3«0 
THIS RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
March. 16, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban IToinc* 
Kxtablishrd i860 
Published weakly by the Rural Publishing Company, 489 Pearl St., New York 
Herbert W. CoLURGwoon, President and Editor. 
Join- J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wh. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. K. T. Hoyle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. Jti.M, equal to 8s. 6d-, or 
8 Yi marks, or 10^ francs. Remit in money order, “tpress 
order, personal chock 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 order*. 
References required for advertisers unknown to us ; and 
cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We helicvo that every advertisement in this paper is hacked hy 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 lie publicly export'd. We protect sub¬ 
scribers against rogues, but we do not guarantee to adjust trifling differences 
between subscribers and honest, responsible advertisers. Neither w ill we be 
responsible for the debts of honest liankrupts 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 Thk Rural New-Yorkkr 
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. 
* 
The article on a “Back Yard Garden” will be fol¬ 
lowed by others telling just how to plant seeds and 
care for the young plants. We have never read any 
clearer description of how to do simple garden work. 
* 
One of the theories which would seem well 
grounded is the proposition that beef cattle might 
profitably be bred for beef making in New York and 
New England. In this section may be found some 
of the best pasture in the world. Corn grows well, 
and Alfalfa can be made to thrive. Close by are the 
best markets on the continent. Similar arguments 
are used to prove the possibilities in growing fruit, 
vegetables or poultry. Why not beef? Yet, so far 
as we can learn, there are few, if any, men engaged 
in breeding such beef cattle in this eastern section. 
Why? That is one of the tilings we would like to 
have dug out. 
* 
We invite a careful reading of the article by Mr. 
Johnson on page 352. We think he is right in say¬ 
ing that the tendency is for men to group themselves 
into two great general parties—one representing what 
men call the “conservative” element and the other 
radical or progressive thought. In England and in 
Europe these two large divisions are found, yet each 
is composed of different groups which in their turn 
stand for the rights of some particular interests. Up 
to this time it has been impossible in this country 
for the people to divide squarely into the two classes 
here mentioned. The issues which have divided great 
parties come as a heritage from the Civil War. Now, 
however, these are dying out and happily- the time 
is at hand when new and living issues must be de¬ 
bated. We still think our farmers need some sort 
of political organization in order to protect their in¬ 
terests, working inside of or in connection with the 
great political party which will heed them. 
* 
Nearly every day makes it clear how badly handi¬ 
capped many farmers are through their inability to 
borrow money which they need as working capital. 
In some of the agricultural States banks and money 
lenders will loan such money, but at rates which tend 
to make the small fanner a slave. As is usual in 
other lines of business, the man of large operations 
can obtain credit, hut the man with a small place, 
though in greater need, is denied. Complaints of this 
condition come to us constantly. The money needed 
in the home towns is being all sucked away to the 
large cities for investment far away from where it 
was earned. This is coming to he one of the hardest 
conditions which our smaller farmers must face, for 
all the changes forced upon them by modern condi¬ 
tions or the advice of our agricultural teachers make 
working capital a necessity. Foreign countries are 
handling this matter far better than we are. A corre¬ 
spondent in Germany thus describes the financial side 
of the small farmer: 
The farmers here are able to secure loans through their 
cooperative companies for four per cent at the present 
time, and these loans are for long time and cannot be 
foreclosed or the rate of interest raised on them so long 
as the annual payments are kept paid. In addition they 
pay a small amount, usually one-half to three-fourths per 
cent, that applies on the loan. 
This, we understand, means a combination of gov¬ 
ernment and private banking. In Australia and New 
Zealand the government loans direct to farmers with 
easy terms. The great financial schemes advocated in 
this country result in concentrating money in the 
cities. There is greater need of it out in the country 
where working capital is a necessity. 
I have been waiting to see what you would tell us in 
The R. N.-Y. about the President, Win. H. Taft, for turn¬ 
ing Morse loose to the public. I know I can always ex¬ 
pect a square deal from The R. N.-Y. joitn l. Baldwin. 
Long Island. 
You will get a square deal as we see it. Sometimes 
what is square to one may seem round to another. 
Last Fall, when President Taft refused to set C. W. 
Morse and Walsh free, we thought it a credit to the 
President’s head and reason, and said: 
Great pressure was brought upon the President in these 
cases, and he should be commended for standing firm. Both 
these men were guilty of plain stealing and betrayal of 
trust. They knew just what they were doing—their crime 
was deliberate and cold-blooded. They not only deserve 
their punishment, but their term in prison will have the 
best possible effect upon other robbers who practice “high 
■finance." A large fine is no punishment for these big 
rascals. They can easily pay it and soon squeeze the 
amount out of the people by some other criminal trick. 
The hard bed, plain food and labor of the man behind the 
bars has genuine terror for these rogues. 
We now think the doctors reported to the President 
that Morse is a dying man. We think the statement 
is true, and we do not believe Morse will live long. 
Letting him out of jail under such conditions was a 
credit to the President’s heart, but if Morse had been 
a poor man who had stolen $100 worth of goods he 
would probably die in jail. 
* 
I was glad to see you give all the publicity possible to 
the Allen-Uaynor correspondence. I wish seven million 
farmers and as many farm laborers in this country who 
are asking for parcels post could read this hit of arrog¬ 
ance from a bigot of an office holder; 14,000.000 voters 
in the United States are wanting this law, while only a 
few retail merchants, traveling men and a score or two 
of express companies constitute the main opposition. 
Kentucky. [dr.] a. l. butt. 
You know what we have stated time and again. The 
R. N.-Y. has no power except that which comes from 
its readers. When men like Allen come out and hit 
from the shoulders and stand tor it in print hundreds 
of others are nerved to do their share and thus the 
power grows. We have no fear of any public man—• 
large or small. Whenever one of such men fails in 
the duty he owes to the plain people who gave him his 
office we rejoice in the ability to let those same people 
point him out in the most forcible and enduring thing 
—honest printer’s ink. It does us good to hear from 
these strong and vital characters hut now and then 
some faint heart comes forward. He is glad to see 
us hit out and name the man hut “be careful not to 
say I told you so or give my name. I like to have 
you do it. but I must not be involved1” There have 
always been such men since the world began. Far 
hack centuries ago in Babylon, we have no doubt a 
group of true patriots might have met and passed 
the following: 
“Whereas, the public den is full of large and hungry 
lions, and 
“Whereas, a hungry lion under existing circumstances is 
a standing menace to ourselves and families, and 
“ Whereas, we therefore consider it wise legislation to 
keep these lions satisfied: 
“Therefore be it resolved that we nominate the Hon. 
Mr. Daniel as a committee of one to go down into the 
lion’s den and stay there until the aforementioned lions 
have given him the most careful consideration.” 
There is your faint heart of all ages. The lions 
are usually found to he stuffed, but these faint hearts 
do not dare go near enough to them to find it out. 
It is a popular thing to serve as a Daniel by proxy! 
• 
This is our last chance to call attention to par¬ 
cels post day, March 18. Let us repeat that on this 
day every fanner is to write letters to his Congress¬ 
man and Senator calling for parcels post legislation. 
For years we have shown the need of this privilege, 
and no one has been able successfully to contradict 
the arguments. Yet less than 10 per cent of our total 
population, through entirely selfish arguments, have 
been able to frighten Congressmen into “careful con¬ 
sideration.” Some of you may think we are making 
much of a small matter. Think for a moment and 
you will see that a victory for parcels post won by 
the people will he one of the largest things in our 
history. It will demonstrate as few things have ever 
done the power of the postage stamp, for practically 
none of the so-called “interests” are working for par¬ 
cels post. They know better, for they are keen enough 
to see that when the common people really know what 
they can do with the postage stamp stuck on the ballot, 
there will he an end to many a “graft” and injustice. 
Again, think of the far-reaching influence of a square 
victory over the public robbers who call themselves 
express companies. Writing those letters is a small 
thing in itself hut you cannot engage in a larger 
thing if you consider that millions of country people 
will be with you. On page 367 we give names of 
Eastern Congressmen. Address them all at Wash¬ 
ington, D. C. Do not be afraid of them, hut do your 
duty on March 18. 
It seems that W. F. Allen is not theJ only one who 
returns the “free seeds” to his public servant. Hon. 
Sereno E. Payne, of New York, got a set of these 
seeds back with unmistakable comments. Mr. Payne is 
a philosopher. He immediately replied that as he had 
other requests for seeds this would enable him to make 
one more citizen happy. If Congressman Payne could 
have known the facts his own name would have come 
back to him. Before these seeds went back to him 
they were carefully baked in a hot oven. Probably 
the man who got them raised a fine crop of baked 
beans. On parcels post Mr. Payne lias got away from 
“careful consideration” and is now talking words of 
wisdom about express companies and retail merchants. 
* 
Meantime you know wo have the greatest civilization 
and greatest country that is on the face of the earth, and 
receive the highest prices for our eggs, but do not state 
this out loud to the follow who buys them, because the 
high cost of living question absolutely goes up in smoke 
when you get the buyer and seller together. Some one 
has said that did we live the way our fathers or grand¬ 
fathers lived we could lay up more money than ever in 
the history of the world, but we do not want to live that 
way when it is a question of which to choose, whether to 
live or save, and the business of all of us is to be as help¬ 
ful to each other as possible. 
Well, what is this all about? Who is responsible 
for such flapdoodle? Some schoolboy practicing for 
an essay? Guess again. Some unctuous individual 
before a Sunday school? No! Some Congressman 
trying to get away from “careful consideration”? Ex¬ 
actly, and his name is Plon. Witt H. Wilder, of the 
Fourth District of Massachusetts. This district com¬ 
prises part of Worcester and part of Middlesex Coun¬ 
ties. Mr. Wilder had 130 plurality. One of his con¬ 
stituents asked Mr. Wilder where he stands on par¬ 
cels post and this is part of the answer! Mr. Wilder 
does not want to state things out loud, hut we want 
to state just as loud as is possible that for cheap talk 
and foolish guff this letter goes up head. An intelli¬ 
gent farmer wrote this man a plain, fair statement 
about parcels post, and in reply gets this sample of 
cheap and clumsy wit. There is certainly no head 
to such a letter, hut we thoroughly believe in the 
tail of it. The most helpful business that could be 
done with Mr. Wilder would be to help him off the 
nest! His letter indicates about as much real use¬ 
fulness as a lien sitting on three doorknobs and a 
china nest egg. He will never hatch anything with 
life in it at Washington. 
BREVITIES. 
What is clover rowen ? The second growth. 
No—we would not put grain into the calf’s milk. Put 
bran and oats in a little box and let the calf cat it dry. 
It looks to us as if our friend Manes the hen man with 
his high grade cows joins the army of “knockers" after all. 
It is true that the Department of Agriculture is out 
with circulars on skunk farming. Still, if you take our 
advice, you will let the business alone. 
We are glad to have the Soy bean discussion come up. 
This crop is sure to help our dairymen. Soy beans and 
corn in the silo are to the cow like a ham sandwich to man. 
One of the odd shrubs of the Southwest is the creosote 
bush. Covlllea glutinosa. It has rich bright green leaves, 
which taste so strongly of creosote that no animal can eat 
them. 
Says the Indianapolis News: “Don’t throw away those 
extremely expensive free seeds that your Congressman sends 
you. Feed them to the birds. They will be grateful for 
the treat after a hard Winter.” 
“Only a limited number of sheep are kept, owing to 
ravages of dogs,” says a Connecticut correspondent, writ¬ 
ing of farm conditions in his neighborhood. Any special 
reason why a useless dog should have more privileges than 
the useful sheep? 
A cow which gives green milk is reported from Ohio, and 
the newspapers say the owner turned almost as green as 
the milk on discovering that this product looked like Paris 
green and water. This abnormal milk is due to bacteria; 
pome occasional cases of blue milk have been reported to us. 
This is what the faker tries to do. He tells tales which 
are pure lies, tales which are adulterated lies, some which 
are half true and a few small ones which are true. He 
expects the few small true ones to work over the rest and 
make them all seeir. plausible—and he succeeds mighty well. 
Saccharin is now officially declared harmful, aud after 
April 1 food or drugs containing it will be regarded as 
adulterated. There has been a prolonged controversy over 
this drug, and we are glad that Dr. Wiley’s early attitude 
toward it is sustained. We have received a number of 
recipes, responding to some request for information, con¬ 
taining saccharin, one coming in but a day or two before 
the decision barring it, so it is evident that people inter¬ 
ested in its use have been quite active in misleading people 
as to its real character. 
It looks as if potatoes will be a gambler’s crop this year. 
The last crop was short and prices are in the sky—includ¬ 
ing seed. Of course if the last crop had been a good one 
prices would have been low, but growers seem to have 
made a rush into potatoes. Heavy plantings are being 
made in the South ; in fact all the potato sections are get¬ 
ting ready to plunge on the crop. Reports from south 
Jersey are that farmers “are planning to plow up their 
front yards aud plant potatoes.” It seems to be a sort 
of stampede into potato growing. With a good season the 
job will be overdone. It is a good plan to see-what ^rops 
farmers are leaving in order to plant potatoes—and give 
these crops “careful consideration.” 
