1311 . 
12«3 
THE RURAb NEW-YORKRR 
ERADICATING HORSE-NETTLE. 
}V ,, K. g., London Grove, Pa .—On my 
farm I h.ave three small patches of horse- 
nettle (Solanum Carolinense) ; a local name 
for It here is “Sodom apple.” Most every 
one here knows the plant to some extent, 
and mostly to his sorrow, it seems impos¬ 
sible to kill it, and stock will not eat near 
it, because of its spiked branches. Do you 
know of any positive method of killing it? 
Ans. —This is an extremely disagree¬ 
able weed, which appears to be making 
its way over a wide range to the north 
and west. It is a deep-rooting herbace¬ 
ous perennial which propagates very 
freely by means of its long roots, which 
often go down three feet. It thus lives 
over Winter, and a mere cutting before 
it flowers, in the hope of avoiding seed¬ 
ing, is not likely to affect it seriously. 
We would treat it as Mr. Woodward 
advises for the Canada thistle in issue 
of August 26, page 855. Let it grow 
until it begins to bloom, then cut down, 
and follow this by cutting whenever a 
sprout shows. The root uses its vitality 
in reaching the blooming period, and 
this continued cutting preventing it from 
breathing above ground, will certainly 
exhaust it. If the first cutting is fol¬ 
lowed by deep plowing, rolling and con¬ 
stant cultivation for the rest of the sea¬ 
son, as Mr. Woodward recommends, 
there seems no reason why the horse- 
nettle should not be extirpated. 
BUYING A FLORIDA FARM. 
G. G. IF., Chalfont, Pa .—My father has 
taken an option on 25 acres in northern 
Florida, and expects to move there next 
Fall. I have studied the proposition and 
do not like the looks of it. but I cannot 
get my parents to see anything in it but 
a bonanza. My parents are past middle 
age, father not very strong. He has a 
position paying over $25 per week. He 
owns his home, worth perhaps $3,000. This 
he expects to put into the Florida farm. 
I can see a possible success but a far more 
probable failure, money and job both gone 
forever. The proposition is land from 
which the timber has been taken, grown up 
to scrub, a God-forsaken looking place at 
the jumping-off point. There are a number 
of clear lakes on the tract and the land 
tnay be good, but there is nothing much 
there yet. The price is $30 per acre, clear¬ 
ing extra. Father has been to see it—for 
less than 24 hours. If they are making a 
wise move I should like to know it. but 
if it is practical suicide, I want to know 
that too. i have found out that farming 
is not the job for a tired man who wa-nts 
to retire—unless he has a bank account. 
Ans. We do not know definitely 
about this particular proposition, but it 
has all the ear marks of a game which 
has been played many times. On gen¬ 
eral principles it would be plain financial 
suicide for a man situated as this man 
is to give up a good job and invest his 
money in a Florida farm full of stumps. 
It will cost far more than he pays for 
the land to clear an acre, and when he 
gets it cleared it will take him three 
years to learn how to grow a crop in 
that climate. When he does learn how 
he will find a dozen middlemen between 
his farm and the consumer. We well 
understand how difficult it is to con¬ 
vince such men that the rainbow stories 
they have been told are not gospel truth. 
Ever since the old Spaniards came hunt¬ 
ing perpetual youth in Florida the State 
has had a charm for people of middle 
age who feel the cold more than the 
average person does. The Winter cli¬ 
mate is ideal, and life is dreamy and 
full of happiness during a brief stay 
while you have the money to pay for 
the trip. These pleasant things are 
skillfully used by the land boomers 
to induce northern people to 'retire” 
and buy land. Of all the fakes 
and frauds in the country, it is 
doubtful if any do a more posi¬ 
tively hellish work than the rascals who 
“boom” worthless swamps and deserts 
in Florida. There is some good land 
scattered through the State, and we have 
a number of readers who have done 
fairly well in Florida, and who are well 
satisfied to remain there. We feel just¬ 
ified in saying that out of 10 men who 
buy land in these boomed companies 
nine are more or less dissatisfied—run¬ 
ning from pathetic failures to a poor 
existence. That is why we say that on 
general principles it would be financial 
suicide for this man to invest his money 
in a Florida farm. He might better 
bury it in the sand. 
CONSUMER’S DOLLAR IN POLITICS. 
During the recent campaign for 
mayor in this city (population 15,000) 
one of the candidates, who is the pres¬ 
ent incumbent, based his arguments on 
the fact that he had started a public 
market, but that it had not been a great 
success he blamed on the grocers, who, 
he claimed, would not purchase from 
farmers who sold on the market. As a 
reason for their opposition he exhibited 
a seven-pound squash for which the 
farmer received 3j4 cents and the grocer 
charged him 25, and apples for which lie 
paid the farmer 10 cents and the grocer 
sold for 50. Of course the grocers be¬ 
came much aroused over these state¬ 
ments, and the butchers also becoming 
embroiled, they secured speakers and 
arranged a meeting in the theatre to 
present their side of the case. One of 
the speakers was Mr. Green, of Cleve¬ 
land, president of the Ohio Retail Gro¬ 
cers’ Association, who stated that the 
grocers loved the consumer, wherefor 
he had been in Washington during Jan¬ 
uary and February trying to get the tax 
off colored oleo, and that he would have 
succeeded had not reciprocity taken so 
much time. However, lie said they 
would try again when Congress con¬ 
venes. The secretary of the association 
claimed it cost a grocer 20 per cent on 
an average to do business. But the 
champion of the market, for reasons not 
clear to me, was defeated. a. g. m. 
Elyria, Ohio. 
R. N.-Y.—It is a hopeful thing when 
the consumer’s dollar gets into politics. 
What a friend of humanity a man must 
be to try to let colored oleo be sold as 
honest butter! 
A RETAIL APPLE TRADE. 
Being interested in your recent arti¬ 
cle, “Direct Trade in Apples,” I am 
enclosing a circular that we have used 
this Fall with fairly good results. If 
it had been sent out a little earlier the 
“fairly good results” could undoubt¬ 
edly have been changed to “very good 
results.” This circular was sent to a 
town lying a few miles outside of 
New York, where we had sold apples 
from our wagon four years ago and 
again two years ago. Our list was a 
selected one, and our name was re¬ 
membered in a great many instances. 
With the letter was enclosed a self- 
addressed return envelope and a tag 
containing guarantee and person’s ad¬ 
dress. I believe the latter is a very 
important adjunct to any successful cir¬ 
cular campaign, and a unhesitating will¬ 
ingness to live up to the agreement 
even more important. However, I will 
state in passing that not one* of our 
customers made such a request with 
the exception of one party who received 
a hamper of Baldwins in place of 
Greenings he ordered. His hamper 
was simply transferred and the Green¬ 
ings sent in their place. 
After the circular was sent we fol¬ 
lowed it up with a post card and fol¬ 
lowed up each order with a discount 
certificate soliciting a repeat order 
within a limited time. The second 
card brought an increased mail, but 
thus far no one has sent in his certifi¬ 
cate, although we are getting a good 
number of repeat orders. Of course 
the circular and the good word spoken 
for our fruit by our customers bear 
the brunt of the campaign. In going 
over our circulars you will see that we 
ship in hampers and that we charge 
only one price for our apples. The best 
apples go out first, while there is the 
most competition, but the commoner 
sorts sell well after the others are gone. 
The hampers give very good satisfac¬ 
tion in the small places where the ex¬ 
press agents are comparatively honest, 
and are much easier to pack than the 
boxes. Of course we use cushions on 
the top of the hampers to protect the 
fruit. Next year we shall send out 
many more circulars, wrap every anole 
in the hamper and charge more for the 
trouble, and we believe that the extra 
pains will pay well. h. t. demarest. 
Orange Co., N. Y. 
R. N.-Y.—The circular gives a pic¬ 
ture of the apples, names and describes 
them. The price is $1.50 delivered. 
The guarantee is printed below: 
YOU GET YOUR MONEY BACK 
or a new hamper of fruit, if this 
order isn’t filled exactly right and 
just as we promised it would be. 
OUR MONEY BACK GUARANTY. 
“THE HONEST FARMER." 
A cousin of ours, whose place of 
business is in New York City and home 
in East Orange, decided this Fall to 
get his Winter potatoes directly from 
the grower. A farmer in New Jersey 
was recommended to him. Fie sent this 
farmer $7, asking him to ship two sugar 
barrels filled with potatoes. This would 
be about eight bushels. The farmer re¬ 
plied that he had the potatoes, extra fine, 
but the two barrels would be worth $10. 
The New York man sent on $3 more. 
He paid $1.60 freight and found his two 
barrels of potatoes almost worthless. 
They were very watery, could not be 
cooked dry. The New York man was 
perfectly willing to pay the price if the 
potatoes had been as represented. Re¬ 
sult: He might have sent this farmer 
considerable business, but he has de¬ 
cided that buying from farmers doesn’t 
pay, and he tells this story to his 
friends. f. w. Cornwall. 
R. N.-Y.—We do not blame him. It 
is plain business suicide to work off 
poor goods on the consumer. You can¬ 
not escape the consequences. That has 
got to be considered in all direct 
dealing._ 
SCHOOLS OF RAILROADING. 
H. J. S., Richland, Pa .—Can you name 
a good college or institution that teaches 
locomotive engineering, and gives practical 
experience to students with engines, and 
qualifies them to hold a good position? 
Ans. —I hardly know what to tell 
you with reference to naming a good 
school for locomotive engineers. For 
your information, I would advise, 
however, that in every case our loco¬ 
motive enginemen are drafted from the 
ranks of the firemen, and in turn the 
enginemen operating our electric loco¬ 
motives are drawn from the ranks of 
the qualified steam enginemen. In 
other words, the schooling our men get 
is while they are acting in the capacity 
of firemen. This, of course, is the best 
experience a man can get, and affords 
him a salary during the time he is em¬ 
ployed as fireman. The examinations 
for promotion from fireman to engine- 
man are rigid, but in the event of a 
man failing he will be given another 
opportunity six months hence, and so 
on, or else told that he is disqualified. 
I do not know of any railroad to-day 
that hires engineers outside or from 
other roads. a. r. whaley. 
Terminal Manager N. Y. C. R. R. 
SEE™*SAW 
Appleton Wood Saws 
ARE GUARANTEED 
Get Our Free Booklet—It 
describes and illustrates 
the different styles and 
will help you pick out the 
very saw you need. As we 
manufacture an extensive 
line of saws, you cannot 
choose without this book¬ 
let. Write now. 
APPLETON MFG. CO, 
Est. 27 Fargo Street 
1872 Batavia, III. 
The Ireland Straight-Line Drag 
Sawing Machine 
'THIS sawing rig fills a long felt want for sawing large 
1 timber. It is simple, durable and the most practical 
straight-line sawing rig on the market. We also make 
circular saw rigs, saw and shingle mills. Get our prices 
on canvas belting; they will surprise you. Send for 
prices and full information. “Ask about Hoists.” 
IRELAND MACHINE & FOUNDRY COMPANY. 
14 State Street NORWICH, NEW YORK. 
RUSTPROOF: BULL STRONG: PIGTIGHT 
Fences for horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, chickens,etc. 
Special low bargain prices. We pay the freight. 
Ornamental Lawn Fences and Gates 
Send for catalog Brown Fence & Wire Co. 
and sample Dept. 59 Cleveland, Ohio 
KITS ELM AM FENCE 
Sold direct to you at factory 
prices on 30 days trial. Save 
the dealers profit. Farm, Hog 
and Poultry Fence at from 
1 114 CENTS A ROD UP. 
All wires are heavily galvanized 
80 rod spool of Ideal galvanized 
Barbed Wire $1.40. Write 
to-day for large free Catalog showing 
100 different styles and heights of fencing 
Box 230 KITSELMAN BROS. MUNCIE, IND. 
BUY AN ICE PLOW 
and save the ice crop. Cut your ice 
quick and cheap with my double- 
row Ice Plow. It equals 20 
men with saws. Pays for 
itself in 1 day. Also Tools. 
Ask for catalog and prices- 
WJI. II. PRAY, Verbank, N. Y 
This is a good plan for working up 
a retail trade. We think that a small 
advertisement in the local papers would 
help also. 
cheap fertilizers 
cost too much 
The U. S. Dept, of Agriculture says, in Bulletin 467, 
‘ ‘no one thing has been more clearly demonstrated by 
the work of the experiment stations than that it does 
not pay to buy low-priced, low-grade fertilizers. 
99 
WjM $20 worth of our Stockbridge Manures 
will go further and supply better plant 
food than a ton of any fertilizer selling for $30. 
The Stockbridge, selling around $40 a ton, contains 
twice as much- nitrogen and often five times as much 
potash as the average $25 to $30 fertilizer. 
SAVE a THIRD of YOUR FERTILIZER 
MONEY by USING the STOCKBRIDGE 
Write us about your fertilizer plans and ask for 
quotations. Agents wanted where we have none. 
Address, Department E. 
FERTILIZER COMPANY 
JtJw W IYJujXV 60 Trinity Place, New York 
