THE RURAt NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country an<l Suburban Homes 
Established tsso 
Published wcofcTy by the RurarPnblishms Company, 409 Pearl St., New York 
Herbert W. Coixixgwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dnxos, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dnxox, Secretary. Mrs. K. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
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“A SQUARE DEAL" 
We believe that every advertisement m this paper is hacked 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 onr 
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 we 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 
tlie transaction, and you imist have j lentioneci Tiik Rural I?ew-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 onr old friends to make this 
known to neighbors and friends. 
* 
The disease known as “bunt” or stinking smut in 
wheat causes an annual loss of $11,000,000. The 
disease ruins the grain for flour making. The germs 
of the disease are on the grain, and they can be killed 
before the seed is planted- The treatment is to soak 
or wet the seed in a solution of one pint of formalin 
in 50 gallons of water. This amount will treat 45 to 
50 bushels of wheat. The plan of operation is simple. 
Spread out the seed grain, sprinkle it with the solu¬ 
tion, then shovel it into a heap and cover with bags 
or blankets for six hours or more. The fumes will 
work all through the heap and kill the germs. This 
simple and cheap method works like magic to destroy 
the disease, and does not injure the seed. 
* 
We hope you are following the figures in this lien 
contest. The last report will be found thus week un¬ 
der “Henyard.” We expect dozens of hen men to 
start up and say they can beat this all hollow. No 
doubt of it. The low record in this contest is a good 
thing, because every man who has kept hens knows 
that Mr. Dougan is not trying to boom some “system” 
or tell some great 300-egg hen story. These hens 
are not breaking any records, but if they can help 
break the back of some of these fairy tales they will 
not have lived in vain. The hatching record is poor, 
and the hens are hardly up to the average as layers. 
Yet when the chicks are sold we shall see what good 
location and a hammer lock hold on the consumer’s 
dollar can do. Let the experts and the “system” 
sellers crow if they like—we want the facts about 
these hens. 
=8 
On every potato farm where seed can be stored 
without great loss it will pay to select the best hills 
and save them. The horse diggers have nearly put 
an end to this good method of renewing or im¬ 
proving stock. It has been shown over and over 
that different hills vary greatly in their yield. Most 
of the small potatoes in many fields are produced 
by certain hills which rarely make more than one 
or two large ones. If we plant such potatoes we 
“breed” or encourage this small potato habit. As all 
know, there are certain hills in every field which 
from the start are extra strong and resistant. As a 
rule they give the best hill yield, and the tubers will 
carry on the habit. These are the hills to select for 
seed, and right now is the time to discover and mark 
them. They should be dug ahead of the digger and 
kept by themselves for seed. That is one way 
“pedigreed” seed is bred, and such pedigree is full of 
promise. 
* 
For many years there has been a desperate struggle 
with the railroads over what is known as “the long 
and short haul.” The railroads have frequently 
charged more for hauling a car to a point 500 miles 
away than they did for carrying it 200 miles farther. 
For example, the freight on a car to Reno, Nevada, 
was $400, while over the same road to San Francisco 
it was $275. The usual reason given for this was 
that San Francisco had the advantage of water freight 
rates, and that the railroads must compete. The mer¬ 
chants at Spokane, Wash., made a bitter fight against 
this practice. They saw their city crippled and their 
business threatened, since business men on the Pacific 
coast could obtain goods from the East and ship them 
through to Spokane and then back for less than these 
Spokane merchants were forced to pay for the shorter 
haul. The railroads could use this method to kill 
off certain towns and build up rivals. The Interstate 
Commerce Commission has settled this by dividing 
the country into zones. The map on page 827 shows 
the division. Inside Zone 1 the rates for long and 
short hauls must be the same; from Zone 2 the excess 
for short hauls must not exceed seven per cent; in 
Zone 3, 15 per cent, or Zone 4, 25 per cent. This 
new rule will help many smaller towns and cities 
which have been forced to pay higher rates in order 
that larger and more favored places might have a 
trade advantage over them. The railroads usually 
claimed that they gave the “long haul” advantage to 
places where there was competition on ocean, river 
or canal. The commission recognizes this, but pre¬ 
vents unreasonable reduction. It is expected that this 
new rule or law will greatly increase the ocean traffic 
between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts when the 
Panama Canal is finished. The Southern people ap¬ 
pear to think this canal will increase business in the 
Gulf States. We think it more likely that most of 
the ships passing through the canal will sail directly 
to their destination on the upper Atlantic coast. 
- * 
Many a reader of The R. N.-Y. is pondering over 
the problem of educating the children. Father and 
mother have worked hard and denied themselves in 
order that John and Mary may go to college. One 
of them is now old enough—where shall they go? 
It is a solemn thing—this sending your own flesh 
and blood out of the home nest—into the great world ! 
Your child has grown up under your own eye, and 
you have tried your best to give him a fair chance 
and a square foundation of character. You are no 
doubt a man of middle age. There is gray in your 
hair, and the illusions of youth are pretty well burned 
out. You can see the future of your boy in your own 
past, and you know that no matter how capable he 
may be, or how high up he may climb, he can never 
win anything better or more enduring than firm, moral 
character! That is about all you are able to give 
him or leave to him, therefore it is the thing above 
all to be considered in his training. We considered 
it first in providing for our own boy’s education. 
We would not knowingly let him go away from home 
to take for his ideals in education men who take an 
easy, flippant view of life, or talk lightly, or sneer 
at religion or moral motives for doing things. No 
matter how brilliant such men may be, or how great 
and rich their university, we would keep a farm- 
raised boy away from them if we could. To specify, 
we would not send our boy into a college atmos¬ 
phere where liquor drinking or loose ways of living 
were indulged in by the teachers and discussed as 
jokes or a regular part of a “gentleman’s” life. There 
are such colleges, and while they have turned out 
some strong and able graduates, they have also led 
farm boys into ruinous habits, and embittered the 
lives of men and women who have seen their life 
sacrifice turned to ashes by this line of modern edu¬ 
cation. A farmer may well hesitate before he lets 
his boy go into association with idle sons off the 
rich or teachers whose views of life are merely bril¬ 
liant. The son of a poor man is far better educated 
among men who retain his father’s sane and honest 
views of life, and in an institution which must 
struggle for its equipment and life. The spirit of a 
richly endowed college is not the spirit which we 
want to dominate the life of your boy or mine. 
* 
The dreamers and the “agriculturists” have their 
places in the world’s economy. In place they help 
oil the machinery—out of place they are more like- 
sand in the fine works. For these reasons they should 
not be put on the commission to investigate food 
prices in New York. The last Legislature provided 
for such a commission. The agricultural college, ex¬ 
periment station, State Grange, etc., are to be repre¬ 
sented, but Governor Dix is to appoint five members. 
They should all be men who are directly interested in 
practical farming or handling farm products. This is 
the best start yet made toward a fair analysis of the 
consumer’s dollar. Let it be done by men who have 
really carried the light end of that dollar in their 
pockets. 
Later: —Gov. Dix appointed the following men: 
William Church Osborn, counsel to the Governor; 
Senator James H. O'Brien, of Brooklyn; William C. 
Brown, president of the New York Central and Hud¬ 
son River Railroad Company; Gilbert M. Tucker, of 
Albany, and William C. Barry, of Rochester. The 
other members of the commission are R. A. Pearson, 
State Commissioner of Agriculture; Dr. Porter, State 
Health Commissioner; Chairman Stevens, of the Up¬ 
state Public Service Commission; Dean Bailey, direc¬ 
tor of the State College of Agriculture, at Ithaca; 
Whitman FI. Jordan, director of the New York State 
Agricultural Experiment Station, at Geneva, and 
August 12, 
Frank N. Godfrey, master of the New York State 
Grange. We are not prepared to say that these gen¬ 
tlemen are “dreamers,” but surely not one of them 
ever saw 65 cents of the consumer’s dollar get away 
from him. What is the matter with the practical 
farmer—the man who actually produces food?. He 
is the man most interested in what this commission 
is supposed to find out! You would think lie was 
some industrial leper or some dunce by the way our 
public men run away from him when his own welfare 
is to be considered. Are we back in the middle ages, 
when food producers were expected to do the hard 
work and let the “ruling powers” think and act for 
them? It looks like it at times. We can show this 
committee at least that we know just what we want 
in the way of an investigation. Here is a fine chance 
for Mr. Brown to trace 5,000 shipments over his rail¬ 
road. Tell us what the farmer receives at the car 
door, what the consumer pays —and who gets the 
difference! 
* 
Since the reciprocity bill became a law Congress 
has been rushing ahead with tariff legislation. Both 
the Flouse and Senate passed a wool bill which makes 
a heavy cut in the present tariff. They also passed 
“The Farmer’s Free List” bill, so-called. This cuts 
or removes the tariff on a long list of articles which 
are known as necessities. Our information is that 
President Taft will veto both bills. We will wait 
and see what reasons he gives. The entire tariff sit¬ 
uation is now so mixed up that no one can tell the 
outcome. The farmers, at least, have been deprived 
of all direct benefit the tariff ever gave them. They 
should now insist that the other interests come down. 
* 
It is now pretty well known that the State of New 
York, through the State Fair Commission, will take 
a number of boys to the State Fair. These boys will 
have their expenses paid and will be expected to go 
home and tell the story of what they saw so that 
other boys will be interested. The idea is a good one, 
and we hope it will work out right. The different 
counties send delegates, and the selection of these 
boys is left to a committee—usually a Grange officer 
or a school superintendent. A place on this commit¬ 
tee is no sinecure if a man really wants to select the 
most creditable boy. The following letter is from 
the chairman of one of those county committees. We 
print it so that boys may see how their letters are 
regarded by business men: 
It is plain that this committee cannot ’have personal 
knowledge of each Individual case, but must be guided 
largely by what appears from the written application. 
Like many others, I took it as a matter of course that ap¬ 
plications would be made by means of a blank form. But 
after careful examination of those already received I have 
realized the wisdom of having the form and subject matter 
entirely original. Of the 15 applications from this county, 
some are neatly written, in good language*, and follow the 
specifications very closely, only one suggesting the question 
how long ago the real author was less than 19 years old. 
Others show disregard of instructions, and contain more 
or less matter good in itself, hut immaterial to the case, 
and a few are so untidy and illegible that, to put it mildly, 
they do not convoy a good impression of the writer. 
Again, only one of several letters of inquiry inclosed 
stamps for reply. Tills is not so much a question of 
who* begrudges two cents and a few minutes’ time to help 
a worthy boy, as of how many boys were thoughtful 
enough to observe a common business courtesy. These 
seem trifling matters. But “straws show which way 
the wind blows,” and I believe a boy can have no better 
recommendation before a committee than an application 
which shows on the face of it a true appreciation of 
the opportunity, and that he has the observation, the 
grasp of fact and the general get-up-aud-dust to make it 
of vital benefit to himself, and through him to the agri¬ 
culture of this or some other State. 
BRE'TTIES. 
Do not forget that Bed-top is the grass for wet land 
and Alsike the clover that can stand wet feet. We should 
mix a little Alsike with the Red anyway. 
Ouu common ragweed is a potash plant. Notice how 
it grows after potatoes when fertilizers arc used. The ash 
is also very rich in potash. I'lowed under before it seeds 
ragweed is a good green manure. 
Here it is again—that venerable old story about using 
Alfalfa as human food. This time some man is nearly 
ready to sell Alfalfa tea and breakfast food. We think 
our grandchildren may come to it, hut hardly this genera¬ 
tion. 
You would hardly put Persia down as a shining light 
among the nations, yet she gives an argument for parcels 
post. In 1904 604 packets were mailed to Persia through 
Russia. In 1910 this had grown to 179,272 packets valued 
at over $6,000,000. Give us Persia's chance in America 
and see what wiLl become of it. 
The last New York Legislature provided for an inves¬ 
tigation of the sewage of cities. No doubt at least 
$25,000,000 worth of plant food is wasted annually in the 
sewage of New York cities. Much of it is nitrogen—the 
most expensive plant food we buy. IIow can it be saved 
for use on the farm? It is a big and important question. 
A number of cities burn their garbage and sell the ashes. 
This gives some food back, but destroys the nitrogen. 
