cut out. He would have to stand his chances 
in a popular election by the members of bis party be¬ 
fore be could be nominated. Does anyone doubt 
what that man’s attitude would be? He would do 
what he was asked to do or get out! Now for the 
reasons here suggested, and others, we need this plan 
of primary nominations in New York. We are be¬ 
hind the West and the South in this matter, and it is 
time we caught up. It will he of greater benefit to 
farmers than to any other class of people. We shall 
keep hammering away at it until public sentiment is 
aroused. 
* 
We are making something of a census to learn how 
many purebred bulls are kept in certain neighbor¬ 
hoods, and what objections are made to their use. 
The statement has been made that less than two per 
cent of the cattle in this country are purebred—that 
is, with recorded parents. From our investigations we 
should say one per cent is nearer the mark. Yet the 
great majority of people who keep stock realize that 
the theory of pure blood is sound. No one can dis¬ 
pute the fact that when the ancestors of an animal 
have been bred and selected with a definite purpose 
for many generations that animal is sure to stamp 
definite qualities upon his offspring. We are con¬ 
vinced that there is a great trade awaiting the breed¬ 
ers who can offer business-like animals at a fair price 
—guaranteed to fit their papers. There never was a 
time when a purebred sire would earn more money 
for practical dairymen. There never was a better 
time to obtain such stock. The R. N.-Y. can tell any 
farmer where to go to get his dollar’s worth in blood 
and breeding. 
* 
The New England people have a double interest in 
forestry and orcharding. There are thousands of 
acres of hillside lands rough and partly bare. Some 
of them furnish fair pasturage, but most of this land 
is unproductive and nearly worthless. Timber grow¬ 
ing on the hills will provide needed material for the 
future, add to the wealth of New England, and pro¬ 
vide for those who plant the trees. Orchards will 
give a quicker and larger return, for the New Eng¬ 
land Baldwin apple, well grown and packed, is wanted 
wherever commerce extends. And not only will such 
planting add directly to the wealth of the farm, but 
also indirectly to the wealth of the section. The 
streams which give water power to manufacturers 
find their origin in the hills. The little brooks and 
springs dwindle as the trees are cut away, and in¬ 
crease as the hills are covered with forest and or¬ 
chard. Thus the man who plants trees not only lays 
up treasure for himself, but helps maintain power by 
increasing the water supply. 
* 
A Southern gardener planned a new business of 
growing onion plants for sale at the North. By sow¬ 
ing pure Prizetaker seed in late Fall or Winter he 
could supply plants just right for transplanting in the 
North when the Spring opens. We have tried these 
southern plants, and thus far prefer them to those 
grown in hotbeds. There was promise of a good trade 
in the business. The Prizetaker is the best onion for 
this sort of culture. Our friend bought what he sup¬ 
posed was pure guaranteed seed, grew the plants and 
filled his orders. Judge of his disgust when the 
onions were large enough to be identified to find 
they are not Prizetakers at all, but a mixture of sev¬ 
eral inferior sorts! Here is a promising business 
hurt and a good reputation injured through the 
blunder of a seedsman, who will probably refuse to 
give any fair compensation. There is no way of 
telling one kind of onion seed from another until too 
late to correct any possible mistakes.' No man can de¬ 
velop such a trade as this man has in mind by guess¬ 
ing at things. Unless the seedsmen can give him 
some positive guarantee he must either quit the busi¬ 
ness or select the best onions and grow his own seed. 
Is there any other remedy? 
* 
The position of the New York Department of Agri¬ 
culture on testing cattle for tuberculosis is not clearly 
understood. Prof. Pearson has great confidence in 
thj tuberculin test when used by competent people* 
but he does not believe in its indiscriminate use. The 
funds available will not permit him to use this test in 
ever}' herd, qven were it demanded by all dairy¬ 
men. It is not the present policy of the Department to 
compel the use of tuberculin where farmers are 
prejudiced against it. There are plenty of dairymen 
who want this test used. Where objection is made to 
it a physical examination of the cattle will be made. 
This physical test will usually remove the worst 
cases from a herd. While it reveals advanced cases 
it cannot be relied upon absolutely to clean up a herd, 
for no one can find all the tuberculous cows in this 
way. It has often happened that cattle passed by a 
physical examination have responded to the tuber¬ 
culin test and been found badly affected. We are in¬ 
formed that the majority of farmers who are satis¬ 
fied at first with a physical examination, ask, later, for 
a tuberculin test. Cot them become satisfied that no 
one is trying to take advantage of them and they will 
help all they can, for of course all recognize the need 
of getting rid of the disease if possible. We are 
glad Prof. Pearson takes this position of declining to 
force the tuberculin test upon dairymen who are not 
yet prepared for it. The general use of this test will 
come as a matter of faith and education. 
* 
The practice of using dried muck and peat in mix¬ 
ing chemical fertilizers puts up a problem which 
farmers ought to understand. Thousands of tons of 
such muck are used—sold as “muck tankage.’’ We 
learn of one case where a man started growing celery 
in a swamp, and is said to have nearly failed at it. 
Then he conceived the idea of drying and pulverizing 
the soil of that swamp and selling it to fertilizer deal¬ 
ers. This has brought him a fortune. Some sam¬ 
ples of this dried peat are said to contain nearly three 
per cent of nitrogen; others carry less. This nitrogen 
is in an inert form, and is of little value as a plant 
food. Experiments in Illinois showed that such nitro¬ 
gen was worth about one half cent a pound as com¬ 
pared with that in dried blood costing 15 cents. Yet 
the fertilizer manufacturer who sells this muck mixed 
with other chemicals undertakes to charge 18 cents 
a pound for it when you buy it! For example, take 
a brand of fertilizer which is guaranteed to con¬ 
tain in each ton 16 pounds of nitrogen, 160 pounds 
available phosphoric acid and 100 pounds of potash. 
It would be possible to supply the potash and phos¬ 
phoric acid in 200 pounds of muriate and 1200 pounds 
acid phosphate. Then by using 100 pounds cotton¬ 
seed meal and 500 pounds of dried muck they could 
provide more nitrogen than they “guaranteed.” The 
object of using the cotton-seed meal is to color the 
muck and thus prevent if possible the chemist from 
detecting it! But see what a nice game this is! 'The 
muck furnishes 10 to 12 pounds of nitrogen which 
gives the fertilizer a “valuation” of from $1.50 to $2, 
but which costs perhaps 20 cents! A farmer might 
use such a fertilizer on his wheat this Fall. The 
potash and phosphoric acid may help, hut it is doubt¬ 
ful if his grandchildren will see any benefit from the 
ni rogen in the muck. The excuse given for using the 
muck is that it makes a good “filler” and dries out 
the other chemicals. No serious objection can be 
made to its use as a “filler,” but the nitrogen it con¬ 
tains should not be valued in the fertilizer, for it is 
not worth toe price. It is nearly impossible to de¬ 
tect the muck when cotton-seed meal is used with it. 
The best way to avoid it is to refuse to buy low 
grade fertilizers, or those very low in nitrogen. It 
is impossible to use large quantities of muck in fer¬ 
tilizers containing four per cent or more of nitrogen, 
because materials containing more nitrogen must be 
used in order to reach a high per cent. You are most 
likely to find the muck in the mixtures with about 
one per cent of nitrogen. It does not pay to buy them. 
Buy the higher-grade mixtures and use an equal value 
in dollars per acre and you will he better off. We be¬ 
lieve that farmers are paying millions of hard-earned 
dollars uselessly for this peat nitrogen—many of them 
already having swamps on their own farms. The 
chemists must find some way to detect this peat nitro¬ 
gen, and then we shall work for a law compelling 
the manufacturer to state that he uses it, and that it 
is not valued the same as other forms. 
BREVITIES. 
How the corn does grow. 
Looks like cheaper grain and feed next Winter. 
This hot weather is where the city farmer melfs out. 
It is hard for a bee keeper to understand why some peo¬ 
ple are so afraid of a bee! 
The Georgia peach crop was a big one in bulk, but 
market prices went all to pieces. 
Don’t fail to tell us bow tlie self-boiled lime and sul¬ 
phur mixture compares with Bordeaux in spraying for 
fungus troubles. 
Notice what Mr. Allis says on page 568 about the way 
Alfalfa helps to work up the soil. The same thing hap¬ 
pens when we grow Cow-horn turnips. 
At the marriage of an Indiana man and woman it was 
agreed by friends that all the presents should lie live 
poultry. The result was about the greatest collection of 
fowls ever seen. 
An Ohio colored girl, 14 years old. won the internalional 
spelling championship of the National Educational Asso* 
elation. She spelled 500 words without a miss. The New 
Orleans children who were in the contest voted to waive 
race prejudice. 
A new jersey woman was injured at a picnic. She 
married a man and tooth sued the owner of the picnic 
grounds for damages. The lower court gave them a 
verdict hut a higher court throws out the husband’s claim, 
lie took his wife—injuries and all. 
