BS4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August ‘20, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS PAPER. 
A Nations) Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established, 18. r A). 
Fuljlltbrd vrrekly by ILc Kural PuhliNhlriff Company, 409 Pearl Street, New York. 
Herbert W. ('olmnowood, President and Editor, 
John J. DiuijON. Treasnrer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dii.mjn, Secretary. 
Du. Wai,tkr Van Fleet and Mrs. K. T. Royle, Associate Editors. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2 04, eaual to 
8 s. 0d., or8'v! marks, or 10H: francs. Remit in money order, 
oxnless order, personal check or hank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
"A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is hacked hy a 
responsible person. Hut to make doubly sure we will make good any 
loss to paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler 
advertising in onreolumns, and any such swindler will be publicly ex¬ 
cised. We protect suberibers against rogues, but we do not guarantee 
to adjust trilling 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 THK 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 
30 weeks for 30 cents for strictly introductory pur¬ 
poses. We depend on our old friends to make this 
known to neighbors and friends. 
+ 
Several writers state that they need more time in 
order to do full justice to the price story. The time 
is therefore extended one month. Manuscripts must 
be here not later than October 15 . 
* 
The politicians have handled the wires pretty well, 
but they forgot that the people supply the power 
which makes the wire worth anything. The result is 
that the politicians find themselves with a lot of live 
wires in their hands. If they are badly burned and 
shocked it is their own fault—for they ought to have 
known better than to fool with public opinion when 
there is a moral issue involved. 
* 
The Forestry Division of the Department of Agri¬ 
culture states that a Chicago merchant is advertising 
in Germany for 1,000,000 willow clothes baskets. Why 
are not the willows grown and the baskets made in 
America? We have suitable soil and climate—in 
fact, everything but the notion, for Americans have 
never taken hold of willow growing in earnest. In 
Germany willow growing and basket making arc 
taught in schools as dairying is taught at our agri¬ 
cultural colleges. Tt is said that there are 160 willow- 
ware manufacturers in this country and only 30 per 
cent of them grow their own willows. Here is a new 
and promising crop—that ought to beat mushrooms 
or ginseng. 
* 
Mr. Lyon refers on page 67.S to the dog as the 
chief discourager of sheep farming. During a recent 
interview with Mr. Guthrie, of the Sydney (Australia) 
Mail, we referred to this matter, and he stated em¬ 
phatically that such conditions would not be tolerated 
for a moment in Australia. \ here a , sheep raiser 
has the right to expose poison for trespassing dogs, 
the only requirement being that he post a notice to 
that effect, and the owner r>f a dog thus destroyed 
has no redress, since it is evident that the animal was 
not under proper control. Where a case of sheep- 
worrying is proven, the dog is destroyed, and its 
owner fined heavily. The Australians are ardent dog 
fanciers, too, but they will not allow their pets to 
menace a great industry. We think American sheep 
owners may well work for the growth of Australian 
sentiment in this matter. 
* 
The idea of a commission to investigate farm con¬ 
ditions awakens, as it ought to, a wide range of dis¬ 
cussion. It is charged that the plan of the com¬ 
mission is a political play, and that farmers resent it. 
We do not believe either statement. We believe 
President Roosevelt is thoroughly sincere in his 
efforts to learn the exact truth about farm conditions. 
We also believe that farmers will be glad to help get 
at tbe essential facts. Another criticism takes the fol¬ 
lowing form: 
There are two professors of agriculture, a member of 
the forest service, anti two editors, but not a real farmer 
on the list. It would at least have added something to 
Iho “dignity" of tin* calling, which (lie President seems 
anxious to increase, hud one or more farmers been named 
on the commission. It will not add greatly to their 
satisfaction to have a commission of professional and 
literary men appointed for the purpose of investigating the 
business of farming and devising methods for "uplifting” 
the families of the country people. The farmer does not 
regard himself as a mental imbecile or as an object for 
charMy. Ill fact he is able to solve his own problems, 
and will do so, at the proper time in his owu way. 
Mr. Henry Wallace is a farmer. He owns and 
operates a farm in Iowa. The fact that he is the 
editor of a successful farm paper is an advantage, 
because such a connection enables him to know coun¬ 
try people, their habits and ways of thinking, and what 
is of greater importance, to gain their confidence. 
The farmers will not lack opportunity for expressing 
their views. We begin such an investigation on page 
683, and we invite farmers everywhere to give us 
the plain unvarnished facts about the conditions in 
their own section. We do not expect to print all that 
is written, but we want 50,000 reports—from all over 
—so that the real trouble with farming can be actually 
sized up. As the Hope Farm man says, there is little 
use giving too much space to causes. Most of us un¬ 
derstand them. We cannot remake the past, but we 
can help make the future by knowing just where we 
stand, and digging out a remedy. 
* 
The New Jersey Horticultural Society held its 
Summer meeting at the famous Repp farm near Glass- 
boro. There were over 500 persons present, and great 
interest was manifested in the farm and its operations. 
A few years ago such a meeting would have been 
impossible in New Jersey. At tbe call a few faithful 
ones would have assembled, but younger men would 
not have been attracted. At this year’s meeting the 
majority were in the prime of life or younger. Two 
things are mainly responsible for this growth of in¬ 
terest. First conies the faithful work of the members 
of the old guard who through hard and discouraging 
years laid the foundation of this society upon the 
solid rock. Next comes the undeniable fact that fruit 
growing in New Jersey, when properly handled, is a 
profitable business which appeals to young men who 
are satisfied with country life as forcibly as anything 
in town. 
* 
During the last six months our readers have heard 
much about “bookmakers” or book making—gamblers’ 
terms in connection with racing. A bookmaker is a 
broker in wagers, lie acts as a clearing house for bets. 
He oosts his odds on the various horses, and when 
a patron wishes to bet on a certain horse the book¬ 
maker receives the money and gives the better a 
memorandum stating the sum, the horse and the odds 
taken. These odds change from time to time, depend¬ 
ing upon the chances of the horse at the time. He 
has to pay liberally for the privilege of doing this, 
hut he rarely loses. Under a recent decision it was 
held that the law does not prohibit oral betting, but 
that placing a bet with a bookmaker is a crime. 
‘‘Bookmaking” is a great evil, as it gives a chance to 
many clerks and young men to take chances on the 
races quietly and without the knowledge of their 
friends or employers. They will often steal the 
money or take it from their families in order to bet. 
* 
Mr. Wadhams (page 678) has the right idea re¬ 
garding a fertilizer for the wheat crop. On strong 
land, full of vegetable matter, he assumes that there 
is enough nitrogen in the soil, and uses only potash 
and phosphoric acid. Where the soil is not well sup¬ 
plied with humus he would use nitrogen in available 
forms—like nitrate of soda and dried blood. We 
feel sure that is correct practice. Millions of dollars 
have been wasted in this country l>y farmers who buy 
low-grade fertilizers. When the average man pays 
for a wheat fertilizer containing about one per cent 
of nitrogen he might just about as well carry a sign 
with the words “Please sell me a gold brick!” Such 
a fertilizer gives a manufacturer his best chance to 
use muck or leather or coarse tankage or other un¬ 
available forms—if he wants to do so! A fertilizer 
with three per cent of nitrogen costs more and is 
worth more-not only because it has more plant 
food, hut because the nitrogen must he of the best 
quality. 
* 
Some of the politicians attempt to prove that there 
is a strong public sentiment against Gov. Hughes. 
It is true that a small hand of disgruntled persons 
are making a very loud noise, hut they do not represent 
the real backbone of their party. In reading what 
they write or listening to them do not forget that one 
man with a typewriter or a ready pen can grind out 
more words than 200 busy farmers. Votes rather 
than words count at an election, and the politicians 
know it. At some of the low-class theaters in New 
York audiences laugh and shout at coarse or vulgar 
jokes and songs about “Charles the Baptist!” This 
fling at the religious convictions of Gov. Hughes is 
considered very funny by the poor creatures who 
have been put out of business by the anti-gambling 
laws. Their howls and shouts against “Charles the 
Baptist” are quoted as strong “public opinion” against 
the Governor. There is another kind of public senti¬ 
ment, not hailing from the variety theaters, but from 
the church and the home. This kind is hack of the 
Governor, and the men and women who are respon¬ 
sible for it are of the type of those who have wrought 
the great and enduring things in history. These poli¬ 
ticians should be given credit for wisdom, but their 
hatred for Gov. Hughes is strong. Woe betide them 
if in their hatred and anger they attempt to match 
the sneers at “Charles the Baptist” against the prayers 
of church-going people. 
* 
“Corn breeding” has without doubt done much to 
secure better seed corn and thus to increase the 
yields. Anything that induces people to study a sub¬ 
ject and analyze the causes which produce results is 
sure to be useful. Thus far most of the work in corn 
breeding and judging has been given to the ear alone. 
We should like to see the study go further and 
include the entire stalk. Let the entire stalk, bearing 
the ear, be brought to the corn shows and judged as 
a whole. With us the stalks on an acre are nearly as 
valuable as the grain. We arc now working with a 
flint variety in an effort to develop a strain which 
will uniformly produce two or three fair-sized ears 
on a stalk. It is evident that this trait could never 
be fixed by selecting ears alone, no matter how per¬ 
fect they may he. The entire stalk must be con¬ 
sidered in the selection, and we all know how much 
the surrounding stalks have to do with any car. 
* 
Can anyone tell why certain nursery tree agents 
have an insatiable desire to tell big stories? One 
man, who represents an old and reliable house, 
got himself by degrees so far along as to claim that 
his peach trees were rot and blight and “yellows” 
proof, because they had been grown in some peculiar 
way. When their attention was called to it the 
nursery firm called this man in and explained to him, 
in the nursery, just how their trees were propagated 
and what they could not claim for them. Then they 
sent him out with a warning. He seems to have kept 
within the limit for awhile, and then began the big 
stories again. On our second complaint the nursery 
firm wrote: 
“It is a difficult matter, as you may kitozv, to keep 
a tree agent in the straight and narrow path of duty, 
but we certainly do mot stand for anything of this 
nature, and intend to see that this man mends his 
ways.” 
Some ways are past mending—new ways are 
needed. But will some one tell us what there is about 
the tree business that puts the wrong label on an 
agent’s story? 
* 
The Saturday Evening Post prints that wonderful 
story of Abraham Adams and his 3 . 00 -bushel-an-acre 
wheat! The Post uses the same pictures which 
Adams prints in his circulars. It is discouraging that 
such stuff should find its way into the leading papers, 
for the only object of such an article is to induce 
people to pay extravagant prices for cither bogus or 
untried things. We regret that a great paper should 
unwittingly lend its influence to a scheme of this sort. 
The so-called “Alaska wheat” “boomed” so vigorously 
is an old, discarded type known in this country for 
50 years! It has little value for beast and less for 
man except to the fakers who, through the publica¬ 
tion of such articles are able to sell it to confiding 
“suckers” at $20 per bushel for seed. It is an un¬ 
fortunate thing that so many papers run to sen¬ 
sations in discussing farming. The plain, simple truth 
about farming and farm life will secure scant atten¬ 
tion. What is wanted are “big stories” and improb¬ 
able results. Such things do a great injury to legiti¬ 
mate farming in every way. Already we hear of peo¬ 
ple who are at the point of spending hard-earned 
money on this worthless “Alaska” wheat. Far better 
give the money to your wife than invest it in fairy 
tales. 
BREVITIES. 
Look out for the men who hunt for jobs but not for 
work. 
No combination of chemicals will exactly lake the place 
of stable manure, since the latter supplies vegetable matter 
and certain bacteria. The chemicals and green crops pro¬ 
vide a good substitute. 
Sawdust for mulching trees. It is fair when well rot¬ 
ted, but do not put it close to the trunk, for mice gather 
under it. Fresh sawdust is too sour, and lime or wood 
ashes should be used with it. 
The little Kingdom of Belgium is something of an apple 
orchard. There were exported last year 36,472,779 pounds 
of apples rained at $815,914. An abundant crop is re¬ 
ported this year selling on the tree at 48 to 58 cents per 
100 pounds! 
Last Spring Mr. Van Wagenen told 11 s about his electric 
lighting plant. Now he says they had the light up to 
about August 1 when the drought became so severe that 
there was not water enough to turn (lie wheel—and the 
light went out! 
At this season we often hear of the germ which causes 
milk to turn slimy or stringy. The trouble is usually laid 
to the cow or Iter feed, lint this genu is responsible, and 
it usually lives on the pails, pans or other milk utensils. 
Boiling everything which the milk is carried in is the 
remedy. 
