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The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S rAPER 
A National Weekly Journnl lor Country and Suburban Homed 
Established tsso 
Published we«kly 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. Roylb, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
8M marks, or 10X franca Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates 60 cents per agate line—7 words. Discount for time orders. 
References required for advertisers unknown to us ; and 
cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is hacked by a respon¬ 
sible person. Rut 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 t’-iliing differences 
between subscribers and honest, responsible advertisers. Neither will wo 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 
the transaction, and you must have l icntioned Tfie RURAL N£w-Y or.KKit 
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. 
* 
It will pay you to keep the pictures of nursery 
trees shown in this issue. Have them on hand when 
you order and when the stock arrives. We have not 
seen clearer pictures of the different grades of trees 
anywhere. During the coming season it will be our 
ambition to give the facts about nursery trees, how 
they are grown, packed, o sold and planted. While 
millions of such trees are bought each year, few 
of the buyers seem to know how they are produced 
and sold. We are going to try to tell, in order that 
our readers may be able to buy the best trees at a 
fair price. Keep these pictures where you can look 
at them from time to time. 
* 
During the past few days there have been over a 
dozen questions about the commercial value of silage. 
It seems that considerable silage will be offered for 
sale. What is a fair price for it? In actual com¬ 
position average silage is usually not worth more 
than one-fifth as much as good hay. Its succulent 
quality gives it a peculiar value for cattle, and the 
usual plan is to call the silage in the silo worth 30 
per cent as much as hay in the mow. Thus if barn 
hay will bring $15 per ton, silage in the same barn 
should bring $4.50. Remember that these comparative 
prices are for the product in silo and barn or stock. 
You cannot fairly compare baled hay at the station 
with silage in the silo. 
* 
The city of Winnipeg in western Canada will soon 
be prepared to sell electric power. The city has built 
a great power plant costing $2,250,000, capable of gen¬ 
erating 100,000 horse power. This will be rented for 
light, heat and power at cheaper rates than private 
corporations have charged. All through the hilly por¬ 
tions of the country are streams which give oppor¬ 
tunity for power. Large corporate interests have been 
quietly at work securing control of these powers. 
They should be left free for country use. There is 
no reason why farmers living in 100 square miles or 
more of territory should not combine, secure control 
of a water power and supply themselves with light 
and power. This is what ought to be and what will 
be when farmers learn to cooperate and operate away 
from the politicians. 
* 
U. S. Consul John L. Griffiths, of England, tells 
of a wonderful new device for carrying the human 
voice for long distances. No wires or elaborate in¬ 
struments are required. The inventor, Mr. Grindell 
Matthews, recently gave a severe test: 
lie was placed in the strong room of a big London com¬ 
mercial house and locked in. with nine inches of armor 
steel, nine inches of fire brick, and six feet of concrete 
between him and the outer world. By means of his small 
portable apparatus he carried on a conversation with an 
operator in another room on the farther side of the build¬ 
ing. So distinct and faithful was the transmission that 
the experts in attendance were actually able to hear the 
tick of his watch, notwithstanding the almost impen¬ 
etrable mass between the two instruments. 
He now proposes to make another test through five 
miles of solid rock. The instrument is called the 
aerophone. It seems as if the principle of this in¬ 
strument may be used to aid the deaf. Thus far 
electric devices on the principle of a telephone are the 
most useful aids to the hearing. Perhaps this in¬ 
strument may go further and give greater aid. To 
the deaf it seems something of an injustice that while 
little has been done to aid them, limited vision has 
been made endurable. The ordinary “deafness cure” 
is the most profitable of all medical fakers, and in 
mentioning the new device we warn our friends 
against the frauds who will claim to supply it. 
THE; RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Just before the New York Legislature adjourned 
there was a bitter fight over a primary nomination 
bill. Gov. Dix was determined that the Democrats 
should redeem their pledge to the people. The party 
leaders knew that the pledge was a piece of buncombe 
which they never expected to face. We understand 
that Gov. Dix called in these leaders and at last 
roused to fierce anger. When they found that some¬ 
thing must be done the “leaders” of both parties 
quietly worked changes and amendments into the 
bill which left it with little force. A bill was finally 
passed and the “statesmen” went home. What the 
Democrats finally did was to make about the poorest 
primary law that could be suggested in the hope that 
the people would be fools enough to accept the 
“pledge.” The Republicans passed no bill at all and 
boasted of it! 
* 
You must read that letter on first page telling how 
Mayor .Samuel L. Shank, of Indianapolis, broke the 
middlemen’s combine by buying potatoes direct from 
the grower. What the mayor did was to demonstrate 
that good potatoes could be sold for less than half 
what the dealers were charging. The producer got 
about 50 cents for his potatoes while the dealers were 
holding up the consumers for $1.60. That gives the 
grower a 31-cent dollar! The mayjjr handled and 
sold these potatoes for six cents a bushel. No one 
expects the dealers to do that and pay all the ex¬ 
penses of an established business—but they were 
charging 91 cents instead of six. Mayor Shank is 
convinced that “he is on the right track.’* You are 
right, he is. We do not know what party he belongs 
to. and we do not care, hut if he will keep on pelting 
holes through combines with potatoes we would like 
to see that track lead higher up. One car load of 
potatoes run over a monopoly is worth a train load 
of political theory. 
* 
We have induced the leading morning paper here (Erie, 
Pa.) to take up and push the municipal market house idea, 
and they have had several hot editorials along that line. 
We have a mayoralty election next month, and we propose 
to make one or all the candidates come out in favor of 
the ‘‘producer-consumer” alliance. b. t. 
This is the way things are going all over the coun¬ 
try. “The high cost of living” has been charged up 
to the farmers, and consumers actually believe farm¬ 
ers are getting rich. Anything that will bring con¬ 
sumer and producer closer together will benefit both 
and help destroy one of the most harmful beliefs of 
modern times. There seems to have been a well- 
organized campaign to rob both producer and con¬ 
sumer. At the same time this “back to the land” 
crusade has been built up on the false theory that 
farmers were getting a fair share of the consumer’s 
dollar. All over the country, as at Erie, Pa., farmers 
and their friends are making an issue of the public 
market place. It is a great idea. 
* 
On page 859 was an article “The Story of Lime,” 
which has attracted considerable attention. In it the 
statement was made that lime dust was supplied at an 
Illinois penitentiary at 60 cents per ton.' Many of 
our readers have asked further information. This 
penitentiary is located at Menard. The lime dust is 
prepared by convict labor and is actually sold f. o. b. 
at the prison yard at 60 cents per ton in bulk, or $1 
per ton in 100 pound sacks. As for freight rates, the 
prison authorities say: 
The railroads have made a very low rate on this 
fertilizer. Each road over which the dust is shipped 
charges 25 cents per ton if the distance hauled is less 
than 50 miles. If over 50 miles the charge of each road 
is one-half cent per ton per mile, except the roads in 
class “B,” which includes the I. S. and the W. C. & W. 
Rys., which are allowed to charge 5 per cent above the 
one-half cent per mile. 
One of our readers at South Haven, Mich., wrote 
for prices and was told that the freight to his place 
would be $3.20 per ton, which is practically a pro¬ 
hibitive price. From the penitentiary to Chicago is 
about 380 miles, which would make the freight $1.90 
per ton on shipments. Outside of the State the rates 
are evidently higher. Here is a case where the freight 
is over five times the cost of the lime. 
* 
The value of cooperative selling by the producer 
is shown by the experience of florists in the neigh¬ 
borhood of New York. All the evils of which the 
farmer complains have been experienced by flower 
growers who sell through commission men, and 
added to them are some specially exasperating fea¬ 
tures incident to this line of trade alone. After 
some preliminary hard sledding one of these coopera¬ 
tive selling agencies is now giving most satisfactory 
results to the group of growers concerned, the ex¬ 
pense of handling the flowers being, we are told, 
about nine per cent. The concern pays dividends, 
and there are no bad debts, because sales are only 
made to retailers who are sure pay. The stock is 
carefully graded, and its character attracts the best 
October 21, 
class of buyers. It is quite just to say that had the 
middleman treated the producer honestly, the flower 
growers never would have considered the cooperative 
handling of their product. It was the continued ab¬ 
sorption of profit by greedy non-producers that turned 
their thoughts to cooperative selling. The compact 
organization of the flower trade generally through 
city, State and national societies, brings them closer 
together than many other lines of industry, and tends 
toward a wider cooperation. 
* 
What do you think of a man like .Tames Wilson for 
U. S. Secretary of Agriculture? ITe seems to think 
that the welfare of the large “manufacturing interests” 
is more important than the health and safety of our 
entire population. Ills desire to curry favor with the 
“large interests” is pretty well evidenced by the fact 
that he has accepted the honorary presidency of the great 
brewers’ convention. Heaven help us wheu we come to this 
state of affairs! I should about as soon expect to see 
The Rural New-Yorker carrying beer and whisky adver¬ 
tisements as to see a member of our President’s Cabinet, 
and holding the important office of Secretary of Agriculture, 
acting as president of a brewers’ convention. What do you 
think of it? g. d. l. 
We do not like to think about it. Some of the acts 
of Secretary James Wilson do not lead to cheerful 
thinking. In the early years of his service Mr. Wil¬ 
son did good work. He organized the Department, 
collected a group of very able men, and certainly 
succeeded in working large appropriations through 
Congress. He is as shrewd a politician as ever sat 
in a President’s Cabinet. Of late years, like many 
other “great leaders,” he seems to have thought it 
better politics to cater to the “large interests” rather 
than to the people. Throughout the so-called inves¬ 
tigation of Dr. Wiley Mr. Wilson’s sympathies were 
evidently with the conspirators who have worked for 
years underground and in back alleys for Dr. Wiley’s 
removal. As for the brewers’ convention, it is a 
question whether the Secretary’s position is any more 
pififul than the reasons he gives for accepting the 
“honor.” The R. N.-Y. takes the position that the 
President should have the right to select and retain 
whom he pleases for his Cabinet. President Taft, 
therefore, and not the American farmer, is respon¬ 
sible for Secretary Wilson. 
* 
We have often stated that The R. N.-Y. is really 
edited by its readers. We doubt if there is a paper 
in this country which more thoroughly enjoys the 
confidence of its readers, or is in closer* communica¬ 
tion With them. Thus it happens that our editorial 
expressions are usually framed about a text from 
some clear-headed and honest reader. Many of their 
letters express what we wish to say better than we 
can do it ourselves. We take special pleasure in the 
following: 
I had the pleasure, about a year or so ago, of meeting 
you at the office of The R. N.-Y"., although I was not suc¬ 
cessful in my mission, which was at that time an adver¬ 
tisement to be inserted in The R. N.-Y'. relative to the 
six per cent, bonds of a mortgage company which 1 repre¬ 
sented. You absolutely refused to puDlish the advertise¬ 
ment. Now, I want to say that your rerusal to comply 
with my request did not in the least lessen the friendship 
which has unconsciously sprung up between you and my¬ 
self as a reader of your paper. When I found a paper 
that scrutinized its advertisements as carefully as you do 
I was convinced that you were a good sort of a man to 
know, and Txie R. N.-Y’. a good sort of a paper to read. 
II. M. B. 
That man left this office convinced that The R. 
N.-Y. is run in the interests of its readers first of all. 
Our advertising space is for sale, and we recognize 
the value and legitimate place of the advertiser. We 
want him to be a real friend and helper to our 
readers, but in our plan and policy the subscriber 
comes first. We will not stand for concealed ad¬ 
vertisements or special privileges, but we attempt to 
give all honest men a fair showing in our columns. 
Now we find that this policy, lived up to squarely, 
is appreciated by advertisers as well as by readers. 
The letter quoted above fairly expresses the sentiment 
of those who do business with The R. N.-Y. 
__ * 
BREVITIES. 
How much does it cost to get a 35-cent dollar? 
Tiie production of lime last year was 3,500,000 tons. 
Last year $4,234.(562 worth of grind and scythe stones 
were bought in this country ! 
A late yellow peach! What is your experience with 
any of the following—October, Marshall, Willett and 
Bilyeu ? 
If for any reason you find it necessary to set out or 
transplant trees in the early Fall strip off the leaves be¬ 
fore you leave them. 
The first legal case of a farmer against a flying machine 
has been brought in England. An aeroplane came down 
in a field of barley and did considerable damage. The 
farmer has brought suit. 
Sweet gale (Myriea Gale), a familiar wild shrub In 
rather arid places, is now included among the plants pos¬ 
sessing the power of fixing nitrogen through root bacteria. 
A number of plants other than legumes possess this power. 
