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THE RURAL* NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TEE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal lor Country and Suburban Home* 
Established fSSO 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing; Company, 409 Pearl St., New York 
Hekberx W. Colling wood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wjl F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. $2.61. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
8J4 marks, or 10J4 francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates CO 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. 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 be publicly exposed. We protect sub¬ 
scribers against rogues, but we do not guarantee to adjnst 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 
the transaction, and you must have xaentioned 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 30 cents for strictly introductory pur¬ 
poses. We depend on our old friends to make this 
known to neighbors and friends, 
* 
Who knows just how Maine voted on the Prohibi¬ 
tion question? Some of the daily papers have triec} 
to convey the impression that the State voted in 
favor of liquor selling. We have asked the Secretary 
of State for the true figures. Here they arc: 
In favor of annulling the prohibitory amendment-. 60,095 
Against annulling the prohibitory amendment.. 60,852 
The above figures show that the people voted to keep 
the prohibitory law in the constitution by a plurality of 
758. Cyrus v/. davis. Secy. 
Thus Maine stays dry. 
* 
Recent advances in potato prices at New York have 
called out fairly large shipments from Europe, about 
90,000 bushels in the last two weeks. The foreign 
crop is larger than was expected, that of Germany 
alone, owing to late rains, being nearly 40,000,000 
bushels in excess of early estimates. A large pro¬ 
portion of the foreign stock received recently has 
been from Ireland, the highest price noted for these 
being $2.75 per 168-pound bag. Choice domestic are 
selling at New York now for upwards of $1 per 
bushel. A few Bermuda potatoes have arrived, bring¬ 
ing $6 to $8 per barrel. These naturally go to a spe¬ 
cial class of trade at present, but a little later, when 
the price drops to $5, they will cut into the regular 
trade, as many people, especially fond of new pota¬ 
toes, will pay the extra price for Bermudas. 
* 
Some of the daily papers are really talking favorably 
about parcels post. Do they mean business, or are they 
merely soft-soaping the public in order to delay the time 
when a great issue must be met face to face and disposed 
of right? G. w. d. 
We think they have begun to realize that par¬ 
cels post is a popular issue. President Taft has 
promised to advocate a trial of the plan, and both 
parties in Congress will try to obtain credit for the 
work. What is proposed is a trial of package dis¬ 
tribution on rural routes. Anyone can see that this 
is mere child’s play compared with what the people 
need The excellent article by Mr. Smith on page 1130 
puts the proposition in business-like form. We ex¬ 
pect to see a trial of the plan within a year. We 
feel sure that any trial will meet with such response 
that the government will be forced to extend the sys¬ 
tem all over the country. Now is the time to start the 
old campaign harder than ever. 
* 
The Agricultural Department is doing fine work in 
testing seeds. They accept samples of seeds from 
buyers or seedsmen and identify weed seeds or adul¬ 
terants, and also give a test for germination- There 
are laboratories at Washington, Baton Rogue, La., 
Berkeley, Cal., Corvallis, Ore., Columbia, Mo., and La 
Fayette, Ind., where seeds may be forwarded. No 
charge is made for testing and farmers ought to 
make great use of this service. There is greater need 
of it this year than ever before. Several kinds of 
seeds are very short. The drought prevented a full 
crop, and prices for pure strong seed must run high. 
A number of fake seedsmen seem to be preparing for 
this by mixing dead or doubtful seed in with the 
good. They know just what they are up to. They 
know the stuff will not grow, but they will get their 
price and then fall back upon their “warrant”—or 
lack of one. Take it from us, if anyone offers you 
cabbage, celery, carrot or root seeds at a low figure 
—let them alone. They - cannot sell live seed this 
year at low prices. At any rate, before you risk your 
crop this year with any such trash send it to the 
Government laboratories for testing. The tip this 
year is to order seed early and patronize only the 
most reliable firm you can find. 
Our farm is a city lot 60x150 feet, and our live stock 
consists of two cats and numerous robins, bluebirds and 
sparrows, but if there is anyone who gets more comforts 
and laughs out of The R. N.-Y. than myself and wife just 
trot them out. G. B. 
New York. 
The invitation to “trot out” is extended to all. 
“Comforts and laughs” are great assets in this world, 
for they represent that peace and contentment which 
is all that life has to offer. The great majority of 
kings have little to make them merry. A laugh from 
them would scare the children. We have heard a lot 
about spreading the bacteria which enable plants to 
gain nitrogen. They are not half so valuable to so¬ 
ciety as the germs of comfort and laughter. We 
would rather help carry them into lonely farm homes 
than to be known as some great scientific discoverer 
or some political leader. 
* 
HIGH FARMING AND LOW PRICES. 
Prof. Holden of Iowa recently told a New York 
audience how to lower the cost of living. The news¬ 
papers say it was a group of “bankers, railroad men, 
brewers and manufacturers.” Of course Prof. Holden 
pointed out the 35-cent dollar and showed where the 
65 cents go to! Of course the railroad men and others 
agreed to chip in a few cents each so as to raise the 
35 cents to 50! Not in a thousand years! Prof. Hol¬ 
den had nothing to offer except a scheme for raising 
twice as much corn and thus of course reducing the 
price. He said Iowa in a banner year grew 340,000,000 
bushels. The price fell to 38 cents. Next year the 
crop was 270,000,000 and the price rose to 55. On this 
figuring if you grew 500,000,000 the price goes to 20 
cents! The audience thought that was “fine.” It 
would take the cost of living “out of politics.” That 
would also be “fine,” for we could all go on fighting 
scarecrows and dead issues. Not one of them seemed 
to have any thought of the farmer’s welfare. In that 
“banner” 38-cent year Iowa farmers got $129,000,000 
for their corn. In the 55-cent year they got $148,000,- 
000. In a 20-cent year the income would be $100,000,000. 
So much for the farmer—what of the railroads? They 
charge as much for carrying a 20-cent bushel as for 
one that costs a dollar. When the brewer gets grain 
at half price he charges as much as before for his 
beer! Is it any wonder these gentlemen want the corn 
crop doubled? Do they know nothing of history? 
When the West was newer and population smaller, 
so much corn was raised that it could hardly be given 
away. Tons of it were burned as fuel. A few years 
ago the potato crop was so large that many farmers 
sold at 15 cents a bushel. According to Prof. Holden’s 
argument these should have been glorious times for 
both producer and consumer. In fact they were years 
of misery for farmers and “hard times” for work¬ 
men. While grain or potatoes were rotting for lack 
of a fair price the middlemen were still holding up 
the consumer. Farmers could not buy, since they were 
paid little or nothing for what they raised. Thus man¬ 
ufacturing was slack and there was less labor. Sup¬ 
pose we apply Prof. Holden’s theory to the business 
of his audience! Double the lines of railroads and 
cut rates in two. Double the output of shoes, cloth¬ 
ing, tools, hardware and other things which farmers 
buy as well as what they sell. One is as fair as the 
other, yet would that audience have called it “fine?” 
Not in a thousand years! Years ago Sir John B. 
Lawes laid down this truth: “High farming can never 
be a remedy for low prices!” Besides this the pretty 
scheme for doubling crops without giving farmers a 
fairer share is like the pleasant babble of a Summer 
brook. The R. N.-Y. does not oppose progress or 
improvement in farming. We hope we have done our 
share to help farming education. What we want to 
know is why our scientific men lack the vision or the 
courage to stand up and tell the railroad men, the 
brewers and others the plain, bald truth about the 
farmer’s share of the dollar 1 Increase that share and 
the increase in crops will soon take care of itself. 
* 
The National Grange had a fierce struggle at Co¬ 
lumbus, O. As we predicted, the delegates divided 
into three factions. The old, hidebound element sup¬ 
ported the present Master for re-clection. The “in¬ 
surgents” bitterly opposed him. The “middle-of-the- 
road” faction ought to have controlled the situation, 
but most of them apparently wanted office, and their 
influence was weakened. For six days little was 
done except to pull wires for various “slates.” An 
effort.was made to stampede the meeting for the 
present Master. It failed, and the old ring saw 
they were beaten, yet they were able to influence the 
election to some extent. Oliver Wilson, of Illinois, 
was elected Master—a good man who will, we be¬ 
lieve, give the Grange a fair administration. While 
not all that we hoped for, the outcome is a distinct 
gain, and we believe that the Grange will regain its 
power and usefulness. 
December 2, 
An Albany, N. Y., paper gives the following state¬ 
ment of the cost of a Thanksgiving dinner for a fair¬ 
sized family: 
Turkey . $2.50 
Cranberries .. 
Potatoes . 40 
Celery .. 
Pumpkin Pie . 15 
Bread, salt, sugar, dressing, etc. 1.00 
Mixed nuts ... ,«,««• • • • -15 
Total. $4.60 
This does not include the fuel or the cook’s time, 
but is based on retail prices for a 10-pound bird and 
plain “fixings.” Our people at the farm would want 
three more vegetables and a choice of many fruits. 
There are two ways of looking at these figures. Even 
when a farmer must substitute a big rooster for a 
turkey he is a high liver if you accept the consumer’s 
prices. On the other hand, if you take net returns for 
turkeys, vegetables and grain as they left the farmer’s 
hands, it is doubtful if he received $1.75 as his share 
of the cost of this dinner ! 
* 
It is hard for Americans to obtain a clear idea of 
the so-called rebellion in China. Most of us favor, 
on general principles, any effort on the part of a peo¬ 
ple to get closer to a democratic form of govern¬ 
ment. The Chinese people have been slow to move. 
One reason for this is the fact that a large share of 
the population must spend practically all their ener¬ 
gies in earning an ordinary supply of food. Popula¬ 
tion is dense, and land is worked to the limit of pro¬ 
duction, yet in many provinces thousands are but 
half fed. Whenever the farmers of a country or a 
section must spend their strength in barely earning the 
necessities of life they cannot be expected to take the 
deepest interest in large social or political matters. 
How can they, when the bare question of living ab¬ 
sorbs all their effort? Those who make the profit by 
handling what such farmers produce are the ones 
who make the laws and think out schemes for ad¬ 
vancement. The 65-cent dollar will ever control its 
35-cent companion. Whenever a man goes out to 
work earnestly at developing a rural church or im¬ 
proving country life, he quickly becomes convinced 
that such development is really based on business 
improvement—a fairer share of what the farmer pro¬ 
duces. You must get more cash into country com¬ 
munities if you wish to make them take a larger 
share in public matters. 
* 
Now it is the American Potash Company offering 
stock in a scheme to develop “potash ore” in Wyom¬ 
ing. This is as plausible a scheme as the promoters 
have worked in years. All know that this country 
must obtain its agricultural potash in Germany. That 
makes the demand sure. No one can deny that the 
rocks of the Leusite hills in Wyoming contain in 
some parts as high as 11 per cent, of potash. Rocks 
even higher in potash also exist in New England, 
New York and other Eastern States. It is there¬ 
fore a shrewd plan for the promoters of this com¬ 
pany to offer shares in a scheme for mining this ma¬ 
terial. The U. S. Geological Survey has known for 
years all about this potash. Had there been any 
practical way of making it available we should have 
had it in operation long ago. The Survey clearly 
says: 
But the potash of these rocks, even when thus finely 
ground, has been generally supposed to be tightly locked 
up, being practically insoluble by any known cheap, com¬ 
mercial process. 
In New England experiments have been tried with 
treating ground potash rock with electricity. Wc 
think something will come from this, but cheap elec¬ 
tric power will be needed. We can see nothing in 
sight to justify an investment in this Western scheme. 
It looks to us as if money put into it would be tied 
up tighter than the potash is tied in that rock. 
BREVITIES. 
Chestnut culture in the East is certainly becoming a 
“chestnut.” 
Perhaps the clearest evidence of mossback poultry 
keeping is wintering a lot of worthless surplus roosters. 
Eat ’em up! 
The crop of dodder found In Alfalfa is coming in for 
identification. There must have been a fearful dose of it 
in last year’s Alfalfa seeding. 
Read Mr. Hartman’s story of a Florida farm day, 
page 1159. We hope to have many such from the South this 
Winter, running ahead of the work at the North. 
Get the hen manure ready for next Spring’s business. 
About the simplest way is to keep this manure dusted 
with plaster day by day, or as taken up. Keep it in a 
dry place. Next Spring you can crush it and mix with 
chemicals. 
Speaking of “progress,” for years the river Nile has 
been full of a compact growth of weeds called “sudd.” 
It was so thick as to be a menace to navigation. Now 
this “sudd” is to be dug up, dried aud pressed into 
briquettes and used as coal. Thus the very thing which 
held these steamers back will be used to propel them! 
V 
