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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TIIE BUSINESS FARMER’S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established )SSO 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 409 Pearl St., New York 
Herbert W. Colijngwood, President and Editor. 
John J. I)ii.t-on, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wji F. Dn-t-ON, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Rottjk, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreipn countries in the Universal Postal Union, 82.04, equal to 8s. 6d., or 
XJ 4 marks, or lO'A francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
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“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. But to make doubly sure we 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 exposed. We protect sub¬ 
scribers against rogues, but we do not guarantee to adjust trifling differences 
between subscribers and honest, responsible 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, anil 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. 
* 
That is a valuable article by Mr. Rogers on rye. 
We have done our best to encourage the use of this 
grain in its proper place. It is not equal to clover or 
Alfalfa or vetch, and it does not make as good fodder 
as oats, barley or wheat. It is, however, tough and 
hardy and can be seeded very late in the Fall. It 
gives early pasture and provides a heavy growth for 
plowing under. It is a good poor-land crop and bet¬ 
ter than wheat for seeding with grass. Rye has helped 
bring up our own farm, and we stand by it as a good 
friend. 
* 
Every mail brings letters from farmers who want 
to be counted in on»that agrarian party. The' politi¬ 
cians do not seem to realize that back of all this unrest 
is a feeling of dissatisfaction with both the old parties 
as at present organized. They are neither of them as 
competent to handle the great public questions of the 
present day as either the Whigs or the old Democrats 
were to settle the question of slavery. Thus a new party 
was needed—and something of the sort is needed 
now. There will be no bluff or “craze” about it, hut 
a steady and solid growth, for the better class of 
farmers realize how helpless they are under present 
political conditions to obtain a fair business deal with 
other industries. We would like to hear from farmers 
who believe in this agrarian movement, and who are 
ready to “enlist for the war.” Faint hearts should 
not start. 
* 
We all read these wonderful hen stories! It is pleas¬ 
ant to know that some happy mortals can have fresh 
eggs every day in the year, but our own hens go dry— 
very dry for several months. This “frost-proof” hen 
may be coming, but the glass hen is here, and one of 
her June eggs in January does very well. Water-glass 
or silicate of soda is the best family preservative for 
eggs, and it will pay any farmer to breed the glass 
hen. Eggs laid in April, May and June are best for 
preserving. Boil nine gallons of water. After it has 
cooled pour in one gallon of water-glass and stir it 
thoroughly. Put in a stone jar and gently place in the 
mixture about 30 dozen eggs. Get them as close to 
laying as possible and have them clean. Put the jar 
in the cellar or a dark room, cover it over and let it 
alone until you want the eggs. We would not try 
to sell such eggs, but for family use the glass hen is 
a wonder—in its way a good partner for Alfalfa, 
vetch and the rest of the farm helpers. 
♦ 
We urge our New York leaders to get right* in line 
to support Assembly bill 1535, introduced at Albany 
by Mr. Mork. Here is the vital part of it: 
Every railroad corporation, and any lessee or other per¬ 
son in possession of its road, shall be responsible for all 
damages caused by reason of fire communicated to adjoin¬ 
ing land, by reason of the operation of their roads, 
where it shall be shown that said operation was the 
proximate cause of the fire damage irrespective of whether 
such fire shall be communicated directly by the railroad or 
as a result of a fire caused originally by such operation. 
The strong point of this is that the railroad is made 
responsible if the fire starts through its operation. At 
the present time a person who is burned out cannot 
obtain compensation unless he can prove that the fire 
actually started on his land. If the spark fall on land 
adjoining the railroad’s right of way and spread to 
the next property the owner of the latter cannot obtain 
damage under our present law. The amendment here 
printed will make the railroad responsible if it start 
the fire! This is right, and the bill should pass at 
once. Help push it through. 
The magnified popgun or air pressure method of 
"spraying is coming into favor quite rapidly. In some 
of the larger orchards, and particularly on rough land, 
this power is superior. The carts are light and can 
go anywhere, and there is little that can get out of 
order. Perhaps the highest development of this sys¬ 
tem is to be found on Catawba Island in Lake Erie- 
off the Ohio coast. There are 55 air pressure spraying 
devices in operation there. Distributed over this island 
are plants where spray liquid and power can be bought. 
You drive up to one of these stations and have one 
tank filled with lime-sulphur solution and the other 
charged with air. The lime-sulphur costs two cents a 
gallon—the air charge 15 cents—the operation requir¬ 
ing about 10 minutes. This service is said to be 
profitable. On this island no one needs drive over a 
mile to reach one of these stations—some growers 
travel less than quarter of a mile. During the spray¬ 
ing season the spray carts line up like wagons at a 
creamery. You can also buy poisonous sprays in sea¬ 
son. We mention this to show how spraying is de¬ 
veloping, and how in favored localities cooperative 
labor can be worked out. 
★ 
That Guernsey cow case has now reached the point 
where the Guernsey Cattle Club must take action or 
he forever discredited. Mr. Taylor seems to make no 
move to prove by the only true test that Missy can 
give some more of that “liquid butter.” It looks as if 
he is going to sit on that injunction and say “What 
are you going to do about it?” And that is a good 
question, too. What are the Guernsey breeders going 
to do? If they are satisfied with a judge-made record 
forced upon them by an injunction they ought to say 
so frankly at their next meeting—and then pull down 
their flag. For who can have any respect for them if 
they run away from the firing line? Our understand¬ 
ing is that a majority of the officers and of the mem¬ 
bers regard this test of Missy’s as suspicious if not a 
fake. We think we are justified in saying that this 
test would never have gone on the record without 
further proof hut for that Supreme Court injunction! 
That being so, the time has come for the Guernsey 
breeders to let the public know whether they are 
breeding Guernsey cows or court injunctions. Their 
annual meeting will soon he held. They have abun¬ 
dant means, strong legal talent, and they must realize 
what this case means to the breeding fraternity. They 
should stand up and face the crisis or go home and 
stay there! Here is a brief statement of some of the 
facts about Missy and her milk: 
1. The sample of her milk submitted to prove her test 
had only a small fractional difference from a normal five 
per cent milk with cream added to it. No one has yet 
found a sample of normal milk like this sample. 
2. Every authenticated test of Missy’s milk showed 
that she was producing about five per cent of butter fat. 
During the time she was tcatched she gave a little less 
than in the corresponding period of the year before. 
2. In previous years and tests Missy produced milk 
averaging about five per cent. There are 12 Guernsey 
cows including Missy that produced over 14,000 pounds in 
a year. Their tests for butter fat, outside of Missy, run 
from 4.17 to 5.91 per cent. In all other cases where cbws 
have given six per cent or more of fat they have given 
comparatively small quantities of milk. 
4. The special committee advised that the per cent of 
butter fat claimed for November (8.71 per cent), be 
changed to 4.88 per cent. This is an admission that the 
reported test was too high, yet they permitted the Octo¬ 
ber test of 9.07 per cent to remain as claimed, also the 
September test of 7.21 per cent! Thus they credit the 
row with making 50% pounds of butter from 1033.30 
pounds of milk in November and 104.41 pounds from 
1151.20 pounds in October, or 88.45 pounds from 122G.70 
pounds of milk in September. 
Now, gentlemen, for the credit of the Guernsey cow 
explain why it takes 14 pounds of September milk or 
11 pounds of October milk to make a pound of butter 
fat, while when you zvatch the November milk 20 
pounds are required! The people who buy dairy stock 
want these October cows, but they expect the Guern¬ 
sey Cattle Club to play watchdog for them. 
* 
We have told how Senator Page, of Vermont, 
sounded public opinion on Canadian reciprocity. The 
local papers favored the bill, hut Senator Page is a 
wise bird, and he went home and asked Vermont peo¬ 
ple to write him. They plastered him over with stamps 
an inch thick, and he found that the papers did not 
represent public opinion. Some of them had not 
studied the hill at all—others had heard that it would 
cheapen print paper. Now read the following: 
Senator Page’s inquiries into the opinions of his con¬ 
stituents has been a means of enlightening and arousing 
the farmers and I, a lifelong Republican, should not be 
surprised to see his successor a Democrat if the Republican 
party fathers this Canadian reciprocity measure. Our 
local paper praised it before it knew its provisions, thus 
showing the influence of the hand higher up. c. l. 
We have known for weeks that this feeling is grow¬ 
ing in Vermont. If you think such a thing impossible, 
remember what happened in Maine last Fall. The 
heart of the situation is that the Northern farmers 
May 13, 
now realize how they have been “worked” to develop 
protection and abandoned as soon as the tariff be¬ 
came of any direct benefit to them. The situation is 
rapidly assuming a condition not unlike that before 
the Civil War, when the old Whig party was broken 
up. We believe that the movement will soon he be¬ 
yond the control of the politicians. It will not be likely 
to mean any permanent increase of strength for the 
Democratic party. There is a genuine demand for an 
agrarian group or party pledged to support the inter¬ 
ests of farmers. 
* 
Postmaster General Hitchcock says the postal de¬ 
ficit has been wiped out. This means that expenses 
have been reduced so that the Post Office Department 
runs at cost. You remember that this “deficit” was 
the scarecrow which frightened those “careful consid¬ 
eration” Congressmen away from parcels post. 
“Will they now favor it? 
No—for the plan evidently is to work up another 
“deficit” scarecrow. This time it will be penny post¬ 
age to please the “business interests.” One cent post¬ 
age on letters will he popular. No doubt many busi¬ 
ness men who handle unmailable goods would rather 
have it than parcels post! It will decrease the reve¬ 
nues, and there will he another “deficit.” Then there 
will be the old demand for increased magazine rates 
and the old argument against parcels post! We shall, 
in such event, lose the aid of “business interests” in the 
parcels post fight, for they will be satisfied with penny 
postage. We shall analyze this scheme in full. It is 
what we shall be obliged to face. We must all under¬ 
stand right now that both of the old parties, as they 
stand, are afraid of the railroads an-d express com¬ 
panies, and do not dare antagonize them. 
* 
Its ulterior purpose is to deplete, to decimate, to 
dwindle, to drop, to diminish the bovine population of 
Vermont, to discard dead beats, to deduct dullards, to de¬ 
tect and to drive to death the drones. Thirteen D's; and 
if I had any more up my sleeve I would use them. Too 
many farmers utter other words beginning with D when 
discussing this subject. 
The speaker was Prof. J. L. Hills, of the Vermont 
Experiment Station. He was talking .about the State 
Dairy Test Association, which has proved itself 
worthy of about all the good D’s in the language. 
This association hires competent inspectors who go 
from one herd to another testing cows for milk and 
butter fat and throwing out the robbers: When, this is 
kept up year after year, labor grows lighter and the 
pocket-book heavier. Here is a statement of what a 
cow-test association did for one Vermont farmer: 
Milk 
Aver- 
Cows. age. 
1909— 13 3893 
1910— 11 4402 
Fat Cost 
Aver- of Feed 
age. Average. 
203 $70.17 
233 45.08 
Cost 
of Butter 
Fat 
Average. 
Loss $ G.13 .345 
Profit 30.49 .197 
These were the same cows with two robbers turned 
out, only better fed. They changed the loss into 
profit and cut the cost of butter fat nearly in two. 
That is what you get by applying the best factory 
methods to milk production. It is a shame to see a 
man rob his family by feeding a herd of robbers. 
Vermont is the “Bashful State,” but find us a Ver¬ 
monter who is too bashful to. take conscience money 
from a herd of robber cows when some one decimates 
the drones! Here are a few more D’s for Prof. Hills: 
Dump dwindling deficient dummies down divers diffi¬ 
cult driveways. Dawdling dubs destroy dollars. 
BREVITIES. 
Certainly— a “kicker” is likely to be a free hooter. 
Look before you leap—then if you have good sense 
the chances are you will not leap. 
Nature sends moisture into the soil. Man’s job is to 
work the surface so as to hold it. 
You would hardly put our practical man “Mapes the 
Hen Man” down as a dealer in fairy tales—but watch for 
his hen story next week. 
A few years ago Louisiana planters were advised to 
bum waste molasses as fuel—and thus save its potash 
and phosphoric acid for fertilizer. Now it is found that 
molasses will develop certain soil bacteria and*is a better 
fertilizer than other forms containing equal quantities of 
nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid. 
“As postage from England to Virginia is so much 
cheaper than from Washington city to Virginia, I am 
thinking of giving up library membership in Washington 
and subscribing to one in London. If 1 find upon inquiry 
that the duty would run the cost up, I might move to 
London to live, and retain my membership to the Wash¬ 
ington Library,” says John Marshall, of Virginia. Mr. 
Marshall’s post office is about 30 miles from Washington, 
yet, as we see, postage on books from England is cheaper. 
Many readers ask for some simple way of separating 
vetch seed from rye. Here F. H. T. gives a method— 
simple enough at least. Shall we score another run for 
“The Business Hen?” “It .may interest some of your 
readers to know of a simpler method of cleaning rye 
out of vetch seed. I had to see it before I would be¬ 
lieve it, but hens will not eat vetch, and most of them will 
eat rye or wheat if they get a chance. When in Oregon 
a few years ago I saw lots of it hen sorted by simply 
putting in box and letting them go to it.” 
