7SQ 
June 22, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINES8 FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established i8so 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 409 Pearl St., New York 
Herbert W. Comjnowood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dii.iot, Treasurer and General Manager. 
TYm. F. Dit-lon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Royi.k, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foroign countries in the Uniyersal Postal Union, 82.01. equal to 8s. Gd., or 
8 14 marks, or 10J^ francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates GO cents per agate line—7 words. Discount for time orders. 
References required for advertisers unknown to us j and 
cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
tVe 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 guarant ee to adjust trifling differences 
between subscribers and honest, responsible advertisers. Neither will we lie 
responsible foV the debts of honest liankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must lie sent, to ns within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and yon must have mentioned The Rural Nf.w-Torker 
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. 
* 
There is and ran he no doubt about my own position in 
the matter. I am heartily and entirety in favor of a par¬ 
rels post and J think it ought to be established in this 
country along the same lines in which it has been made 
so useful and indispensable in other countries. 
WOODROW WILSON. 
The above is taken from a letter written by Gov. 
Wilson on June 9. This is the most clear-cut and 
definite statement about parcels post which any of 
the “presidential possibilities” have made. With Wood- 
row Wilson in the White House, the parcels post 
question would he like a coal of live fire! 
* 
As good a sign as you can hatch for character is 
where the patch upon the trousers of a man is worn 
—just match this if you can. For when the patch is 
worn behind, you most assuredly will find the owner 
just held down a chair and rested long and did not 
care to fight the battle and he free—but when the 
patch is on the knee, then you may know the owner 
went down in the dirt and did his stent and got his 
fingers on the job and kept them there—fate cannot 
rob the knee patch man, hut it will snathch the time 
to kick the other patch. 
* 
Sorry to have to say it, but we still get a few letters 
signed “subscriber,” “one who knows,” or similar 
names. Some of these letters attack people or what 
others have said or ask “leading” questions. Our rule 
is to pay no attention to such anonymous letters. Long 
experience has taught that when a man will not stand 
out for what he says, he is either afraid to do so, 
ashamed of his words, or is trying to pull some hid¬ 
den string. There may he good grounds in some 
cases for withholding the name, hut we must have it 
as evidence of good faith. There are only a few of 
such letters, hut we want the writers' to understand 
that the waste basket yawns for them! 
* 
The farmers of Dundas Co., Ont., did a beautiful 
thing in erecting a monument to stand in place of 
the original McIntosh Red apple tree. The old tree 
stood for a century and more, and from it buds and 
scions have gone all over the world, wherever apples 
are grown. This wood has proved true, and the old 
tree has given pleasure and profit in unmeasured 
quantity. It is a beautiful thing for men to remember 
the gifts to mankind which come through trees and 
plants. John McIntosh, who found this old tree, saved 
it and saw that the world shared what it offered, did 
far more for humanity than many a “captain of in¬ 
dustry” whose name is applauded. 
* 
Last year The R. N.-Y. bad much to say about the 
Guernsey cow Missy and her record. What has been done 
to straighten it out? s. b. k. 
There have been several questions like the above. 
Missy of the Glen is owned by Mr. H. A. C. Taylor. 
It was claimed that she gave in one year 14,591 pounds 
of milk, or 954.76 pounds of butter fat. Some of 
this milk was claimed to contain nearly nine per cent, 
of fat. These tests seemed impossible and the officers 
of the Guernsey Cattle Club refused to accept it with¬ 
out investigation. Mr. Taylor secured an injunction 
restraining the Club from publishing their list of high 
cow records unless they included tests of two of his 
cows. We claimed that these cows must prove their 
performance by “coming hack” and giving some more 
of that liquid butter! At its meeting in May, 1911 
the Club demanded an apology from Mr. Taylor. 
After some correspondence Mr. Taylor removed the 
injunction. The Executive Committee of the Club 
asked Mr. Taylor to withdraw the records. As he 
THE RURAh NEW-YORKER 
refused to do so the committee threw them out and 
the Club confirmed this action by vote. New tests 
at Mr. Taylor’s farm appeared to show that as 
claimed, these extraordinary records could not have 
been accurate. The cows could not “come hack.” 
This action is right. The Guernsey Cattle Club can¬ 
not afford to have the least taint of suspicion ap¬ 
pear upon its records. The entire business of breeding 
and selling purebred cattle is based upon faith in the 
integrity of the individual breeder and the organiza¬ 
tion which controls the records. Whenever a poli¬ 
tician or a millionaire attempts to work off papers 
that do not fit the cow or her performance he should 
be handled even more severely than a poor man. 
During the discussion of this matter last year we 
were asked if we really know who Mr. Taylor is. 
We do. He is a prominent railroad man. probably 
worth more millions than Missy had of fat units in her 
milk. What of it? except that this is all the more 
reason why the Guernsey Cattle Club should fight for 
the integrity of the Guernsey cow. 
* 
The Wells Fargo Express Co. controls a large 
share of the express business on the Northwest coast. 
As is the rule elsewhere, the railroads have been tak¬ 
ing about half the express tolls for carrying the goods. 
Under this system the express companies do not need 
to own cars or railroad equipment. Some of the rail¬ 
roads, not satisfied with half, arc looking for all. They 
have obtained permission from the State of Wash¬ 
ington to carry milk and cream at express rates. Thus 
they have started direct competition with the express 
companies, the first time on record that this has been 
done in the West. In England and Germany there is 
no such thing as an express company on the Ameri¬ 
can plan. The railroads carry on such service as a 
fast freight. 
* 
The Next Governor of New York. 
Our readers took a lively interest in selecting a 
Presidential candidate. They must not let the fierce 
conflict over national candidates take all their atten¬ 
tion from local issues. The campaign this year will 
depend largely upon the country vote, and all efforts 
will be made to satisfy farmers. We shall be able 
to put dependable men at Albany if we start at it 
now. As a first step tell us who you want for Gov¬ 
ernor of New York with the reasons—just as you did 
in the presidential canvass. 
* 
The situation at Chicago should convince any honest 
man who has doubted the wisdom of primary elec¬ 
tions. While the strongest Republican States have 
elected delegates by direct primaries the party is still 
controlled by the wire pullers and manipulators—and 
does not represent the plain people. It does no good 
to get hot or excited over this situation. Keep cool, for 
the true test of your patriotism is yet to come. On the 
whole, we are glad that the politicians have had their 
way, for now the dullest can understand why primary 
elections are needed. You notice these politicians are 
not playing baseball with the delegates from„Ncw Jer¬ 
sey ! The people elected those delegates directly for 
a definite purpose, and they will carry out that pur¬ 
pose or meet political death. You remember how we 
tried to arouse the farmers of New York when Gov. 
/Hughes was fightings for his primary election hill? 
Can you not now see what would have happened had 
that hill become a law? There would be at Chicago 
strong men with a clear-cut and definite order to do 
a certain thing. As it is, New York might as well 
he represented by a handful of tin soldiers out of a 
child’s box, for her delegates will simply play for po¬ 
litical advantage. It is a good thing if our people can 
only understand what it means. The work of the last 
10 days proves that the Republican party is at heart 
a close organization of politicians and representatives 
of “big business.” To put a strong and honest re¬ 
former at the head of the party seems like sending a 
big and faithful dog out to fight—with a tin can tied 
to his tail. The time is ripe for a clean, new party, 
for there is now little indication that either of the old 
parties can get out of the grasp of the wire pullers 
and privileged class. 
* 
Several years ago I called on a eonimission dealer in 
produce on the principal wholesale market here, a man 
whom I knew and who knew that I was in the newspaper 
and trade paper correspondence business, and I asked him 
if I could not pick up a produce paper to add to my list. 
He promptly replied in the negative. “We hold all those 
papers,” he said, “for we want their quotations as we 
want them.” J. c. 
That is from a well-known newspaper man, and it 
illustrates the difficulty in obtaining accurate market 
reports. The figures given in most of the papers are 
prepared largely by dealers and are not fair state¬ 
ments of what produce actually sells for. Dealers 
may use those figures in buying, but they sell for what 
they can get. The printed figures are not based upon 
actual supply and demand, and yet we know of papers 
that make a great parade about their market reports 
when their figures are taken from the daily papers— 
a week old by the time they reach the reader. The 
modern farmer, or his exchange, with the telephone, 
can obtain such quotations long before the weekly 
paper arrives. We have found the records of auction 
sales or actual sales by farmers far more reliable 
in making a standard of values. We want all such 
figures that we can possibly obtain, for the wider the 
range the fairer the average. Why let the dealers 
do all the price fixing for us? 
* 
We recently expressed the opinion that extrava¬ 
gant claims have been made in advertising the Philo 
system of poultry keeping. Now we are asked to 
specify. This gives us a fair chance to discuss a class 
of advertising which we consider extravagant and 
harmful. Here is an extract from one of Philo’s 
advertisements in a leading poultry paper: 
For instance, it is absolutely news to them that a fam¬ 
ily of six can make a good living from six hens; they 
do not know that 3 000 eggs, or 3 00 pounds of broilers, can 
be produced per annum in a six-foot square corner of a 
garden, or on the flat roof of a tenement house. Yet these 
statements are justified by what has been and is now be¬ 
ing accomplished by the wonderful Philo System. 
We call that extravagant, misleading and harmful. 
It is addressed to a class of people who know little or 
nothing about poultry. They may have a little money 
saved after a hard struggle with life and in their 
desperation this idea of a living from six hens ap¬ 
peals to them. Any man who has ever really tried 
to make a living out of hens will tell them that such 
a proposition is to one in their situation extravagant 
nonsense. Yet they see the statement in a supposedly 
reputable paper and they rise to it. Such advertising 
is misleading because it does not really make a definite 
statement. The reader will accept it almost as a 
guarantee that he can do these wonderful things. 
Perhaps that is what the advertiser intended, yet, 
when cornered he can easily say that he never did 
make any such statement—he was just “talking.” 
You cannot pin him down to any legal responsibility 
that six hens will provide a living. This sort of thing 
is harmful because it raises false hopes in the minds 
of people who cannot afford to lose their money. It 
may be good bait for suckers but it does not provide 
meat and bread- for the hungry. Many of the maga¬ 
zines or papers which print this advertising do not 
know any better. They get their money and no one 
comes forward with proof that the Philo system is 
a fraud or a fake. So they let these extravagant 
statements go. The poultry and farm papers know 
better. They well know the limitations of the Philo 
system and of course they know that if the above 
statement were literally true they would leave their 
poorly paid job and go to keeping about 500 hens and 
make a fortune! There can be no defense for the 
farm or poultry paper for printing such advertising. 
It does not make a gold brick any more valuable or 
respectable to dress it up in ginseng root, in “stocks” 
or in feathers. A plain advertisement of the “Philo 
system” would be fair but who in this day would pay 
any attention to it? It has been tried and watched 
by the poultry teachers at our colleges. Not one of 
them could be found to endorse the insinuation that 
six hens will provide a living for a family who never 
kept poultry! Evidently the “system” would soon 
pass out of public notice unless public interest were 
stimulated by red hot imaginings! Such advertise¬ 
ments ought to he edited before they are printed and 
it is our belief that the reading public will soon 
force the farm papers to cut off extravagance in the 
advertising columns.' 
BREVITIES. 
The price of quinine is going up. 
Tiie Italians are growing hops and expect to develop 
the industry. 
When they tell us a farmer is living “chiefly on houn’ 
dog” they mean rabbits. 
The rosy apple aphis is again at work in New York 
apple orchards. It did great damage in 1909. 
Kansas is to have “bad egg” schools. Instructors go 
about showing farmers and dealers how to candle eggs. 
The first thing to remember about fish, meat or bone 
as fertilizer is that they contain no potash. Wood ashes 
contain no nitrogen. 
An English manufacturer will try to introduce the 
farthing (one-half cent value) into circulation among his 
workmen. His object is to save them the “change.” 
Buttermilk is such an established Summer beverage in 
New York that Health Commissioner Lederle thinks the 
time will come when it will be necessary to require a cer¬ 
tain legal amount of solids in buttermilk sold here. The 
quality is generally considered good, though often sugges¬ 
tive of churned sour milk, rather than the product familiar 
to rural dwellers. 
