40 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Pnbllihed weekly by the Rnral Publishing Company, 409 Pearl Street, Sew York* 
Herbert W. Collingwood, President and Editor, 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Hoyle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
88 . 6 d., 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 Class Matter. 
Advertising rates f>0 cents per agate line—7 words. Discount for tim< 
orders. References required for advertisers unknown to 
us; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
"A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a 
responsible person. But to make doubly sure wo will make good any 
loss to paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler 
advertising in our columns, and any such swindler will be publicly ex¬ 
posed. We protect 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. 
* 
Our recent remarks on “guff” seem to have stirred 
up a few hot-air artists to extra exertion. Guff and 
bluff may both be ranked as stuff. There was a time 
when the public thought they were solid, but people 
know better now, and wise men will work away 
from them. 
* 
The annual meeting of the New York State Agri¬ 
cultural Society will be held at Albany January 17-19. 
The development of agricultural resources and the 
relation between this problem and the cost of living 
will be the chief topics for discussion. A strong pro¬ 
gramme has been prepared and many noted speakers, 
including the governors of two States, are expected 
to be present. We would like to see a large number 
of practical farmers at this meeting and have them 
go there prepared to take a hand in the discussion. 
While many of the topics suggested may reasonably 
be analyzed by thinkers and professional men, the 
final word should be spoken by actual farmers. We 
hope therefore that many of them will come to this 
meeting prepared to express their views. 
♦ 
You remember that the Bellows milk case is be¬ 
ing fought out to determine the right of the New 
York Board of Health to take arbitrary ground in 
inspecting or rejecting market milk. In Buffalo the 
Health Commissioner asked the corporation counsel 
11 he had the legal power to inspect and supervise 
dairies outside the city limits. Judge Hammond is 
quoted as giving the following opinion: 
A valid ordinance cannot be enacted which would em¬ 
power the health commissioner to supervise dairy farms 
outside the limits of the city, and the same, if enacted 
by the common council, would, in my judgment, be in¬ 
valid. It is not within the power of the municipal au¬ 
thorities to send inspectors to supervise those dairies, for 
that would be usurpation of the authority of the Com¬ 
missioner of Agriculture and the State Board of Health. 
At the Bellow’s trial it was claimed that the New 
York City charter was peculiar, and gave the city 
authorities special powers and privileges. 
♦ 
In his first message to the Legislature Gov. John A. 
Dix of New York advocates three things which The 
R. N.-Y. has hammered for years. Primary nomina¬ 
tions ! Gov. Dix stands squarely for it and calls for 
honest primary legislation. Parcels post! The Gov¬ 
ernor recommends that the New York Legislature pass 
a resolution calling upon Congress to start parcels post 
at once! The consumer’s dollar! He says we should 
make a systematic effort “to improve trade conditions 
in farm products to benefit both consumer and pro¬ 
ducer.” That means cut down the consumer’s dollar 
and still give much to the producer. Gov. Dix is in 
favor of abolishing the State Fair Commission—cutting 
out five commissioners who draw large salaries. We 
have never been able to understand why Gov. Hughes 
ever permitted this commission to start or why he 
favored the legislation last Winter which permitted 
these commissioners to make themselves, as they 
thought, secure in their jobs. The agriculture of New 
York can get along without them. 
* 
One strong argument in favor of buying a farm in 
the Eastern States is the fact that the best markets 
in the country are to be fond within reach of these 
farms. The last census report makes this argument 
stronger. Let us take that part of the country east 
of the lakes and the Ohio River. This section em¬ 
braces about eight per cent, of the territory of the 
United States. It contains two of the largest cities 
in the world and eight cities with over 250,000 popu¬ 
<THE RURAb NEW-YORKER 
lation, and in easy reach of two more. Of 50 Amer¬ 
ican cities with 100,000 or more people this compara¬ 
tively small section contains 21—with eight of these 
in New England. There are 178 cities in the country 
with 25,000 to 100,000 population. Of these 83 are 
east of the Ohio, with 32 of them in New England. 
No other section is so thickly spotted with good 
markets, and nowhere else is farm land to be obtained 
at a better bargain. The census shows that these 
eastern cities make a large gain in population. Their 
prosperity is assured, and with each year the army 
of spenders will increase and the demand for the 
finer forms of food will grow. The farmer close to 
these great markets has opportunities which are de¬ 
nied those who must ship their goods long distances 
to the final cpnsumer. All these things justify the 
assertion that the Eastern States still offer as fine 
agricultural opportunity as any other part of the 
country. 
* 
Rhode Island has now the strongest fertilizer law 
in the country. Most of the States exempt from in¬ 
spection fertilizer selling for less than $10 per ton. 
This exemption has let in a lot of stuff and poor lime. 
Rhode Island compels the sampling and analysis of 
everything “excepting the dung of poultry and domes¬ 
tic animals in its usual condition.” In addition to 
giving the amounts of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and 
potash claimed, the manufacturer must state his 
guarantee of lime and magnesia. For example, wood 
ashes have been sold on a guarantee of potash and 
phosphoric acid. Now the guarantee must include 
lime, and all samples of lime must also be guaran¬ 
teed and analyzed. This is an excellent plan and it 
should be followed in all the States. Immense quan¬ 
tities of lime are being sold, and as the price is usu¬ 
ally below $10 a ton there is, in most States, no re¬ 
straint and no protection for farmers. This will open 
a chance for great frauds especially in the sale of 
ground limestone. We would compel the dealers to 
guarantee a certain per cent, of lime in every sale. 
It is the only safe way to buy. 
* 
I wish to say that the Apple Consumers’ League is in 
danger of becoming extinct in Michigan. Groceries adver¬ 
tise apples at $1 per bite, three bites for $2.50. It is a 
serious situation for the League. c. D. r. 
As the original member of the Apple Consumers’ 
League we have had occasion to study the history 
of many great movements for uplifting the race. They 
all come to a crisis when only the fittest survive to 
carry on the work. The weaklings drop out at some 
supreme test, and the strong who remain are made 
stronger. The League has evidently come to one of 
these great tests with apples at “one dollar a bite.” 
The heroes will give up some other pleasures and still 
put the price into apples—taking as large bites as 
possible. Seriously, this scheme of “talking apple” 
and making apple eating popular has done more than 
anything else to make the present great demand for 
fruit. There are still many fine apples which net 
the grower little or nothing, while consumers are 
held up by awful prices. That is one reason why we 
advocate parcels post. This would encourage direct 
dealing between consumer and producer. Such busi¬ 
ness would not all be done by mail, but the competi¬ 
tion of parcels post would improve and cheapen all 
other forms of transportation. 
* 
“Mature deliberation and careful consideration.” 
We have become convinced that some Congressmen 
have these phrases so securely fixed in their systems 
that they cannot get them out. Congressmen Hig¬ 
gins of Connecticut is one of those unfortunates. He 
could not come nearer parcels post than “careful con¬ 
sideration” and as a result his majority of several 
thousand shrunk last Fall to 78. A man in his dis¬ 
trict recently wrote asking how Mr. Higgins stood 
orl parcels post, and particularly begged him not to 
say “careful consideration,” as he had heard that often 
enough. Mr. Higgins evidently tried hard, but habit 
was too strong, and in his reply he worked in both 
“careful consideration” and “mature deliberation.” He 
simply could not help it; like so many more of these 
Congressmen he cannot work these words out of his 
system, and that fact will work him out of the polit¬ 
ical system of this nation. One of the best letters 
we have read is sent by State Senator J. J. Brookes 
of Tennessee to the candidates for United States 
Senator. Among other good things Mr. Brookes 
says: 
No demagogical side-stepping will answer. To say, 
“These questions shall receive my most careful considera¬ 
tion, bestowing upon them the best thought of which I 
am capable, with an eye single to safeguarding the public 
and promoting the general welfare of my country,” is 
to give forth pure buncombe and show evidence of 
moral cowardice. Nothing short of a definite, bold state¬ 
ment will suffice.” 
Let us class “careful consideration” as “guff.” 
January 14, 
I have always been interested in everything you have 
said about parcels post, and about a week ago I read a 
particularly raw lot of “guff” in the Erie (Pa.) Daily 
Dispatch signed by “A.” I could not resist, and so fired 
back at him what the Dispatch printed to-day and which 
I enclose. Keep up the fight; all but the fools are with 
you, and most of them will get wise in time. 
Pennsylvania. a. i. loop. 
Mr. Loop wrote one of the most sensible articles 
on parcels post that we have read in a long time. We 
make mention of this to point out what men can do 
with a sharp pen if they only try. The local papers 
often carry considerable influence in a community. 
Many of them are inclined to be dominated by the 
advertisers, simply because the subscribers do not 
assert themselves. The subscribers represent the back¬ 
bone of any newspaper enterprise, and when they 
come forward as Mr. Loop did, and put their views 
right up in forcible English, they can do a world 
of good. That is one of the best ways to spread the 
gospel of reform, for these local papers go right into 
the homes of the people and are welcome there. Take 
up the pen! 
♦ 
The farmers of Western Canada among other de¬ 
mands call for a railroad from Winnipeg to Hudson 
Bay, a harbor on that body of water and public ele¬ 
vators at this harbor. They demand that the rail¬ 
road, harbor and elevators shall be public property, 
constructed and operated by the government. The 
money required for these great enterprises is already 
available. It was raised from sales and taxes of 
farm lands and these farmers rightly claim that this 
farm land revenue should be spent so as to benefit 
farmers for all time. The government will no doubt 
build the railroad, and its building will have a 
marked effect upon the future history of this conti¬ 
nent. A large share of Canadian wheat and a good 
supply of meat and wool will be sent north through 
Hudson Bay rather than east through Montreal or 
New York. With free trade between Canada and this 
country a good share of the produce of our own 
Western farms will also be exported over the north¬ 
ern route. There would also be a larger exchange 
of farm products between the two countries. Our 
people will soon need Canadian wheat in order to 
obtain bread at a fair price, while the Canadians 
need and will take great quantities of our apples and 
other fruits. Western Canada is sure to dominate 
the Dominion, and a large proportion of the Western 
Canadians are men and women who have moved from 
this side of the line. 
* 
It is reported that rich deposits of potash have 
been found in Canada, and that owners of potash 
mines in Germany have secured control. This report 
is denied, but we think there is some basis for truth 
in it. We have long believed that some day potash 
deposits worth working will be discovered on this 
continent. It is also possible that methods will be 
discovered for making the potash in various forms 
of granite rock available. We have recently been 
informed by experts that the government could cer¬ 
tainly discover means for doing this if it would pro¬ 
vide the money for expensive experiments. All these 
things are now coming to a head in connection with 
the controversy over the contracts and prices for 
German potash. The question has become compli¬ 
cated with other matters, and may lead to a tariff war 
with Germany. The State Department has promised 
tc give us the exact facts soon. Thus far the state¬ 
ments which have appeared in the papers appear to 
have been dictated by one extreme position or the 
other. Aside from any other consideration, we think 
the Germans show a short-sighted policy in holding 
up the price of potash. They will, by doing so, drive 
the American people into demanding a more thorough 
search for potash deposits, or for methods of ex¬ 
tracting potash from rock. Under such pressure we 
believe that increased supplies of American potash 
will be found. 
BREVITIES. 
Take our advice and use some Alsike clover seed with 
the Red. 
Take things when they are ripe or they will go to rot. 
That's true of parcels post. 
Kansas fruit growers report a scourge of rabbits which 
are gnawing young fruit trees. 
The chances are more than even that your older horses 
have trouble with their teeth and cannot chew properly. 
The Republic of Cuba will pay $30,000 to the person 
who discovers the origin of a disease of cocoanuts, and a 
remedy or cure. 
And now the cocoanut crop in Samoa is in danger from 
a beetle. The entire life habits of the insect must be 
studied before a remedy is found. 
The latest suggestion for holding or preventing forest 
fires from spreading is to plant hedges of cactus or Mex¬ 
ican agave when these juicy plants will grow. 
Last year for the first time in German history the 
German people consumed more alcohol for industrial than 
for drinking purposes. There was even a boycott against 
the German schnapps. 
