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The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journul i’or Country and Suburban Homos 
Established isso 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 409 Pearl St., New York 
Herbert W. Com.ikgwood, President and Editor. 
Jony J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wjl F. Dillon', Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Hoyle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. 82.04. equal to 8s. Cd., or 
i'/i marks, or 10% francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Otilce as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates 00 cents per agate line—7 words. Discount for time orders. 
References required for advertisers unknown to us j and 
cash must accompany transient orders. 
“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 lie publicly exposed. We protect sub¬ 
scribers against rogues, but we do not guarantee to adjust trilling differences 
between subscribers and honest, responsible 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 von 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. 
* 
Let Maine farmers remember that on September 11 
they have a chance to establish primary nominations 
in place of the broken down and decayed caucus sys¬ 
tem. Maine is more truly agricultural in her indus¬ 
tries and future than any other State east of the lakes. 
Her farmers now have the chance of a generation to 
use their power wisely and get rid of the political 
leeches and grafters. Oh, if we only had such a 
chance in New York! 
* 
Since we published that article on tree agents and 
their contracts we have had many letters from vic¬ 
tims. Most.of the tree agent nurserymen say bluntly 
that they will hold any person their agents may in¬ 
duce to sign and force him to pay if possible. Some 
of the situations are so arbitrary and unfair that we 
are led to advise our readers not to sign any such 
contract at all. There may be particular cases where 
some old friend or neighbor acts as agent where a 
“contract” is allowable. In all other cases we should 
refuse to sign. Our advice is to buy direct. 
* 
Last week we heard from a Vermont man who sup¬ 
plies food to Summer visitors. Among other farm 
departments the women folks conduct a bakery. They 
sell wagon loads of bread, cakes and pies. This busi¬ 
ness grew from the delivery of a single loaf, and is 
very profitable. There are many localities where town 
people would gladly buy homemade bread and cake 
or sausage. This might be made a profitable business 
by an expert cook. The article should be read with 
greatest care by the housewives who do not even bake 
bread. The baker’s wagon often runs six miles or 
more into the country to supply farmers! 
* 
The attempt to discredit Dr. H. W. Wiley of the 
pure food and drug bureau has worked just as we 
hoped it would. The people now see as never before 
how rich men, great lawyers, food manufacturers 
and even public officers have been working to permit 
the sale of poisoned, adulterated and snide food and 
drink. Dr. Wiley has put up a splendid fight against 
these conspirators, but he has thus far been obliged 
to fight in silence. Now the facts are out and the 
people understand them. The result will be a public 
demand for a stronger pure food law which Congress 
cannot resist. So far as we know, one farm paper 
stands alone in the shame of openly accepting the 
suggestion of an advertising bribe for attacking Dr. 
Wiley. Most of them have remained silent. But Dr. 
Wiley is all right. Those who went out to kick him 
came limping home with lame legs! 
* 
During the fight over reciprocity it was claimed 
that the free imports of milk would ruin milk pro¬ 
ducers by ruinous competition and reducing price. The 
thing works both ways. The Province of Quebec 
will undoubtedly increase its exports of milk and 
cream. At the other end of the country Winnipeg 
and other points in western Canada must import 
great quantities of dairy products. We believe dairy¬ 
men of the Northwest will gain more than New Eng¬ 
land dairymen will lose. But now that reciprocity is 
to become a fact, suppose the dairymen who supply 
New York City with milk turn all their powers upon 
the market situation. Control of the supply through 
the Dairymen’s League would do farmers far more 
good than any possible tariff. Such a thing is, we 
believe now, becoming possible, and we shall soon 
present a plan to be considered. The thing to work 
for now is market control. 
THE RX_JRA.lv NEW-YORKER 
Congress finally adjourned to meet again in De¬ 
cember. Three main things were put through— 
Canadian reciprocity, campaign publicity, and state¬ 
hood for Arizona and New Mexico. After President 
Taft vetoed the first statehood bill a new one went 
through. This grants statehood to Arizona on con¬ 
dition that her people adopt a constitution exempting 
judges from the “recall.” Under the “publicity” bill 
campaign expenses cannot exceed $10,000 for a seat 
in the Senate or $5,000 in the House! Lorimer is still 
in the Senate, but the investigation of his record made 
this bill possible. Congress passed three tariff bills— 
cutting the rates on wool and cotton goods and also 
a “farmers’ free list bill.” The President vetoed them 
all. Efforts were made to pass these bills over his 
veto, but the House could not secure the necessary 
two-thirds vote. Thus with Canadian reciprocity farm¬ 
ers are left to sell in a free trade market and buy 
under a high tariff. Thus the tariff is to be the lead¬ 
ing question at the next session of Congress and next 
year in the Presidential election. As we predicted, 
Congress did nothing about parcels post. At the next 
session, however, we believe the House will pass a 
bill making a start at parcels post, while the Senate 
will try to kill it. 
* 
“I cannot recommend the use of this fruit as food! 
Some day deadly results will follow!” 
Last year when we had the cheerful discussion over 
the Wonderberry with John Lewis Childs and Luther 
Burbank, we quoted the above statement from Dr. 
Greshof, of Holland. Dr. Greshof was the most 
noted specialist on vegetable poisons. He found twice 
the poisoning power in the Wonderberry as in the 
wild black nightshade. He stated that such plants 
varied in their power to secrete and retain this poison, 
depending on the character of the plant and the sea¬ 
son. In response to this statement by an expert Mr. 
Burbank, we understand, said “liar and villain.” Mr. 
Childs offered to eat any part of the Wonderberry 
plant. We now call the attention of these gentlemen 
to the following from the Detroit Free Press: 
“WONDERBERRIES” 
MAY CAUSE de ath 
Tiree Mysterious Cases of Poison¬ 
ing at- Leonidas Attributed 
to Pruit. 
Battle Creek ' Mich;, August 16.— 
Jar. and. Mrs. Michael Stealirian of 
Leonidas are in a critical condition 
from eating "wonder-berries'' from 
«a bush owned by ‘William Merritt 
of that village, who, recently, died' 
fender mysterious' circumstances. 
. The old couple, .both nearly 70, ate 
-the berries furnished by a neigh¬ 
bor arid this morning both Were 
found unconscious on their bedroom 
^loor, where they had lain all night;- 
They are still in a state of coma 
fand not likely to recover. 
It is now believed that Merritt, 
who. died while on his way to a 
Marshall doctor to have Ills case 
jliagnotfcd, died from the same 
cause- 
Personally, we have no doubt that the Wonder- 
berries were responsible for‘this sickness and death. 
It is true that some people have eaten the berries 
without ill effect, yet we fully believe that the plant 
is capable, under certain conditions, of secreting this 
poison in deadly quantities. We have no doubt Mr. 
Childs continues to eat bis daily bowl of Wonder- 
berries. That is his privilege, and we would not try 
to interfere with his pleasant repast—but not any for 
us, thank you! 
* 
“Ingrate and liar” 
Just a couple of the plain unadorned names which 
the New Jersey politicians are throwing at Gov. 
Woodrow Wilson. These gentlemen usually whisper 
their sentiments, but now and then one of them gets 
into the spirit (or outside of it) which lets out his 
real sentiment with full trimmings. It is a great ad¬ 
vertisement for Mr. Wilson, He has done more for 
clean politics and a square deal in public life than 
any previous Governor of whom New Jersey has any 
record! What a glorious chance the New Jersey 
farmers have this year to support a strong and fear¬ 
less man. They should pack the next Legislature 
with men who will support Gov. Wilson to the limit. 
The reforms which we need in New Jersey are non¬ 
partisan—that is, they have no more to do with one 
party than the other. One of the best things that 
Gov. Wilson has done is to split both parties into 
hard shell and progressive elements. A “hard shell” 
is of just about as much value to the State as a 
cement hitching post. Gov. Wilson deserves the sup¬ 
port of every honest Jerseyman, and we hope the re¬ 
sponse this Fall will be everwhelmingl. No matter 
what they call him. Suppose the big New York boss 
should come out and call Gov. Dix “ingrate and liar?” 
It would be an asset, if fairly earned, that would land 
the Governor in the White House! 
September 2, 
This is the season tor using lime—with grain or 
grass seeding. You will get little benefit from wait¬ 
ing until Spring and putting lime on top of the sod. 
In order to get results you must work the lime all 
through the upper soil—therefore broadcasting on the 
furrows and harrowing in is best. Ground limestone 
has a slower and gentler action than burned lime. 
You should use twice as much of the limestone as of 
the burned lime in order to obtain equal benefit the 
first season. On a very sour soil we should use the 
burned lime to start with, as in such case the first 
object is to overcome the acid in the soil. On land 
moderately acid the ground limestone is suitable. We 
see little sense in the bitter controversy over the 
form of lime to use. Reduce them all to the cost of 
a pound of lime by calling for a guarantee of lime 
with the price. Buy the form of lime which will give 
you most pounds of actual lime for a dollar. 
• * 
The “National Soil Fertility League” is the latest 
from Chicago. Its aim is an ambitious one—to in¬ 
duce 10,000,000 farmers to improve their methods 
and increase their crops. We have seen many schemes 
rise and fall. We think success is more likely in 
groups of 10 rather than 10,000,000. Some people like 
a large proposition. Names of some excellent men 
are associated with this enterprise. On the other hand 
a friend writes us about one of the promoters. 
I knew this party in Chicago, and other backers of the 
movement. They are all political tricksters, and have 
never been known as philanthropists or leaders in benevo¬ 
lent movements. I may be mistaken, and hope so, but this 
league looks to me to have the earmarks of mauc others 
usually formed in advance of a national election. 
You may look out at this time for all sorts of 
schemes for working nominations and preparing for 
elections. “Soil fertility” could he made into a fine 
suit of clothes to hide the spots on a politician. 
* 
Last week the question of sending more farmers to 
the Legislature was brought up. The mere fact that 
a man is a good farmer does not fit him to make or 
tinker laws. A good farmer usually has.sound judg¬ 
ment, and he certainly ought to know what his fellow 
farmers need. Other farmers ought to have con¬ 
fidence in him if they know that he is honest and sen¬ 
sible. All these things are needed at Albany, but in 
addition there must be men of force and power capable 
of acting as leaders. The supporters of the Collin 
bill when it came before the House had no strong and 
resourceful speaker to answer the smart lawyers on 
the other side. Many members had not studied the 
bill, and did not understand its importance. They 
were impressed by the clever arguments of those 
New York commission men. The farmers should 
have had some powerful and quick-witted speaker on 
the floor. It will not make so much difference who 
this leader and spokesman is, provided he is honest 
and sincere. If he is a plain farmer so much the 
better, but we must have leaders in the Legislature 
who can come to the front and impress the members. 
There must also be men who understand human 
nature and know something of politics. These men 
ought to see that farmers or their friends are on im¬ 
portant committees; they should study agricultural 
bills, size up the feelings of members, and know just 
what can be done. All these things require skill, 
courage and rare tact, and in selecting a farmer for 
the Legislature we should try to find one who pos¬ 
sesses in some degree one or more of these qualities. 
The man who goes to Albany runs up against a tough 
game. He is expected to float along with the party 
tide, which is the very thing our farm interests should 
not lie permitted to do. Therefore we must have 
strong and honest men who can make themselves 
heard and felt. If you can find a farmer with the 
courage and power to fight he ought to make an ideal 
candidate. But do not select a candidate simply be¬ 
cause he has a farm which supports him. 
BREVITIES. 
Cull out the culls. 
Do not let the soil lie bare this Fall. 
Get rid of the barn boarders before frost. 
Last call for vetch and rye as a cover crop. . 
Weeds are better than nothing as cover crops. 
The primary ought to put the politicians in the gradu¬ 
ating class. 
Ox page 870 you will find a list of the up-State members 
of the Legislature who voted against the Collin bill. If 
any of them try to get back—remember them. 
A traveler has just completed a trip around the 
world in 40 days. A telegraphic message recently circled 
the globe in 16% minutes. Ask one of the few remaining 
old pioneers how long it took them to cross the plains. 
A reader in Michigan says he wanted to tnild a stave 
silo, but was told that the silo was patented and that he 
could not build without a license. We find that the patent 
referred to is the “Harder” relating principally to a cer¬ 
tain door frame construction. It does not apply merely 
to round or stave silos in general. 
