700 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 5, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home*. 
Established 1850. 
Published weekly by tbe llural PuliliUiin- Company, 409 Pearl Street, Sew York, 
Herbert W. Oollingwood, President and Editor, 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. DILLON, Secretary. 
Dr. Waiter 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 
83 . 6 d., or 8*3 marks, or 10*2 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. 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 suberibers against rogues, but we do not guarantee 
to adjust trifling differences between subscribers and honest, respon¬ 
sible advertisers. Neither will wo bo 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. 
* 
We are making great preparations for seeing 
friends at the New York State Fair this year. As 
usual The R. N.-Y. tent will be on the old familiar 
corner. We shall all be on hand to meet old friends 
and make new ones. Many things have happened 
during the past year, and there are big things loom¬ 
ing up ahead. Come and talk them over, and make 
yourself at home in the tent. Your packages will 
be safe there while you see the fair. 
* 
During the past few years we have had many calls 
for some simple method for preserving ground meat 
or cut green bone. Poultrymen can often obtain 
more of this material in Summer than the stock can 
handle. If they could keep it sweet until Winter 
or hold it for fertilizer it would be a great help. 
Dr. Voorhees of New Jersey tells us that a two per 
cent solution of formaldehyde will keep the cut bone 
either for fertilizer or hen food. If so it will prove 
a boon to many. But will this preserved meat be safe 
for feeding? The health authorities will not permit 
the use of formaldehyde in human food. What about 
the hens ? 
* 
It seems probable at this writing that Governor 
Hughes will be renominated. We would take nothing 
for granted, however, and we advise farmers to con¬ 
tinue to “make public sentiment” as they have done 
during the past few weeks. The “bosses” will pre¬ 
vent the Governor’s nomination if they can. The one 
thing that will make them come to time is the knowl¬ 
edge that the farmers as a class are solidly in favor 
of what Mr. Hughes stands for. They cannot get 
away from that, and do not dare to oppose that sen¬ 
timent. The farmers have made their wishes felt, 
and this is only a taste of what they will do when 
they get a primary election law. 
* 
On page 647 a New York correspondent wrote of 
a “good chance” for a live farmer. A business man 
had a good farm and was willing to provide good 
equipment and fair capital if he could find a farmer 
with energy and intelligence to act as partner. We 
have received letters from all over the country about 
this proposition. As far as can be learned from a 
letter some of these men are well qualified to handle 
such a proposition. What they would do when put 
at actual work remains to be seen. The fact is dem¬ 
onstrated, however, that there are plenty of farmers 
who would like to make such a combination. But 
now what about the proposition made on page 695? 
Here is a man already in the country who needs 
capital to develop his farm and dairy. He makes 
a good showing, and his plan is sensible. How many 
people will go into this form of partnership, and why 
is it not as attractive as the other? We are glad this 
has come up right now that we are to have an inves¬ 
tigation of farm conditions. 
* 
Be sure you read that letter on the next page from 
a Kansas farmer. Fie writes about the new primary 
law and the way it worked out. We must have such 
a law in New York, and we shall stick to it and talk 
about it until the people compel the Legislature to 
give it to us. You see this man speaks of matters 
that are politic without being political, and that is a 
good way to put it. The greatest trouble with New 
York politics to-day is the fact that a few third-rate 
politicians stand between the people and the Legis¬ 
lature. These politicians are about like the middle¬ 
men who stand between a farmer and the family in 
town who buy the produce. Where the consumer 
pays a dollar the farmer may get 40 cents. In like 
manner when the State appropriates money for “agri¬ 
culture” a gang of rounders may get 60 per cent of 
it as “graft.” The grafters will get the lion’s share 
and a good part of the rest just as long as they can 
control things. When we have a strong primary 
nominations law the people will take a lot of this 
public work out of the hands of the grafters, and 
get the money for it too. Stick right to this prop¬ 
osition through thick and thin, and do not be bluffed, 
discouraged or frightened. 
* 
One of our readers sends us a long letter from a 
nurseryman with the following remarks: 
I think these must be the parties who packed that 
barrel of Baldwins. Notice the postscript. 
This postscript might well catch the eye of any 
reader of The R. N.-Y.: 
We have just put on the market, THE FAMOUS SEED¬ 
LESS APPLE, and our latest and best Potato “Roose¬ 
velt,” the only BUG, BLIGHT and drought-proof sort in 
the world. Both phenomenal sellers, and with which 
alone you can earn a comfortable income. 
“Just put on the market!” The Seedless appple 
was driven off the market two years ago—now these 
men will help put it back. As for a “bug, blight and 
drought-proof” potato, he ought to send a full ac¬ 
count of that to the magazines! We don’t know 
whether these men packed that barrel of “Choice New 
York Baldwins” or not, but they have packed that 
postscript about as full of stuff as they can. Of 
course no reader of The R. N.-Y. will go out and 
try to bunco his friends and neighbors. It would 
not be a “comfortable living” for us to try to induce 
our friends to buy “Seedless” apples and “bug-proof” 
potatoes. 
* 
It is discouraging to see the great magazines and 
papers advertising the Seedless apple and printing 
glowing stories about “Alaska wheat” and similar 
monstrosities. The theory upon which these publi¬ 
cations touch farming seems to he that nothing but 
extravagant stories and sensations are worth printing. 
They actually tell us that this “Alaska” wheat, with 
its yield of 200 bushels per acre, is to revolutionize 
wheat growing, and bring the price down to 25 cents 
a bushel! Such papers seem to think that culture 
and soil and fertilizers mean nothing at all. You 
simply throw the “Alaska” wheat on the ground, and 
sit down and wait for your 200 bushels. Those of 
us who know that farming is hard, hot work with 
small gains and large trials can see the damage done 
by such articles. People are tempted to leave legiti¬ 
mate lines of work and spend their money for im¬ 
possible things. And there is another danger—even 
greater "in a way. Many newspapers are coming 
more and more to take a stand against printing those 
extravagant articles and harmful advertisements. 
When the great publications with their immense 
circulation and influence do these things the temp¬ 
tation is strong on the part of weak publishers to give 
up the battle for fair and honorable dealing with read¬ 
ers and “print anything.” 
* 
Last May a conference of Governors was held at 
Washington. The meeting was called by President 
Roosevelt, and the object was to call attention to the 
wastes of our natural resources. It was shown that 
supplies of oil, coal and timber are being rapidly used 
up. The fuel once used cannot be put in the ground 
again, and this fact was made much of. Almost at 
the same time this conference was held electrical ex¬ 
perts were showing how electric force is to take the 
place of oil and coal to provide future light and power. 
It is claimed that the brooks and rivers in the hilly 
parts of the country can furnish the power when 
needed, and that forest planting on the cheap land at 
the head of streams will not only furnish timber, but 
protect the source of water. We are not in danger 
o r dying from cold or living in darkness. 
Figures were given at this conference to show the 
great losses in plant food. We were told that western 
Lnd once thought inexhaustible now produces but a 
few bushels of grain and will soon be worn out. The 
alarmists would have us understand that the millions 
of tons of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash taken 
from the soil in crops is lost, like the oil and the coal. 
They forget that not a pound of this plant food can 
be lost. It may change its form and leave the farm 
upon which the crops were grown, but it is not lost, 
and with proper care most of it can and will be used 
again. Farming of the future will depend upon the 
skill those who follow us show in saving what is now 
wasted. In Europe there are farms which have been 
under cultivation for more than 1,000 years. They 
were originally much poorer than the average Amer¬ 
ican soil, yet they have been farmed so skillfully that 
to-day they produce great crops. Along the Atlantic 
coast there are farms which have grown more than 
250 annual crops. They were originally light and 
poor, yet by the skillful use of chemicals and green 
crops they will produce more corn, grass or potatoes 
per acre than the naturally rich lands of the West. 
It is true that the past generation has wasted the 
fertility of western lands. The thing for the next 
generation to do is to save the wastes and restore the 
land. Western farmers must begin the study of 
chemical fertilizers, and imitate the eastern farmers in 
their care of the soil. This is already being done in 
places. The pine forests of the Northwest are usually 
found on light soil—thought to be worthless for crop 
production when the timber is cut away. At one 
point, however, this soil has been made very produc¬ 
tive by the use of clover and other green manures 
and potash and phosphoric acid. Wood ashes from 
the sawmills supply the potash and the local supply 
of waste bones crushed in a powerful bone mill have 
given the phosphoric acid. With this treatment the 
thin, sandy soil produces as much grain and grass as 
can be grown anywhere. 
* 
In stating the reasons for appointing a commis¬ 
sion to investigate farming President Roosevelt said, 
among other things: 
I doubt if any other nation can bear comparison with 
our own in the amount of attention given by the Govern¬ 
ment, both Federal and State, to agricultural matters. But 
practically the whole of this effort has hitherto been di¬ 
rected toward increasing the production of crops. Our 
attention has been concentrated almost exclusively on get¬ 
ting better fanning. In tbe beginning this was unques¬ 
tionably the right thing to do. The farmer must first of 
all grow good crops in order to support himself and his 
family. But when this lias been secured, the effort for 
better farming should cease to stand alone, and should he 
accompanied by the effort for better business and better 
living on the farm. It is at least as important that the 
farmer should get the largest possible return in money, 
comfort and social advantages from the crops he grows 
as that he should get the largest possible return in crops 
from the land he farms. 
That is true and a further analysis might be made. 
The tendency of agricultural education thus far has 
been pretty much class education. Most of it has 
been for the benefit of the naturally strong and cap¬ 
able. The bulletins, the farmers’ institutes and the 
various societies have mostly been working down from 
the top. The majority of those who take advantage 
of such teaching are as a rule best able to take care 
of themselves. The classes which are most in need 
of help and encouragement have had least of it from 
our present system of agricultural education. In most 
cases these farmers need sympathy and encourage¬ 
ment far more than they do scientific training. The 
hardest problem to-day is not how to raise the stand¬ 
ard of the agricultural colleges, but how to get them 
down to the understanding and confidence of the 
plain people. 
It must also be evident to anyone that education 
alone, however practical it may be, cannot give full 
profit and character to farming. Even though every 
farm in the country could be conducted on the most 
approved methods, agriculture would still be at a dis¬ 
advantage with other interests unless there was a 
fairer distribution of wealth. When a consumer pays 
$1 for an article and the farmer who produces it gets 
only 40 cents, with 60 cents going to the handlers, 
there is an unequal distribution of wealth, with a bur¬ 
den laid upon the farmer. President Roosevelt’s com¬ 
mission, if it is to be of real service, must get down 
into this question, and not stop at education. We 
invite our readers to help by giving us all possible 
facts about their business. Tell us frankly how you 
and your neighbors feel about farming. Are you sat¬ 
isfied? If not, what is the trouble and what is the 
remedy? There has never been a better chance than 
this in all American history to get the real truth about 
farming before Congress. You know that whatever 
you send us will be respected and faithfully reported. 
Help get the facts 1 
BREVITIES. 
Rye is now the stand-by to seed after taking out a crop. 
At present prices we should dig and sell the potatoes 
when the vines die. 
Give us a primary nomination law and we will put the 
politicians back in the primary class. 
“The boy’s calf and dad's money.” That combination 
has sent some bright boys off the farm. 
Apples in fair quantities are worth 40 per cent as 
much weight for weight as corn silage. Apple pomace is 
equal to silage in feeding value. 
We never yet knew a faker trying to sell a fake article 
who did not claim that a dozen people were after it. 
This bogus competition is a great bait for suckers. 
“The simplest way to make the farmer’s life more pleas¬ 
ant is to tame the commission man,” says the New York 
World. That is just what the Long Island Potato Ex¬ 
change has started out to do. 
When cows gnaw bones or fence rails or drink filthy 
water the remedy is to feed bone meal—to supply phos¬ 
phates. The Vermont Experiment Station shows that a 
large part of the phosphoric acid in the hone meal was 
digested by the cow. 
