718 
September 12, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Published weekly by the Knral Publishing Cumpnny, 409 Pearl Street, New York* 
Herbert W. Colli ngwooi), President and Editor, 
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. Cd., or 8*a marks, or lOks 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. 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 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. 
* 
THE PRIZE ST DRV. 
The date for receiving manuscripts for the prize 
story has been extended till October 15 to accommo¬ 
date several hard-worked writers who wish to do their 
best. Some of our people did not, at first, clearly 
understand just what was wanted. We cannot use 
an essay on good farming or a moral lecture—no 
matter how well written. We want a strong novel, 
the scene to be laid in the country, and dealing with 
incidents which will appeal to farmers. It may be 
that none of the manuscripts will size up to these 
requirements or exactly suit our purpose, so that we 
can use them, but we hope they will. 
* 
Remember The R. N.-Y. tent at the New York 
State Fair. We shall all be there—glad to see our 
friends. Hunt us up. You can rest or leave your 
packages while you see the exhibits. 
* 
That discussion about prize-winning cattle at fairs 
has had a good effect. Many farmers will spend 
more time this year studying the cattle and compar¬ 
ing. That is right. If the prizes go to the fat and 
sleek animals, and not to the workers—we want to 
know it. Dairymen who make their bread by selling 
milk or butter ought to be the very ones to buy pure¬ 
bred stock if the theory about such stock is correct. 
They will be the best customers the breeders could 
have when they know that improved blood means 
more butter. 
* 
Mr. Wing makes a strong argument for lime on 
Alfalfa. This is evidently one of the things we must 
consider in trying to start Alfalfa on soil which is 
not naturally suited to it. We can all see how those 
who succeed with this crop on strongly alkaline soil 
cannot understand why we fail even when we follow 
their advice exactly. Such an awful dose of lime 
as Mr. Wing refers to may be what Alfalfa needs, 
but it would ruin a corn crop. Yet we know that 
while salt would turn a clover field into a desert it 
would make a garden of asparagus. If, as Mr. 
Wing says, Alfalfa eats, drinks and loves lime, the 
thing to do is to stuff lime down its throat. 
* 
Last Fall we had a discussion over the merits of 
mulching or cultivation for apple orchards. This dis¬ 
cussion was based upon the results obtained in a 
western New York orchard where the Geneva Experi¬ 
ment Station is conducting a test. This orchard was 
divided in two parts, one of which was plowed and 
thoroughly cultivated, while the other was left in 
grass. This grass was cut once with a mowing ma¬ 
chine and left to rot upon the ground. At the end 
of the season there was no question but that the 
trees and fruit on the cultivated side were much 
superior. The advocates of “mulching” at once 
claimed that this was not a fair test for their method. 
The grass should have been cut several times and 
piled under the trees, or an amount of fertilizer equal 
to the cost of cultivating the other part .of the or¬ 
chard should have been used. Prof. Hedrick, who is 
conducting the experiment, replied that the plan was 
to test thoroughly two definite methods of handling- 
orchards followed in western New York—the care¬ 
ful culture and the “let alone.” We think Prof. Hed¬ 
rick left the impression with many that he started out 
to demonstrate the superior value of culture rather 
than to see if any fair substitute could be found for 
tuje; rural new-yorkier. 
it. No doubt this is in line with the wishes of some 
of the best growers in western New York, yet another 
experiment should be tried in which methods laid 
down by a committee of “mulchers” should be fairly 
carried out. We would like to have Prof. Hedrick see 
the Repp orchard—described on page 699. He would 
find trees growing in a mass of weeds shoulder high 
and still loaded with as fine fruit as western New 
York can furnish. Such things prove that there is no 
cast-iron rule for doing things, but that success means 
a study of conditions. 
* < 
What is the matter with farming in your section 
and what is the remedy? Some farmers write us 
that they have had the subject boiling in their minds 
for years. When they come to put their thoughts on 
paper they found it hard to express just what they 
mean. We know how they feel, but we want them to 
take the time to think it out thoroughly and let us 
have it. Nothing could be more useful right at this 
time than straight opinions from the men who do the 
real farm work. Do not leave this discussion to the 
so-called “thinkers” and the comparatively few highly 
successful men, hut give us the real thing—straight 
from the workers. Land owners, tenants and hired 
men are all welcome and their views are needed. We 
want straight talk from you! Here is your chance 
to state your grievance if you have any, and get the 
living facts before Congress! 
* 
The following note, written July 24, shows how^one 
Ohio farmer will start a fertilizer factory of his 
own: 
I plan to sow one-half of 15 acres of corn to clover and 
turnips, the other half to vetch, to determine, if possible, 
which is the better, prices considered. I shall leave a strip 
without seeding through the center of each to show how 
much good these crops will do next year’s corn crop. This 
field is a half mile from the barn, and I figure the vetch 
and clover worth 10 loads of average manure per acre, and 
at this rate the cost of seed will not equal the cost of haul¬ 
ing and spreading the above-mentioned amount of manure. 
Our plan is to haul the manure on the nearby fields. , 
The Smith Fertilizer Company will not get out any 
injunction to restrain tfie soil from showing how 
much good the clover and vetch do. The State will 
board the clover and turnips and make no charge for 
it. This plan of making short hauls of manure to 
the nearby fields, and using green crops and chemicals 
on the distant fields, is as sound as a rock. 
* 
There ought to be some agreement about the form 
of law which is to govern the shipment of tested 
cattle from one State to another. Here is a case, as; 
described by a New York State breeder: 
I have recently sold a young cow to go into Pensylvania, 
and I have experienced a lot of trouble in getting her prop¬ 
erly tested. I tried several veterinarians, but none was 
qualified, so finally I persuaded -one to get himself quali¬ 
fied by getting a certificate from Commissioner Pearson. 
Then this certificate had to be submitted to the State 
Commissioner of Pennsylvania, and the veterinarian is now 
waiting for that honorable board to send him a little tuber¬ 
culin with which to test the cow, for they will not allow 
her to be tested with poor old New Y’ork State tuberculin. 
A law should not operate to hold up or complicate 
a legitimate business. We can all understand that it 
is the right thing to keep diseased cattle out of a 
State, but there is no need of so much red tape. The 
agricultural commissioners ought to get together and 
arrange some plan for the prompt testing and transfer 
of such cattle. 
* 
Letters continue to come asking about that 
“Alaska” wheat. We have received at least 25 clip¬ 
pings from different papers containing that story of 
Abraham Adams and his yield of 200 bushels per 
acre. So much fault was found with the Saturday 
Evening Post for printing the yarn that it sent a re¬ 
liable man to Idaho to investigate. It did not take 
him long to see that the paper had been duped, and 
he sent the following telegram to the Post: 
Assertions of huge crops or good flourmaking quality not 
justified. Adams only claim of proportion of 200 bushels 
an aero is with an eighth of an acre patch two years ago. 
For last year admits farm average only 30 bushels. So 
far this year only 25 or 35 an acre. Offers excuses such 
as weeds and undersowing. Not (rue that wheat has been 
successfully grown elsewhere. Misleading to say frost¬ 
proof, for admits some injury by snow. Flour-making qual¬ 
ities unknown. Adams was given experiment station anal¬ 
ysis last year and told with it that milling test was neces¬ 
sary to show the quality with certainty, lias not had the 
test. The wheat in appearance is much like certain large 
coarse wheats not valuable for flour. 
Thus Adams grew a large crop on one-eighth of an 
acre two years ago and he figured from that a yield 
of 200 bushels on an entire farm! The whole thing 
is now exposed, yet probably for months people will 
go on paying $20 a bushel for wheat which will not 
even make good flour. Very likely the follv of those 
papers which printed the silly story will cost the peo¬ 
ple $100,000! There is some satisfaction at least in 
thinking that no reader of The R. N.-Y. had any 
need to lose a dollar. 
Our old friend the marriage contract fraud is at it 
again. He plays the part of clergyman to perfection. 
He stops with some prosperous farmer over night, 
conducts family worship and makes himself very much 
at home. During the evening a knock comes at the 
door, and the farmer finds a bashful young couple 
who want to be married. They have heard there was 
a clergyman in the neighborhood, and would like to 
have him marry them at once. This holy man de¬ 
murs, but the farmer and his wife have a mixture of 
sporting blood and romance in their veins, and they 
finally induce the clergyman to make the young peo¬ 
ple happy. The clergyman produces a “marriage 
license” which the farmer willingly signs—without 
reading. Next day the clergyman goes on his way, 
shedding virtue all along the road. A few weeks later 
the farmer receives notice from a bank that they hold 
his note for $500 ! While he thought he signed that 
“marriage license” he really put his name to a 'skill¬ 
fully worded promise to pay. The two men and the 
woman are partners in roguery, and play the same 
game ' again and again, making more money at it 
than 50 hardworking farmers can earn in five years! 
It does seem ridiculous that a shrewd farmer should 
ever sign a paper presented by a stranger, yet some 
of these rascals are so plausible that they could make 
a hungry horse donate his oats to the cause they lie 
about. 
* 
“I think that if we are to give Mr. Hughes another 
term we ought to back him up with a better lot of 
Senators than we did before.” 
That is the way a New York fanner puts it, and 
he speaks for thousands of others. There can be no 
doubt that the thinking farmers of New York want 
“two years more of Hughes.” They want him be¬ 
cause he stands for the things they need. Not one in 
10,000 would ever think of calling him “Charlie,” or 
dream of treating him with familiarity. In a way 
that is a good thing, for farmers who look ahead have 
gone by the hurrah part of the battle. The time has 
come for cold-blooded bulldog methods, and farmers 
see instinctively that Hughes is the man for this 
stage of the game. Fighting with fire is like giving 
the devil his choice of weapons. An iceberg will 
get him quicker. Mr. Hughes knows where his sup¬ 
port must come from, and what he must do to hold 
it. If fate had gone deliberately at work to give the 
farmers of New York their great opportunity events 
could not have been arranged with greater skill. The 
political bosses would have driven the Governor out 
of public life if the country people had not made 
themselves heard. As for “a better lot of Senators,” 
four of those named in our black list have already 
been disposed of in one way or another. Every one 
of the others knows in his heart that in a fair pri-> 
mary election he never could have been re¬ 
nominated. If any of them succeed in getting back 
they will know what the majority of their people 
think of them at least. At a farmers’ picnic in cen¬ 
tral New York a candidate for the Senate made his 
appearance and asked for support. The first ques¬ 
tion asked him was: 
“Are you in favor of a primary nomination law?” 
Flis answer was “No!” Then the farmers told him 
straight and fair that he might as well get out of 
the race, for no man will get their votes unless he 
will help give New York such a law. Just as long 
as the politicians stand between the Legislature and 
the people we cannot hope for “a better lot of Sena¬ 
tors.” Get those politicians out of the way and let 
the people select their own candidates, and we shall 
get back closer to a government for the people and 
by the people than we have had for many years. 
BREVITIES. 
Don’t depend on lime sprinkled over the potatoes to keep 
off rot. 
Tub figures show that over forty billion feet of lumber 
were cut in this country last year. The average consump¬ 
tion per capita was 480 feet. 
Can anyone tell us how to separate vetch seed from 
rye when the two crops are grown together? One trouble 
with vetch is that it mixes badly with small grain. 
As a result of closing the saloons in Atlantic City, N. J., 
one Sunday the liquor dealers say they lost $150,000 in 
sales. That tells you where some of the money goes. 
Tub eastern poultrymen are not the only ones that 
must face higher grain prices. A reader in western Wash¬ 
ington says he pays $1.75 per .100 for wheat—and makes 
hens pay. 
WHAT is the value of an acre of good pasture? That 
question is often asked by people who want to rent: or let 
an acre of land. The Minnesota Station has found that 
an acre of pasture produces about as much pork as a ton 
of shorts—with our prices worth nearly $30. 
Tub calf shown on page 710 belong to Leslie Walling, 
aged seven, of Broome Co.. N. Y. This is his first calf. 
When large enough it will lie sold, and l.eslie will have the 
money. No combination of boy’s calf and Dad’s money about 
this. That’s the way to treat a boy. President Roose¬ 
velt’s Commission might make a note of it. 
