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THE RURAb NEW-YORKER 
June 15, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE (RVamKSS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Jnnrnal 'for <5oimtry awl SuburtMin Homes 
Estnhi /steert tsso 
Published weekly by the Rural Puhli*hmc Company, 409 Pearl St., New York 
'Hkrbbt.t W. OOTAurew<MM>, President and Editor, 
aoiry .T. I iii.lok, Treasure!- *nd Ueneral Manager. 
t\’m. F. Dieeok, Secretary. Mas. E. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal -Postal Union. $2.64. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
P/ t marks, or 10J£ francs. Remit in money order, express 
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Entered at’New York Post OfTlce as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates 66 cents per agate line—7 words. TMtcount for time orders. 
References required for advertisers unknown to us ; ami 
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“A SQUARE PEAL” 
IVe believe that every advertisement in this paper is lxtcked 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 publielv exposed. We protect sub¬ 
scribers against rogues.'but tee-do not. guarantor- to adjust trifling differences 
between subscribers and honest, responsible advertisers. Neither will we he 
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 
tire transaction, and you must have mentioned The Rubai, Nkw-Yorkhr 
when writing the advertiser. 
TEN WEEKS FOR 10 CENTS. 
Tn 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. 
** 
You see by the announcement on next page that we 
want a strong story of farm life. We will pay $500 for 
a suitable manuscript. We want a story good enough 
and true enough to live. Among our readers there 
can surely be found some one who is capable of put¬ 
ting some of the vital things that go with plain coun¬ 
try living on paper, so that the words will burn into 
mind and heart. That is what we want. Let us hear 
from the authors. 
* 
Those of us who live on the hills have our troubles 
in dry seasons. It seems from Van Deman's article 
that the valley farmers may get too much water. You 
cannot have rich soil unless you go to a place where 
water once stood still and piled up what it had car¬ 
ried away from the hills. And the water is liable to 
come again. We all have our land troubles, from 
the fanner who has to drain the water away to him 
who must irrigate. Let us hunt for the crops best 
suited to our soil. 
* 
“The man who does not love a cow is but a poor 
stick anyhow.” "The man who does not love a hen 
should not be ranked with gentlemen.” “The fellow 
who neglects the sheep might better spend his hours 
asleep.” “Old Satan executes a jig on those who 
execrate the pig.” “Let those who preach against 
the cur be sent to Klondike without fur.” So run 
the word of those who jog through life with cow, 
hen, sheep or hog. For man with all his noise and 
stir still takes much of his character, with traits 
that mark him to the end from his beloved, four- 
footed friend. 
* 
I know in a general way liow the work is done, hut 
have never really done it. and one who has not done the 
thing himself is pretty sure to have ear-marks of ignorance 
hanging out. 
That is good advice to the “know-it-all” man. We 
know people who think it is like showing the badge 
of shame to admit that they do not know everything. 
So they answer everything that comes, without a wink, 
save the face of their own conceit, and leave “ear¬ 
marks of ignorance Ranging out.” Even with the 
smallest of Marred type we have never been able to 
hide a bluff or a misstatement from the sharp eyes 
who go over The R. N.-Y. 
It is no use to prophesy about the political situation, 
but to-day 1 would wager the hole of a good-sized dough¬ 
nut that Roosevelt will be nominated at Chicago and 
Bryan at Baltimore. I will also wager the hole of a 
smaller doughnut that if neither Roosevelt nor Bryan are 
nominated at their respective conventions, then there will 
be a third party headed by Roosevelt and perhaps seconded 
by Bryan. Stranger things have happened in polities. 
b . v. c. 
We would not encourage betting even with such an 
intangible thing as the hole in a doughnut. You 
might, however, put up a dollar against this hole that 
while suck a ticket might not “sweep the country" it 
would raise a fearful dust. 
* 
The value of cooperation to the fanner cannot be 
over-estimated. Its value to him is far greater than 
the board of trade to the merchant and the banker in 
the towns, or the chamber of commerce to the city 
man, and in fact the farmers’ exchange or association 
is the farmers’ hoard of trade and chamber of com¬ 
merce combined. Without his exchange the farmer 
is at sea as to market .conditions, and is at the mercy 
of the buyer or the commission man. The latter quotes 
him the highest market price to induce him to con¬ 
sign his product, and when returns are made he finds 
his car arrived on a down market. The dealer or the 
man who buys at a price before the car leaves the 
loading station quotes the lowest market price in or¬ 
der to buy on a sure margin. The farmers' exchange 
remedies these evils by having a man at the market 
centers who every morning reports market conditions 
to the manager and through the manager to the stock¬ 
holder. thereby keeping him in touch, and in a posi¬ 
tion to exercise his judgment as to the time to sell 
or to hold. In this way the farmer or producer and 
the buyer is on the same line, and if the farmer loses 
in the transaction it is not because of lack of infor¬ 
mation. but because of faulty judgment. The value 
received from this one source alone is many times 
greater than the price lie paid for the stock he owns. 
In the purchase of fertilizer the farmer profits largely 
through cooperation. Tie not only profits in a large 
reduction of the price he has paid in the past, but the 
committee whom he and his associates appointed to 
buy the fertilizer stands between him and possible 
frauds, and when lie carts the goods from the cars 
and drills it into his soil he has the assurance that 
every pound of it is available as a plant food. 
* 
From now on we may expect to see the newspapers 
printing items about organizations for providing farm 
loans. It has now been made clear that our farmers 
are handicapped for lack of working capital. The 
Canadian and European farmers have a great ad¬ 
vantage in the fact that they can obtain loans on easy 
terms, either directly from the government or through 
one of their credit associations. For years the thought 
of making land or its products the security for loan¬ 
ing public funds would drive most financial experts 
into a fit. Yet other nations have gone ahead de¬ 
veloping such a loaning system, direct or indirect, and 
they have prospered. It is as sure as fate that ulti¬ 
mately some such system must be adopted here. Both 
the “sane” and the insane financial powers see this— 
that is why we shall see so much in the papers about 
it. The bankers and the money lenders realize that 
within a short time some new system of loaning 
money on farm securities will be worked out. They 
intend to do the working if it is possible. If we let 
them alone they will control such loans as they do 
others, and the benefits will work back into their 
hands. Then the fakes and snides who live on other 
people’s money want a hand in the new deal. “'Co¬ 
operation” will be their war cry. They will organize 
great stock companies—the plain people to furnish 
the money and these promoters to handle it. Now 
the thing for our farmers to do is to keep in the 
middle of the road, and work out their own financial 
problems through cooperation. By getting together 
and uniting their business and their property for 
business purposes they will have the basis for desired 
loans. The Government may supply the machinery 
and the protection, but in order to make any such 
system worth while the farmers themselves must con¬ 
trol it. This they can do by providing solid security 
as basis for the loans. They have the property now, 
but it is scattered and thus not acceptable for large 
enterprises. Combine it in a business cooperation 
and it will form the best security in the world. This 
getting together for business purposes is the way out 
for the farmers. 
In trying to gather and report a fair statement of 
the wishes of country people regarding presidential 
candidates we have had some adventures. The So¬ 
cialists and Prohibitionists complain because their plat¬ 
forms or principles have not been discussed. They 
forget that thus far we have only tried to discuss 
candidates. So far as we know there is no particular 
contest as to who shall be nominated by these parties. 
The most important and exciting contest has been that 
between President Taft and Mr. Roosevelt—therefore 
we have given most attention to it. After the nom¬ 
inations are made and we know just what the candi¬ 
dates stand for we will try to discuss principles. We 
regard it as settled that the majority of country Re¬ 
publicans desire Mr. Roosevelt’s nomination. At pres¬ 
ent it seems likely that they will have a chance to vote 
for him, whether the party regularly nominates him 
or not. We miglit as well, all of us, recognize the 
fact that we are to have, this year, the most remark¬ 
able political campaign this country has ever seen. 
We have not been quite sure that our farmers are 
entirely ready for the issues which will be thrust upon 
them. Instead of getting excited we advise keeping 
as cool as a cake of ice, and using the clearest judg¬ 
ment in making a political decision. The people are 
determined to he free from boss rule or boss advice. 
The job before us cannot he done with noise and hur¬ 
rah. but will he a desperate battle of the strong. 
Keep cool, and we will make our leaders realize that 
they are to lead where we desire them to go. 
The Australians have made public poultry contests 
a great feature o»f agricultural education. Such tests 
are made year after year, and the figures show a 
steady increase in the egg records. One prize-winning 
pen of six hens laid 1513 eggs in one year. The Aus¬ 
tralians believe that superior egg-laying qualities are 
transmitted from a hen to her daughters much as a 
superior cow passes her productive powers on. Thus 
the prize-winning pens of birds are used as breeders. 
In this country the general belief seems to he that 
these superior laying qualities are transmitted through 
the males and not usually through the pullets. An¬ 
other thing the Australians are troubled about is 
broodiness in Leghorns. They claim that A1 iss Leg- 
•horn should be an egg machine and never dream of 
maternity—leaving that to ‘the incubator! The ten¬ 
dency of the Leghorn to brood is called “mischief” 
and is thought to be growing in the breed. Breeders 
are advised to reject these broody Leghorns as breed¬ 
ing stock. The fact is, these public contests are doing 
great things for Australian poultry culture. They 
show just what hens can do and how they act while 
doing. We need more of them in this country. 
* 
HE had samples of Gunson stuff to-day, but we -would 
not buy corn $6 per bushel, oats $2.70 and potatoes $2.50 
for 15 pounds. Some are blight-proof and also bug-proof, 
as the tops he said were so bitter that the bugs would 
not touch them, heavy yielding, up to 1000 bushels to the 
acre of potatoes. This man is here for a week or two, and 
claims getting big orders. We told him we would see 
what the other fellows’ stuff looked after it grew on their 
land. He went off mad. T. b. 
Montpelier, Yt. 
This is the tale of a seed seller who claims to rep¬ 
resent Gunson & Co. We* understand he claims there 
are two Gunsons—one very good and the other very 
bad. This man of course represents the good Gunson. 
When a potato top is- so bitter that the bugs will not 
bite it the time has come for the farmers to refuse to 
bite also. They call Vermont the “Green” or “Bash¬ 
ful State,” but there is nothing green about this 
farmer. He is ripe and knows what he is doing. 
■“He went off mad !'’ Of course he did. What a ter¬ 
rible insult it was not to take his word for this blight- 
proof story* and hand him the money at once. The 
idea of really waiting to see how these crops would 
perforin on ordinary soil! Why not pay for what 
they will promise in the fertile soil of this agent’s 
imagination ? If there were more men like this Ver¬ 
mont farmer some of these seed agents would saw 
wood. 
* 
There is likely to he some discussion of the New 
York farm institutes. How do they compare with 
meetings of five or 10 years ago? Are they* gaining 
or losing in value? The meetings are different in 
character. They are now more than ever before like 
schools and not places for entertainment. The “funny 
story” man has had his day; so has the “orator,” and 
the modern institute is a serious and sober attempt to 
teach practical farmers something about their busi¬ 
ness. This very change has made possible the criti¬ 
cism that attendance is falling off. People do not 
crowd the night meetings as they once did, expecting 
a popular entertainment. The idlers and amusement 
seel-cers do not come as they once did. Thus, while 
possibly smaller than formerly, the meetings are really 
stronger, with more solid character and working out 
as never before the real function of a travelling farm 
school. We think this is a fair statement, yet the 
meetings may well be improved. They should get 
away from the larger towns and go right out among 
the farmers—into new places. They should also be¬ 
gin to take lip more of the commercial or business 
side of farming and make a strong feature of co¬ 
operative work. These institutes should be an ideal 
place for teaching the theory of one blade of grass 
well paid for. 
BREVITIES. 
Nature is likely to take care of the two blades of grass 
theory this year! 
Will the farmer's wife add to her hoarding by trying 
her hand at Summer boarding? 
The hog is a master at cleaning the white grubs out of 
old sod. We have known Mr. Pig to dig three feet -deep 
■after the grubs. 
Yes, we want all the facts we can get about results with 
hojne canning outfits. I.et ns hear from people who have 
really filled and sold the cans. 
Weeds are a tax iu the garden, but in the orchard they 
may not prove so. As a “cover crop” after cultivation 
they do their duty. When cut before they seed they make 
a good mulch. 
Now comes again the old question as to whether the 
barn doors and windows should be open or shut when the 
new hay goes iu. Shut! Have ventilation at the top for 
the steam to escape, aud then let the hay “sweat.” With 
the doors open, and coaler air coming iu the vapor from 
the hay cools aud forms water on the top of the mow. 
