©04 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER’S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established 1850 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company. 409 Pearl St., New York 
Herbert W. Collingwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Rovle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. $2.04. equal to 8a 6d., or 
8}<j marks, or \0% francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matt 'r. 
Advertising rates 60 cents per agate line—" words. Discount for time orders. 
References required for advertisers unknown to <Jp ; and 
cash must accompany transient orders. 
‘•A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement In this paper is backed by n respon¬ 
sible person. But to make doubly sure we will make good any loss to paid 
subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler advertising its our 
columns, and any such swindler will be publicly exposed. We protect sulr 
scribers against rogues, but we do not guarantee to adjust trifling differences 
between subscribers and honest, responsible advertisers. Neither will we be 
responsible for the debts of honest liankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month of the tim e of 
the transaction, and yon must have mentioned The Rvral 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. 
* 
Naturally when we talk about the tree agent and 
his “contract” we have a blast from the nurserymen 
who sell trees in that way. That was to be expected. 
We want some one to tell us what one of our readers 
has to gain by signing a tree agent's contract! Will 
he get better trees? Will he get good trees for less 
money? Does he have any real redress when he gets 
the wrong end of the deal? We are here to help our 
people get the best bargain they can. Now, gentle¬ 
men, come forward and tell us why our readers will 
do better to sign a contract with a tree agent. 
* 
The latest report from Washington is that both the 
Postmaster General and President Taft will recom¬ 
mend parcels post in a “progressive form.” They 
want to begin small and grow. Starting on rural 
routes they would increase the service as postal clerks 
are trained for it. The long hammering begins to 
tell. The political situation will help because both 
parties would like to have the credit for organizing 
and starting this reform. We shall believe we are 
to have a fair parcels post when we see it in actual 
operation. It is no time to lay aside the guns. We 
must lire faster than ever. 
* 
A Long Island farmer is offering “humus” or leaf- 
mold at $15 to $20 per ton. We understand this is 
dried swamp muck of good quality. There can be 
no doubt that some samples of muck or swamp soil 
contain considerably more nitrogen than average 
stable manure, but the muck is sour and this nitrogen 
is not available. It would be nonsense for a farmer 
to pay $15 for such “humus” when lie has a swamp 
or an old wet pasture on his farm. He can haul the 
black soil out of such a place, compost it with lime 
and have it fit for use by Spring. He could make 
that $15 per ton look like 15 cents in cost and nearly 
equal it in value. 
* 
A few weeks ago we told how the English people 
live constantly within a few weeks of famine. The 
statement was proved by the recent laborers’ strike in 
England. British soil supplies but a small fraction 
of the food required by Englishmen. The balance 
must be brought across the water—distances varying 
from 50 miles to 5,000. The strike prevented the dis¬ 
tribution of this food, and great suffering was felt. 
It was said that the French people alone lost $1,000,- 
000 per day through the inability to deliver eggs, 
poultry and vegetables—a good share of which would 
have been delivered by parcels post when once in 
England. Now this gives us a faint notion of what 
would happen in New York in case the milk supply 
were held up. Should the dairymen who provide this 
milk refuse to ship until they were paid a fairer price, 
there would be a fearful state of affairs. One of the 
largest dairymen in the country sends his milk six 
miles or more to market. During a fierce snowstorm 
he could not ship for 36 hours. He said: “I have 
felt that 36 milkless hours in New York City would 
result in farmers getting half the retail price of milk. 
Yet, after hearing women praying and crying over the 
’phone for milk to keep the babies alive, I could not 
bear to witness such a strike.” We do not believe it 
would ever come to that if dairymen would, as they 
could, show the middlemen that they really mean 
business. By the way, there are babies in the country 
to be fed and clothed and shod out of that 35-cent 
dollar! 
THE KUR,aL NEW-YORKER 
“What do 'die care for your farmers as long as xve 
can handle the caucuses? Those fellows may growl, 
but they will always walk up like little men and vote 
the ticket!” 
That is what a politician gave us last week. It ap¬ 
pears that they have great “faith in the people”— 
faith that they cannot shed the party collar. Some of 
that faith is well justified. A man told this story 
recently: 
I was out in the field and started up a rabbit. We bad 
a shepherd dog with us. That dog had fine character 
and brains, and he let out all the speed he had. The rab¬ 
bit just hopped along on three feet, easy like, ahead of the 
dog till he got to the brush. I asked my brother if all 
the rabbits in that country ran on three feet. “Scare him 
up again," he says. Next day we saw the same rabbit. 
Brother went hack and unhooked a greyhound and sicked 
him on. Did that rabbit hop on three feet? Not on your 
life. He put all four feet down, and his only regret was 
that he didn't have two more feet to help him along! It 
was wonderful how the right kind of a dog shod that 
rabbit! 
So long as they have the caucus and people who 
have such sublime respect for their party the poli¬ 
ticians can well afford to hop along on three feet 
and feel perfectly secure. Give us a primary nomina¬ 
tion law and a few hundred men in each county who 
can, if need be, slip the party collar, and the politicians 
will run so fast that they will forget to stop running. 
A politician serves his country best when he is on 
the dead run with the people after him. 
* 
The Presideht has won out on his reciprocity issue. It 
is as plain as day that the policy of the Republican party 
is free trade in farm products and tariff for everything 
else. This is made plain by the prophecies of dire disas¬ 
ter made by Mr. Hill of Connecticut and Mr. McCall of 
Massachusetts in case the wool and cotton bills are passed. 
These men were the foremost advocates of reciprocity. In 
fact. Mr. McCall said it would be a crime to keep a tariff 
on wheat if the price were raised thereby. The same argu¬ 
ment does not apply to those necessities of life which are 
manufactured in cities, it seems. If this thing could only 
be made plain to farmers, I believe they will cease to 
support the high tariff on manufactured products. With 
the farmers’ support withdrawn the whole tariff system 
will fall, because even in our own State the large towns 
and cities are Democratic, or evenly balanced. b. 
Vermont. 
How can it be made plainer to them than has al¬ 
ready been done? Suppose this scheme for free 
trade in food products be extended so as to include 
Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Australia. These 
countries are developing rapidly as bread and meat 
and fruit producers. Agriculture is their leading in¬ 
dustry, and their governments foster it in every way. 
The result of such free trade would be heavy im¬ 
ports of food and cheaper living for city workmen. 
Those workmen, assured of free trade in food, would 
naturally favor a high tariff on the things which they 
manufacture, for with such high tariff their wages 
could be kept up. This, we understand, is the argu¬ 
ment which will be used in the large manufacturing 
towns. If you talk to workmen in the factories you 
will find that it is a popular one. President Taft’s 
veto of every bill designed to cut the tariff on manu¬ 
factured goods while protection on farm products is 
wiped out shows what is coming, and the most re¬ 
markable thing about this scheme is that its promoters 
actually expect the farmers to help carry it through ! 
* 
During the year we have several hundred ques¬ 
tions from people who are considering an investment 
in a “unit system” orchard. Plans for handling these 
orchards vary, but usually some company secures 
control of a large tract of land and offers to plant 
fruit trees and care for them. They offer to sell a 
“unit” (all the way from half an acre to 10 acres) at 
a certain price. You are to pay some cash down and 
the balance in monthly payments. At the end of a 
certain period the theory is that you will have a bear¬ 
ing orchard in good condition—the company having 
developed it for you. In one particular case the 
“unit” is 25 trees—the full price $250. Such a proposi¬ 
tion appeals to many city workers. They reason that 
it is possible to pay for 15 or 20 “units” out of their 
annual savings and then have a sure business and in¬ 
come when the trees come in bearing. The faith and 
enthusiasm of some of these investors is almost 
pathetic. One young man recently told us he had in¬ 
duced his mother to put all her property into such an 
enterprise. We hope reason will stop him at least 
before his arguments prevail upon his mother-in-law. 
We have personal friends engaged in selling these 
“unit” propositions, but our invariable advice is “do 
not touch them.” We have repeatedly asked for in¬ 
formation about one of them that has worked out 
satisfactorily—but without response. On the other 
hand, we have records of many that have met with 
disappointment or disaster. Of course each new pro¬ 
moter claims that his scheme will be safer than those 
which have gone before, but we have not seen one 
September 9, 
yet in which we would invest. In parts of the West 
large commercial orchards already in bearing are 
being cut up into small lots and sold. Such trees 
are 10 to 15 years old and were not planted to be sold 
in this way. That is a very different thing from pay¬ 
ing promoters to grow the trees for you. L. A. 
Goodman, of Missouri, states the case convincingly 
as follows: 
The only correct way, I believe, is to have an orchard 
grown so that a man can see it just the same as any other 
land or other property.* A man should not buy any piece 
of property without seeing it, and especially an orchard. 
* 
John Lewis Childs, Luther Burbank and the rest of 
the world will want to know more about that case 
of Wonderberry poisoning reported last week. Here 
is another item: 
“WONDERBERRIES” WERE NIGHTSHADE. 
Leonidas, Mich., August 18.—Michael Spcalman and 
wife that were in a critical condition from the effects of 
eating what they supposed were “Wonderberries,” are im¬ 
proving, and will undoubtedly entirely recover. The at¬ 
tending physician pronounced the berries to be nightshade. 
New kinds of berries will be looked upon with suspicion 
hereafter in this community. 
Of course the “Wonderberries” were nightshade! 
We proved that again and again by botanists. Death 
and sickness have now apparently stepped in with 
further proof. Our compliments to Mr. John Lewis 
Childs. You can hardly find a preacher to practice 
his own preaching, a doctor to take his own medicine, 
or a lawyer to take his own advice. Yet. Mr. Childs 
is willing to eat his own “guff” in the shape of 
Wonderberries! May joy sweeten the feast! 
* 
This is the last chance we have to talk to Maine 
farmers before the election on September 11. They 
know what to do about Prohibition, but they must 
not neglect to vote “yes” on the amendment for di¬ 
rect primaries. The danger is well stated in the fol¬ 
lowing letter: 
I want to thank you for the little editorial in this week's 
issue on the bill about to come before the electorate for 
direct primaries. This has been entirely overshadowed by 
the amendment to the constitution which the last legis¬ 
lature passed, dispensing with prohibition. It is a safe 
bet that not one voter in five has had this presented to 
him. and that he could not now and on election day will 
not know whether to vote “yes" or “no" on this clause. 
Won't you drum on this some more, quite a lot more, and 
drum hard? Just think of it. The State Grange at the 
field meetings held all over this States this month lias 
had speakers on “Good Roads," “Parcels Post.” and "Pro¬ 
hibition,” hut not a cent has been spent to talk direct pri¬ 
maries. I think the politicians hope to beat this with 
drinking votes of city voters, who neither know nor care, 
and will vote “no” for fun. with “yes” on the prohibition 
vote. The papers are not saying a word about this, or at 
least those that 1 have access to. Their guns are spiked. 
A MAINE FARMER. 
Now do not make any mistakes about this. The 
danger is a real one. The direct method of selecting 
candidates gives you a chance to be free. The poli¬ 
tical leeches and invested interests who have for years 
cursed your State wall be at your mercy if you take 
from them the power to select their candidates in the 
dark. The primary will drive them out into the open 
where you can play the hose on them. Maine is the 
first Eastern State to have this glorious chance to 
set her farmers politically free, and it must not be 
said that they did not grasp the privilege. Vote YES! 
BREVITIES. 
Who can give us definite information about sowing oats 
in strawberries as a mulching crop? 
We shall keep right after you about that cover crop. 
Do not let the soil remain bare this Fall and Winter. 
Now is the time to arrange for better house heating this 
Winter. Let us have canned sunshine inside the house. 
If you'd have silage sweet and bright, stamp down the 
sides and corners tight. For you'll have little besides 
refuse if you leave such places open and loose. 
The man who has plenty of time to kill, he gives the 
world but a bitter pill; he makes bad mischief and drinks 
his fill of the lazy man's mixture that’s doomed to kill. 
The Laxtonberry is a new hybrid English fruit described 
as resembling an enlarged raspberry growing on the Logan¬ 
berry. It is said to be much sweeter than the Loganberry, 
and with less core, very prolific, and free in growth. 
In the anthracite coal trade efforts are being made to 
induce customers to order their year’s supply during the 
Summer, thus making “the cellars of the consumers the 
storage places for coal.” This would give steady employ¬ 
ment to miners and a cheaper rate to consumers. 
The rain has come to us after a long drought, and it is 
wonderful how things start. During the Summer plant 
food has been made available, but there was not moisture 
enough to enable the plant or tree to utilize it. Now that 
the rains have come this plant food gets busy at once. 
In the Bitter Root Valley of Montana the disease known 
as spotted fever is spread by ticks known as Dermacenter 
venustus. These insects live part of their life on wild 
animals sucli as woodchucks, rabbits, bears, etc., and also 
some domestic animals. To destroy the fever ticks those 
wild animals must be wiped out,. 
