10213 
It gives me great pleasure to say that this sale was a 
tremendous success. The swpply was exhausted 
within three hours and orders were taken in advance 
for two more carloads. There are about 600 bushels 
in a car. 
The mayor realizes that we must have middlemen 
and he has no quarrel with them. What he is trying 
to do is to break down the combine, so far as In¬ 
dianapolis’ is concerned, that places the price of food 
products almost beyond the means of the man with a 
small salary. His attention was first called to the 
matter when he learned that potatoes of excellent 
quality could be bought within 200 miles of Indi¬ 
anapolis for from 60 to 70 cents a bushel, and at the 
time the people here were paying about $2. The 
freight rate is small, and he made up his mind that 
there was a holdup somewhere. He has purchased 
more potatoes and they will be on sale each market 
day. The mayor realizes that this is a tremendous 
undertaking, but he is in the fight to stay. One thing 
is certain, and that is that prices in Indianapolis are 
lower than they were before the mayor got busy. At 
least 500 letters congratulating him on his stand have 
been received from people all over the country. This 
convinces him that he is on the right track. 
Indianapolis, Ind. annis burk, 
Secretary to the Mayor. 
SELLING BOXED APPLES IN NEW YORK. 
Can you recommend a reliable cold storage plant in 
New York where I could store my apples with the idea 
of selling them to consumers at retail by the barrel, and 
having a truckman deliver them from the storage house? 
I believe storage charges are about 10 cents per month, 
and truckage charges would be 25 cents per barrel out; 
how much in, I do not know, but perhaps averaging 10 
cents. Would not something of the sort pay for one who 
wants to work up a retail trade to use a large number 
of apples when young orchards come into bearing? 
Connecticut. m. d. c. 
There are several reliable storage houses here. A 
few years ago a New York grower with a good crop 
of apples brought his crop here and had it put in 
storage. The owner came right here and remained 
until the fruit was sold—giving personal attention 
to the business. We understand this plan worked 
well. We doubt if such a thing would pay unless you 
could come right here with your fruit and see to it. 
It is doubtful if truckmen could be found who would 
take a personal interest in delivery and do it econom¬ 
ically. Some such plan will no doubt be worked out 
in the future. It remains to be found how much fruit 
one must control in order to make such a scheme pay. 
Some years ago a firm in western New York adver¬ 
tised heavily in the city papers, offering boxed apples. 
The boxes were sent singly by express from western 
New York, and we understand the scheme failed. 
The way to work that is to store the apples here and 
box and deliver as wanted. 
“THE STATE OF THE FARMER.” 
Mr. Wetmore’s able and interesting contribution 
on page 959 arouses a legion of thoughts and reflec¬ 
tions bearing upon the prosperity of the farmer and 
his share of the consumer’s dollar. Just so long as 
farmers lack the courage to compel the bland and 
smiling candidate to define his position on matters 
bearing on rural prosperity, or hesitate to tell their 
Congressmen plainly “what is what,” just so long 
will middlemen hand them but 35 out of the con¬ 
sumer’s 100 cents. Some time during the coming 
Winter spend a day in some public library. Make a 
list of any or as many States as you like and see how 
much legislation was done at the previous session for 
farmers, and how much was done for manufacturers. 
The result of such an investigation will prove a 
mighty big surprise to the man who thinks the sun 
sets six or seven miles beyond his farm. 
Petitions have been, are now, and probably always 
will be more or less of a joke to legislators. Don’t 
take the writer’s word for this, but ask the first frank 
and candid Congressman you meet as to their 
potency. The weight of a firm but respectful letter, 
even though it required but two cents, has made many 
a Congressman think we already had parcels post. 
But under no circumstances write abusive letters or 
catalogue a list of dire results that will follow your 
Congressman’s voting for or against your w'ishes. 
On the scroll, held in the hand of that mosaic 
Minerva at the head of the grand staircase in the 
Congressional Library at Washington, agriculture 
comes first in the list of occupations of man. About 
a mile down Pennsylvania Avenue in the White 
House it seems to come last these days. Just across 
that invisible line called Canada the voters—the yous, 
I’s, and the other fellows—decided whether or not 
they desired reciprocity with the United States. 
Here, in the land of the free and the home of the 
brave, the yous, I’s, and the other fellows had nothing 
to say. That hurts. 
Now about President Taft. So far as the writer 
knows the charge of inefficiency was never made 
THR RURAL NEW-YORKER 
against him in all the offices he held previous to the 
Presidency. But in all the offices he held prior to 
the Presidency there were men higher up—“bosses.” 
And without a “boss” some men are different. 
Bradford Co., Pa. s. h. madden. 
JACKET FOR A CHIMNEY. 
In answer to A. S. H., Franklin, Vt., page 941, I 
would suggest covering the chimney with a sheet iron 
(galvanized) jacket after the manner shown in ac¬ 
companying sketch, Fig. 408. The jacket should be 
flanged at bottom, as shown, to form flashing, and 
turned oi'er on top of chimney for same reason. 
The stone cap and shingles will hold it in place with¬ 
out other fastening. This might seem somewhat dif¬ 
ficult at first, but by a little thought and a few 
measurements any man who can run a farm ought to 
make a good job of it. The jacket may be made in 
two pieces and joined at the opposite corners of the 
chimney. If the chimney is repaired and the jacket 
placed on there will be no more trouble from the wind 
or breezes. J. d. 
Columbus, O. 
A CHEERFUL CITY FARMER'S TALE. 
On page 168 you ask for experience of city men on 
the farm; perhaps my case will about “fit the papers.” 
I was born and always lived in the city,- but with a 
strong desire and hope that sometime I would be able 
to buy a farm and live in the open after about 45 
years of work between brick walls and in the din of 
machinery. In preparation for the change of life I 
have taken The R. N.-Y. for about 30 years, and the 
helps and hints in that paper I practiced in a half-acre 
garden, where by getting up at 4 a. m. before going 
to the mill at 6.30 I succeeded in having a very good 
garden, all kinds of fruit and vegetables, which was 
rather a wonder to my friends and neighbors, who 
JACKET ON A CHIMNEY". Fio. 4U.S. 
couldn’t understand why my crops would grow and 
ripen and their would not. 
After looking round for several years for a farm to 
suit me, I finally located in “sunny southern New 
Hampshire,” as the real estate men call it. I could 
have bought a farm sooner, but I had taken such a 
long course of education in The R. N.-Y. and books 
on fruit growing that none but the right place would 
suit; air drainage for fruit* dry for poultry, access to 
trains and trolley cars, good neighborhood, and far 
enough away from factory towns to avoid fruit steal¬ 
ing, and also a bargain. After four years here I am 
satisfied we have the right spot. My first experience 
was before moving onto the farm. When my friends 
learned of my intentions they began to give me an 
immense amount of advice gratis; they all knew what 
ought to be done and how to do it. Bankers, barbers 
and pastors, they could all farm; oh, it was easy! 
Those who did not give advice, joked about it, and I 
really think their estimates of my mental faculties 
were much lower than formerly. If I had only pur¬ 
chased a business in the city, how different it would 
have been; would have been one of our leading busi¬ 
ness men and no joke about it. 
The first experience on the farm is to find that 
there are no easy jobs, excepting pruning young trees, 
of which we planted over 2,000, and this job is not 
very pleasant when snow or mud prevails, as it usually 
does of course in early Spring pruning, and we can¬ 
not wait until the ground is dry, as the young trees 
need lime-sulphur spray for aphis and scale before 
the buds open. My work for 40 years in textile mills 
had not been laborious, so my muscles were not hard. 
Digging post holes and holes for young trees, and 
other hard work, knocked out my appetite for work, 
and sometimes for food as well. I can do much bet¬ 
ter now, but let no man look for easy street on a 
farm. I can now stand the hard work, but oh, the 
dirt! One of the jobs I do myself is cultivating the 
young trees, as close as possible to avoid hoeing, and 
at the same time avoid barking the trees, which keeps 
October 21, 
me wrestling with the cultivator so much that I per¬ 
spire freely, and as the tool stirs up a cloud of dust 
before taking my bath I am just the color of a cigar 
store Indian. I put in a pneumatic tank when fixing 
up the place, so have good bathing facilities, but am 
a little curious sometimes as to what we would do 
if short of water. 
As a city man I of course thought when the farm 
was bought and paid for that I owned it, but I find 
I only own it in part. Some other people in this 
State claim the right to pasture deer upon it, and 
have passed a statute to that effect, with the result 
that after nursing my baby trees along, plowing, culti¬ 
vating, green manuring, spraying, picking off insects 
and caterpillars for three years, some deer came and 
ate the tops of over 100 appfe trees. This looks to 
me like partial confiscation, and as only one class 
of people is at the expense of supporting these ani¬ 
mals, it should be and probably is unconstitutional. 
I had another experience when growing corn among 
these small trees. As soon as the kernels were formed 
grey squirrels began to eat them, and when in shock 
they eat some shocks entirely clean. What I do not 
understand is, why should I be assessed $40 or $50 
worth of corn to feed these squirrels, which I am told 
are protected by the State? It looks as if the laws 
were made in the interest of the railroad and hotel 
people, to make it interesting to Summer visitors, and 
not in the interest of farmers in any way, and I now 
begin to understand why a good farm could be bought 
cheap. 
Another experience for a city man is the number 
of things a farmer has to be able to do, and I have 
often been surprised at their great ability in doing 
them. Some of these men woyld have made a big 
success in any place. They do carpenter work, 
plumbing, painting, can build a greenhouse, under¬ 
stand gasoline engines and horses, good drivers, and 
lots of other things, such as draining, fence building, 
felling trees, and there is much more in getting a 
tree down right than most people are aware of. Just 
figure how many trades a farmer must know some¬ 
thing about besides farming and gardening, and 
“then some.” I have known men who were skilled 
workmen in some branch of work, who could not re¬ 
pair a small thing round the house or even mend a 
wheelbarrow; but who would “like to live on a farm." 
Another experience is the amount of money a man 
can sink on a farm. The place here had been rented, 
and part of the time nothing done but cut the hay; 
not a tool of any kind, everything from a nail up had 
to be bought. Farmers will know what this means, 
but I think the would-be farmer in the city would be 
startled at the list and cost. 
As a green city farmer, I had thought that good 
potatoes, raised on new land, would sell quickly in 
competition with inferior stock, but did not find it so. 
Some storekeepers told me they were stocked up with 
poor potatoes at a higher price than mine, but their 
customers would have to eat the poor ones first. 
Last year some sold as low as 25 cents in the barn, 
I sold last Spring at 40 cents, no money in them at 
that price to me after paying for fertilizer at $38 per 
ton, and there is a lot of hard and dusty work about 
growing potatoes. If any more potatoes are grown, 
quantity will have first consideration. 
As to the question of success so far, it all depends 
as to the kind of a yardstick you measure by. If a 
financial yardstick is used I would say that we have 
made no money that can be seen, but if we figure up 
the improvement in health, the great pleasure to us 
of living in the country and seeing the young trees 
grow, going into our own pine woods, having all the 
milk, eggs, butter, pork, hams and everything grown 
in a garden, our own growing and in abundance, it 
certainly is a big success now, and promise of more 
in the future. city farmer. 
New Hampshire. 
The Mark Lane Express states that many cases of 
nightshade poisoning of cattle and sheep are reported 
this season. The dry weather has hurt pastures so 
that stock nibble at any green growth. This dry 
weather is also favorable to a larger secretion of the 
poison which members of the nightshade family 
carry. In some seasons or some soils these plants 
may be entirely harmless. Under other conditions 
they may develop so much of the poison as to give 
deadly results. An investigation of the reported case 
from Michigan shows that the sickness and death 
were evidently due to eating the berries of a plant in 
the garden. The evidence seems clear that this plant 
was a “Wonderberry” seedling. The past season is 
just what the scientific men told us would be most 
likely to make the Wonderberry a poison bearer. 
Sylvester Johnson of Indiana, hale and hearty at 90 
years, is still the champion grape grower of Indiana. Mr. 
Johnson told us nearly 10 years ago that he attributed his 
health and comfort to the fact that he ate apples every 
day. 
