1218 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER’S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established lsr,o 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 409 Pearl St., New York 
IIerbkbt W. Co TXTno wood, President and Editor. 
John J. DlELON, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mbs. E. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, 82.04, equal to 8s. 6d., or 
m 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 00 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” 
Wo 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 be publicly exposed. We protect sub¬ 
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 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 mentioned The Ruhal 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. 
* 
“Killing witch grass!” That method described on 
the first page is enough to kill any weed that ever 
started. Such intense culture will slay the witch grass 
and turn it into fertilizer to feed potatoes. Now, 
would it not pay to put this time and work onto a 
few acres rather than to spread it over three times the 
area? Who ever heard of a prize crop from once 
plowing and once harrowing? 
* 
There will be a novel feature at the New York 
Fruit Growers’ meeting at Rochester. On the after¬ 
noon of January 4 five young men students at Cornell 
will speak for a $50 prize. They will speak on horti¬ 
cultural subjects. In past years we have known young 
men to declaim for prizes on “The Age of Chivalry” 
or “The Dawn of Poetic Influence.” We are glad to 
have lived to see the time when sensible young men 
can enter such a contest as is announced for Rochester. 
That puts horticulture and fruit growing along the 
road to fair equality among the professions. 
* 
The record of Mr. Dougan’s hens (pageT224) will 
make good reading for the gentlemen who have 
wings on their imagination. Here is a man who 
figured $9 income per hen last year. He has experi¬ 
ence, sufficient capital, good stock and is willing to 
work. Yet you can see that he is unable to get any 
prize from these hens. The financial side cannot be 
figured yet, but on eggs alone at average prices what 
would the beginner have left? Of course we realize 
that the plausible gentleman who has some new sys¬ 
tem to sell will say that you can easily beat Mr. Dou¬ 
gan’s record. He who tries to give the truth about 
hen keeping is usually called a “croaker”—but there 
is no reason why that should shut off the facts. Mr. 
Dougan will make a profit on his experiment, but it 
will not be any bonanza. 
* 
In Germany the carrying of parcels by the post is as well 
established as the transport of freight by the railroads 
and waterways. It is a part of the economic life of the 
Empire, and any talk of abolishing the system would 
immediately raise protests from the business world and 
from people in all walks of life. Whether or not the 
Government realizes a gain or suffers a loss in the parcel- 
delivery department of the post office cannot be stated, 
as separate accounts are not kept of the expenses and 
receipts of the parcel post, but only for the entire postal, 
telegraph, and telephone services. It may be stated that 
if the parcel post in Germany were operated at a loss, 
which is probably not the case, it would still be carried 
on for the benefit of the people. 
That is the report of Consul-General A. M. 
Thackara, of Berlin. What a commentary upon the 
supposed progress and freedom of this Republic! 
Germany is a monarchy where men are sent to jail 
for speaking of the ruling class in a way that is com¬ 
mon conversation here. Yet the Germans have this 
privilege of parcels post—in one year sending 245,- 
059,299 packages through the mail. In this country, 
where the service would be of even greater value to 
the public, the express companies and their allies are 
able to hold up the public and rob them. No softer 
word can be used to describe the infernal outrage 
which this Government has permitted so long. If we 
could have but a trial of parcels post in this country 
the situation would be the same as in Germany, and 
no government would dare think of giving it up. The 
express companies know this, and that is why they are 
moving, not heaven, but the opposite place, and earth 
to prevent any action by Congress. Well, this is one 
of the things we must dig out ourselves. Get at them 
cheerfully and dig deep. Make them realize what 
we want. 
THE RURAL IT EC W-YORKER 
We have some good friends among the nurserymen 
who say it is not fair to print such an article as ap¬ 
pears on page 1211. We would like to know why not. 
We know the author of this article and can vouch 
for him. We also know the nurserymen to be hon¬ 
orable men. If this were a rare experience it cer¬ 
tainty would not be fair to suggest that such mistakes 
are common in the nursery business. But this is not 
a rare experience. Both fruit growers and nursery¬ 
men realize only too well how frequently those “mis¬ 
fits” are found when trees come to bearing. We know 
a man who depended on a good-sized orchard for 
support. It comes into bearing a mongrel collection 
of worthless fruit, while he paid good prices for stan¬ 
dard varieties. All this being so, in common fairness 
the growers and nurserymen should get together 
on some plan for settling these disastrous blunders. 
We have no wish to beat down the price of a good 
tree—in fact, we urge our readers to pay full value 
for good stock. We shall plant about 500 trees in 
our own orchard next Spring, and we will gladly 
pay twice the usual price to any one who will give a 
guarantee, say with some good insurance company, 
that such trees will prove sound and true to name. 
We believe orders for 50,000 such trees can be se¬ 
cured in a short time. Now are there any nurserymen 
who will guarantee such insurance? 
Our Christmas thought this year is that, on the 
whole, the outlook for farmers and common people 
generally is more hopeful than for years past. This 
is not because of the country’s great material wealth 
and power, but because many popular idols and ideas 
are being destroyed. Those of us who have lived to 
middle life can well remember what was held up to 
us from pulpit, press, platform and by the fireside as 
examples of realty great and successful manhood. It 
was an age of “get there.” The man who was sharp 
and shrewd enough to get some private advantage or 
some public privilege and thus accumulate money was 
the ideal character—held lip before us as boys. Go 
back and read the books—the histories and bio¬ 
graphies of that time. Rarely did one find a real 
analysis of character with the faults and failings as 
shade to bring out more brilliantly the true or noble 
qualities. Those who made public opinion for 40 
years after the Civil War made it like a painting— 
whenever it was turned for real examination the 
back was found dusty and hideous. There is great 
hope now for the future in the fact that the age of 
one-sided glorification has gone by. People now see 
where this has led them. The false theory of making 
wealth the standard of greatness—with no analysis of 
the methods employed to accumulate that wealth- 
lias led our people close to the collar of industrial 
slavery. We believe they have stopped in time and 
that, with a clearer vision and more independent 
purpose, they will yet control this government ps they 
should. As Christmas comes once more we see evi¬ 
dence of this everywhere. That is why our Christinas 
greeting is one of good cheer to all who hope for that 
coming day when the common people will come to 
their own. 
A few weeks ago we referred to an address which 
Prof. Holden of Iowa delivered before the “bankers, 
brewers and railroad men” in this city. Prof. Hol¬ 
den’s plan for reducing the high cost of living was 
for the farmers to grow twice as much corn as they 
do now. We presume his argument includes all 
other forms of food. We are now waiting patiently 
for some other gentleman prominent in agricultural 
science to go before this same gathering and talk on 
the high price of living. We want to have him say 
something like this: 
“I have proved that ou the average the producer gets 
35 cents of the consumer’s dollar. My plan to remedy 
this is in principle the same as you advocate for farmers. 
This is to create competition in transportation and money 
loans. I suggest that you railroad men double your tracks 
and cheerfully permit rival lines to parallel your roads. 
This would cut transportation rates in two. I suggest 
that you bankers advocate doubling the currency now in 
circulation and accept farm lands as security. As you 
are highly in favor of applying this principle to the pro¬ 
duction of corn you will naturally agree with me that 
this is an ideal plan!” 
Now we would like to have something like that put 
up to the bankers and railroad men by some of our 
largest agricultural scientists! In truth, we do not 
expect it this year, or next, and yet it must be said 
some day and well talked in. It has been our priv¬ 
ilege to start a few little things which have grown 
into public habits. We will start another. Let us 
induce our agricultural teachers to talk “35-cent dol¬ 
lar” to the gentlemen who get the 65 cents! 
December 23, 
The experiment of auctioning butter, eggs and 
poultry, tried at New- York this week, was not a 
striking success. Weather was unfavorable, fog de¬ 
layed some of the goods that were expected, and buy¬ 
ers were not numerous or enthusiastic. More inter¬ 
est may develop later. One thing that seemed a 
serious drawback, however, was that, as announced 
at the first sale, lots sold were made large enough to 
“protect the jobber.” Live poultry was sold in lots 
of 10 coops; dressed poultry in boxes in lots of 25 
packages, in barrels, 10 packages, and eggs and butter 
in 25 package lots. This effectually cuts out the re¬ 
tailer who cannot handle 10 barrels of poultry or 25 
cases of eggs at once. Those at the auction were evi¬ 
dently looking for bargains. If they were to pay the 
full market price they preferred to go to the regular 
dealers, with many of whom they had lines of credit, 
while the auction sells only for cash. The case is 
different with the fruit auctions of oranges, grapes, 
etc. The best fruit is sold in this way and buyers 
know that they must go there and pay the market 
price to get it. There is a good field for an auction 
in dairy and poultry products open to the retailer, but 
the public is getting very weary of this talk about 
“protecting the jobber.” 
* 
The national administration under President Taft 
may fairly be criticized for some of its acts. On the 
other hand it deserves great praise for its conduct of 
the Post Office Department. In 1909 there was a 
deficit of $17,479,770 in the postal service. In two 
years this deficit has been wiped out and changed to a 
surplus. For the year ending June 30, 1911, the 
revenues were $237,879,823 and the expenditures $237,- 
660,705. Of even greater importance is the Govern¬ 
ment’s fine work in shutting frauds and snides away 
from mail privileges. These swindlers offered all sorts 
of fraudulent stuff, from jack knives to shares in gold 
mines or moonshine. Uncle Sam threw their guff 
out of his mail bags. There have been 529 indict¬ 
ments and 184 convictions already. There has never 
before been anything to equal this work, and few can 
appreciate what it realty means to the people. It is 
brave- work, too, for it means a great army of 
revengeful and powerful scoundrels, balked of their 
prey, turning against the Administration. Postmaster- 
General Hitchcock recommends a trial of parcels post 
on rural routes and in towns and cities with mail 
carriers. This is not what we need, but it is a start 
which nothing can stop. Senator O’Gorman, of New 
York, has introduced a comprehensive bill for parcels 
post, a synopsis of which is given on page 1219. 
* 
From Texas, Florida—wherever the land boomers 
abound—we get letters that would set us on fire if 
words would burn! We do not seem to be very popu¬ 
lar with these gentlemen. Their crowning argument 
is that we are jealous, and afraid that the Eastern 
States will be depopulated—therefore we urge readers 
never to buy land until they have seen it and had the 
opinion of some cold-blooded observer. You must 
guess again, gentlemen. We do not care where our 
people live provided they can find opportunity and a 
happy home. Start in Alaska and go to San Diego, 
then to Key West and to Eastport, Maine. Within the 
territory thus surrounded there is hardly a county in 
which there are not one or more readers of The 
R. N.-Y. We do not care where they live provided 
they are contented. If a man in Newfoundland wants 
to move to Cuba, knows just what he is doing and is 
sure he can better himself by going, we would advise 
him to go. But where we come in is to try to make 
him know these things before he starts. The chances 
are that any man of middle years who has lived and 
gained a competence in a certain community will be 
far better off to stay right where he is unless there 
are extraordinary conditions to send him away. That 
is what we stand for. The land boomers want such 
men to pull up stakes and rush to buy their land 
without full investigation. We shall do our utmost to 
block any such nice little game by urging our people to 
look and go and stamp on the ground before they 
leap- _ 
BREVITIES. 
High living leads to low thinking. 
That laundry job —page 1214, boats farming for swedt 
at least. 
Full many a country church has gone to smash because 
the farmers could not deal in cash. 
The Maine State Horticulturist announces that the esti¬ 
mated apple crop of that State for 1911 is 975,000 barrels, 
or 3,000,000 bushels. 
High price of broom corn is cutting into manufacturers’ 
profits. Canadian broom makers are said to be paying 
$240 per ton for broom corn. 
Think of this for middle December in Quebec Province: 
“We have had a little snow and some pretty cold weather, 
but it is warm again, and I expect to do a little plowing 
tomorrow if the mercury does not take a sudden drop.” 
