684 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May 4, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home# 
Established. i8S0 
Published wctkly by the Rural Publishing Company, 409 Pearl St., New York 
Herbert W. Collixgwood, President and Editor. 
.Torn. J. Dillok, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Hoyle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. $2.04. equal to 8s. Cd.. or 
8)4 marks, or 10 JX francs. Remit in money order, "xpress 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter, 
Advertising rates 80 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 paner is backed by a respon- 
Bible pci-son. 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 bo 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to ns within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and yon must have mentioned Tue 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 10 cents for strictly introductory pur¬ 
poses. We depend on our old friends to make this 
known to neighbors and friends. 
* 
Already predictions are made for a short hay crop. 
The old hay is pretty well cleaned out and another 
short crop will make hay worth more than grain. A 
farmer has two remedies—one-season fodder crops 
and feeding the old meadows. We have found noth¬ 
ing better than oats and peas for an early crop. 
This makes a fodder nearly equal to clover hay. 
Japanese millet for the cattle and fodder corn for 
all stock will be about as satisfactory as any other 
combination of forage crops. Put them in well and 
feed them. A good dressing of soluble plant food— 
mostly nitrogen—right now on the old meadows, may 
mean half a ton or more extra of hay. It is time 
to do it if it is to be done at all. 
* 
Hardly a week passes that we do not hear from 
some dairyman who has about decided to work away 
from his cows and try hens. There is no use denying 
the fact that this change is quietly going on. Many 
of these dairymen simply cannot make milk at a 
profit with present prices and they are discouraged 
by the constant annoyance and demands from inspec¬ 
tors. The poultry business seems to offer a fairer 
chance for a man’s labor and it will be tried. A 
serious condition will soon face the city milk con¬ 
sumer. More and yet more has been demanded from 
the farmers and less given them in return. They can¬ 
not and therefore will not do the impossible, and so 
many a dairy farm will be changed to poultry. 
* 
A principle similar to the Hebrew Free Loan As¬ 
sociation mentioned on page 569 is in vogue among 
the Chinese, as described by Prof. King in “Farmers 
of Forty Centuries.” A man who finds himself in 
great financial stress prepares a feast at small ex¬ 
pense and invites a certain number of friends. Each 
guest brings a certain sum as a present; the recipient 
keeps a careful record of the contributions, and in 
due time repays them. Another plan is to form a 
club to raise money, each person contributing a stated 
amount to be paid to the borrower, the members then 
drawing lots to specify the order of repayment. The 
borrower is under obligation to repay the installments 
as agreed upon, often paying a small rate of interest. 
Aside from these friendly arrangements interest is 
very high in China, often 30 per cent., and such 
debts may descend from father to son, as they do 
not outlaw. The strong sense of commercial honor 
among the Chinese makes them scrupulous in meet¬ 
ing the obligations of these friendly loans. 
* 
In times past we have had our say about Congress¬ 
man E. W. Higgins, of Connecticut, and his stand 
on parcels post. Now we wish to commend him. The 
Interstate Grocer of St. Louis is opposed to parcels 
post. It wrote Mr. Higgins and demanded a yes or 
no answer “if you have the courage of your convic¬ 
tions.” This bluffing grocer expects to frighten Con¬ 
gressmen back into “careful consideration”—if they 
ever got out of it. Mr. Higgins meets the bluff with 
a baseball bat and makes a home run: 
I have been and now and will contimie to be an advo¬ 
cate of it and that I will vote and do all that I can for 
adequate legislation on this subject at this session of 
Congress. This is no recent conversion. I have publicly 
and privately stated my position, and while your letter 
may be quite properly regarded as offensive in tone and 
suggestion, I will ignore your presumptions and insinua¬ 
tions ,and place your mind at rest as to my position on 
this legislation, which you can herald about as much as 
to you seems necessary to serve your purposes. 
Good for Congressman Higgins. Now let careful 
considerationers come up to the front in like manner. 
We know a young man who made a fine record in 
Greek at his college. Now he will go to Athens, study 
at a Greek college, become familiar with the histori¬ 
cal records, and then come back to teach the language. 
The idea is that a teacher of Greek should study right 
at the heart of Greek history and live amid the scenes 
of ancient glory. The idea is sound, and why not 
the same idea in teaching agriculture? A young man 
should not step right out of the laboratory into the 
class room without “going back to Athens.” In this 
case “Athens” means a successful and practical farm, 
where the teacher may prove himself capable of doing 
.real farming. If such preparation is essential for 
teaching a dead language, why not also for a living 
science? 
* 
There is a further discussion of Presidential choice 
on page 585. We give all factions a fair chance to talk. 
The letters are representative and genuine. The bit¬ 
ter feeling over the Republican choice is very evident. 
Without question a large proportion of the country 
Republicans want Mr. Roosevelt. Some of them 
frankly believe he is the “greatest living American,” 
while others select him because they feel that he 
stands for progressive ideas. Many of those Roose¬ 
velt men say openly that they never will vote for 
President Taft. On the other hand, the more earnest 
Taft men declare that under no circumstances will 
they vote for Roosevelt. We simply give the cold 
facts as they come to us from country people, and 
they may be accepted as a fair expression of the way 
our farmers stand. To what extent will this bitter¬ 
ness endure? Frankly, we cannot yet tell. Some of 
us can remember the fierce conflict when Grant failed 
to obtain a third nomination. At that time thousands 
declared that they would not vote for another candi¬ 
date. Yet they finally rallied and elected Garfield. 
And later New York State declared for Senator Hill, 
yet the friends of Cleveland finally forced his nom¬ 
ination and elected him. Those differences were 
largely personal. Now men are dividing over princi¬ 
ples which they consider fundamental, and we are 
therefore entering upon the most important and com¬ 
plicated political battle this nation has yet seen. We 
shall see that the farmer’s side of it is presented 
fairly. 
* 
Wiiat hoots it if the farmer raises the most magnificent 
crop of potatoes, or onions, or cabbage, or beans, etc., 
ever recorded before in our history if when he goes to 
sell these products the price he receives is not one-half 
of what the ultimate consumer in the end pays for them? 
The ‘‘high cost of selling” is certainly one of the great¬ 
est problems of the day, and we cannot solve it by leaving 
px-esent conditions alone and devoting all of our energies 
in this committee, and in the Department of Agriculture 
to directing that great department to improve the methods 
of cultivation and production of products, when the fact 
stares us in the face that even when they are produced 
the farmer finds them blocked from a fair market. 
This new man at the side of one profitable blade 
of grass is Congressman Wickliffe, of Louisiana. 
There is a bill before Congress to appropriate $60,000 
for a Bureau of Markets. It is to be controlled by 
the Department of Agriculture, and will investigate 
the cost of food and the division of the consumer’s 
dollar. Mr. Wickliffe made a strong speech favoring 
this bill at a hearing. We cannot recall anything in 
the development of agricultural thought quite like the 
growth of this demand for a fairer share of the con¬ 
sumer’s dollar! Three years ago The R. R.-Y. stood 
pretty much alone in its talk about 35-cent dollars 
and their effect upon the business of the country. 
Now this same thing is getting to be the leading idea 
at all farmers’ meetings. It comes none too soon, and 
cannot be killed off. So long as the farmer gets 35 
cents and the handlers 65 cents, money and power 
will continue to run down the hills and through the 
valleys to the great cities. This movement under the 
present division of the consumer’s dollar is as natural 
as the flow of water down the hills and through the 
streams to the ocean. We now understand how the 
salvation of our soil is to be worked out by holding 
the water back in ponds and canals where it may 
be saved for irrigating the thirsty soil. 
A larger share of this runaway consumer’s dollar 
must be held back to the farm. If on the average 
15 cents more of that dollar can be saved for the 
farmer it is easy to see what would happen. Busi¬ 
ness, respect, power, will chase that 15 cents back 
to the hills and come hat in hand asking favors. Let 
us keep up the fight for one blade of grass fairly paid 
for before we try to grow two blades in order to 
make the handlers a present of the extra .blade. 
“What boots iff” —asks Congressman Wickliffe! The 
farmer’s foot. He has been told to use his head and 
the advice is good, for his head tells him to use his 
boot and kick the football right over the useless 
middleman’s goal. 
No doubt before Summer is over many peach and 
some young apple trees will show considerable injury. 
Leaves will die and fall and the wood will be found 
killed back. You can expect this, but you may not 
see the true reason for it. The fearful cold of the 
past Winter is responsible. The damage from freez¬ 
ing is not confined to fruit buds, for the wood will 
be found destroyed. Some fruit growers will, be 
likely to blame spray material for the loss. The oils 
or lime-sulphur will be unjustly blamed. Do not 
make this error. The cold Winter and not the spray¬ 
ing is responsible. 
* 
We begin 'to be told on page 589 why so many 
Southern Congressmen always line up in favor of 
oleo. When you think of the poverty-stricken charac¬ 
ter of much land in the South you would irnagine 
these Southern men would favor any honest thing 
which promised to help restore this land. Wherever 
dairying has been fairly started at the South, with 
Alfalfa, clover and cow peas, the soil has improved 
and all crops have increased. You cannot, to save 
your life, find any more genuinely prosperous South¬ 
ern farm communities than those sections where dairy¬ 
ing has been developed. Every Southern Congress¬ 
man should be out by the bars calling “Come Boss! 
Come Boss!” to the good old cow. Instead of doing 
so they are hand in hand with oleo—throwing stones 
at the cow! 
* 
Yes, gentlemen, we know what certain Congress¬ 
men are saying about us for what we do in the parcels 
post campaign. We see some of their letters. They 
say we are “yellow,” unfair and purchased. Other 
gentle names suggested are “liar,” vulture and “trucu¬ 
lent person.” Now we have been at this business 
for some years and do not scare as easily as we did 
20 years ago. We also know more about our “public 
servants” than we used to. For instance, we can 
recognize the symptoms which indicate when some 
lazy politician is ready to get off the “careful con¬ 
sideration” perch and get ready to scratch for his 
owner. In these pleasant things which are aimed at 
The R. N.-Y. we recognize a sure sign of getting 
down to business. Therefore the “truculent person” 
begins to think he has really started some truck. 
* 
Not long ago we met a city man who was hesitating 
about investing his money in a “unit orchard.” The 
promoters had him nearly going, yet the man’s natural 
business caution led him to hesitate. Here was his 
story: “I have perhaps 10 or 12 years work in me 
at my profession. It looks good to me to think 
that I can invest my money in this orchard so that 
it will grow while I work and support me later.” We 
asked this man if he had no relatives in the country 
on farms. It came out that he had—young men who 
had some good apple land but who lacked capital 
with which to develop it. Now why does not this 
man combine with these farmers and develop an 
orchard of their own? His capital is needed on 
that farm, these young men will remain and develop 
a good business if they have the chance, and do more 
with the money than promoters can. Why are there 
not other city men who could furnish capital to de¬ 
velop land now held in the family? That will beat 
a unit orchard. 
BREVITIES. 
Read the exhaustive article on tannery refuse as a 
fertilizer. We wish to give equally full facts about other 
waste products. 
The name of Iikutsk. Russia, will not impress many of 
us, yet in that district be who is caught usiug false scales 
is deprived forever of the right to trade. 
We are threatened with still another breakfast food. 
This time it is taro, Colocasia antiquorum, from the 
Pacific islands, where it is eaten largely by the natives. 
Now we are told of an English oil engine which plowed 
150 acres of land' in 100 hours, then thrashed 800 bushels 
of wheat, pumped a pond full of water, and hauled sup¬ 
plies over the road! 
Cleveland, O., opened a municipal fish market April 13, 
this being an effort to force the local “fish trust” to lower 
prices. More than 1500 pounds of fish were sold direct 
to the consumei-, in small lots, at five cents a pound, the 
“trust” price being 12 and 15 cents. 
The U. S. Supreme Court has decided that our Govern¬ 
ment has the right to seize patents under the right of 
“eminent domain.” The owner of such a seized patent 
can obtain compensation through the law. This will open 
up some nice questions in the future when a patent up¬ 
holds a bad monopoly! 
“In trying to get up a petition to send to our Congress¬ 
man it is surprising how little interest some men take in 
the postal expi’css movement. I ran up against one man 
who would not sign, saying his father had stock in one 
of the express companies, and was receiving 25 per cent on 
his money. Right there is a reason why we should have 
parcels cxpi'ess,” says S. K. You will have a job to 
find any argument against parcels post which does not 
trace back to the express company’s pocketbook. 
