83-4 
THE RURAb NEW-YORKER 
August 3, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TUE BV8IXES8 FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homos 
Established iSSO 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 499 Pearl St.,New York 
TIeheebt W. Coimngwood, President and Editor. 
John - J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon. Secretary. Mbs. K. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. $2.04, equal to 8s. Gd., or 
V/i marks, or 10)4 francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or hank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates 60 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 paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. But to make doubly sure we will make gooa any loss to paid 
subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler advertising in our 
columns, and anv 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 lie 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must bo sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and you must have mentioned The Kcbal New-Yokker 
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. 
* 
When you come to put the cover crop in the corn 
you will probably cover the seed with a one-horse cul¬ 
tivator. Use the lightest teeth and also what we niay 
call the “follower.” This is a piece of plank or joist 
dangling and scraping behind the cultivator. It can 
be attached by two wires fastened to the back teeth 
of the cultivator. Put it far enough ahead so the 
man behind the cultivator will not step on it. This 
follower will- scrape over the cultivator ridges, smooth 
them down and make a better seeding. 
* 
Mr. Liebhardt, on page 812, points out the advan¬ 
tage of planting fruit trees along the roadside as they 
do in Europe, where considerable revenue is derived 
from such planting both by individuals and municipal¬ 
ities. In a good many localities we know, however, 
the owner would be lucky if, at the end of the season, 
he had so much as big tree left; he certainly need not 
expect to secure any fruit. The unabashed robbery 
of suburban gardens, not merely by the ignorant, but 
also by people who really know better, is a constant 
exasperation to owners. It is not likely that roadside 
trees would escape similar raids. Why are European 
conditions so different? 
* 
One of the most useful members of the last New 
York Legislature is Edward C. Gillette, of Yates Co. 
Mr. Gillette is a worker—not a great talker or “orna¬ 
mental statesman;” he gets quietly down to business 
and does more than his share. As secretary of the 
N. Y. State Fruit Growers’ Association, Mr. Gillette is 
known throughout the State as an honest man who 
knows what farmers need and who is not afraid to 
speak his convictions. It is not generally known that 
Mr. Gillette was chiefly responsible for the passage 
of the commission men bill by the Assembly. Others * 
gave up the cause as hopeless, but Mr. Gillette kept 
quietly at work and made votes for the measure by 
plain argument. Of course Mr. Gillette should go 
back next term, or even go up higher. 
* 
One of the things President Taft is blamed for is 
his freezing out of the Country Life Commission. 
Four years ago President Roosevelt appointed a group 
of able men who were to inquire into farm conditions 
and country living. This commission went about 
hearing testimony and also secured thousands of writ¬ 
ten reports and suggestions. As started the Commis¬ 
sion was supported by private funds, but after its re¬ 
port President Roosevelt asked that it be made per¬ 
manent and supported out of the public money. Con¬ 
gress rejected the proposition and there seems no 
doubt but that President Taft either helped kill it or 
made no effort to save it. The question now is, 
would this Commission have been of any benefit to 
farmers? As a cold business proposition, aside from 
sentiment, we think it would. We know that many 
farmers at first seemed to think this Commission 
was to have almost as much power to settle the 
wrongs of farming as the Supreme Court! It had 
really no powers at all and therein lay its great pos¬ 
sibilities. It simply gave our country people a chance 
to tell their story and state their case so that the 
nation would be forced to listen. It would have taken 
some years to get the story into proper shape, but the 
Commission would finally have worked it out into a 
solid foundation for effective legislation. President 
Taft may be fairly criticized for his share in killing 
off the Country Life Commission. It was a piece of 
short-sighted and foolish politics. 
On July 19 the Housewives’ League, which is work¬ 
ing to reduce the cost of living by bringing producer 
and consumer closer together, had a load of choice 
vegetables for sale, under the Queensboro Bridge, on 
the east side of New York. The vegetables were di¬ 
rect from the farm, and cheap at the prices asked— 
2>/2 cents per pound for potatoes and snap beans, 10 
cents for a bunch of eight carrots, and other things 
in proportion. Some opposition developed on the part 
of agents of the retailers, who made considerable 
noise, loudly criticizing both vegetables and prices, 
but the experiment was on the whole as successful 
as could be expected. Any effort to reduce the mid¬ 
dlemen’s expense in handling foods at New York or 
elsewhere is sure to meet with opposition. The best 
answer to such criticism is persistent work, showing 
that we mean business. Educating the rank and file 
of consumers in New York is no easy task. Many 
who most need help are suspicious and ungrateful, 
less ready to believe their own eyes than the sneers 
of the middlemen who are making three profits where 
one should be enough. 
* 
FIGHTING THE FINANCIAL FAKES. 
We find the following in Texas Farm and Ranch: 
In early days it was a rule with horse thieves to steal 
from the man who had but one horse, since there would 
be no horse to be ridden in pursuit; and so with the 
thieves who steal the money of their victims by selling 
fraudulent stocks and bonds—these “gentlemen of the 
cloth” select women and very poor people, since these can¬ 
not follow and it is safer. And the State helps these 
“geiftlemen of the cloth.” 
These fakers are more dangerous than horse thieves 
because they can hire “respectable” people to intro¬ 
duce them to their victims. Here is a letter from a 
clergyman in New York State which puts the thing 
straight: 
I doubt if there is a class of men more tormented by 
this class than ministers. Our names are easily obtained 
through annual catalogues and the enticing propositions 
are very attractive, especially when it means only a dollar 
per week or month. A few years ago I had a bit of money 
which 1 was holding for an expected future need. I was 
strongly inclined to place with the Industrial Savings & 
Loan Co., but was advised differently by a young banker. 
That investment would have turned out all right, and in 
consequence 1 might have had some with them now. Also 
the Telepost—if I had had money at the time their glow¬ 
ing statements came I should have been strongly tempted 
to invest, especially as the Sterling Debenture Corpora¬ 
tion advertised in one of my best religious weeklies. I do 
sincerely wish I knew a religious paper doing for ministers 
and professional men what you are doing for farmers. 
We think the religious papers were chiefly respon¬ 
sible for a large share of the money now tied up in 
that banking house. Some of them published the ad¬ 
vertising even after the State had taken charge of the 
institution. If they knew anything about the tricks of 
wild finance they knew when the two companies be¬ 
gan to play back and forth with deposits and bonds 
that they were leading their readers into a gamble. 
We warned our readers two years ago that they 
should at once take their money right out of the hands 
of people who begin to juggle with it. We are often 
asked why we spend so much time explaining these 
investment schemes and telling the old story over in 
all its new forms. The two quotations above tell why. 
Like the horse thief, the modern promoter likes to 
do business with people of moderate means who have 
little individual power to fight for their property. 
Clergymen and teachers and farmers are not as a rule 
familiar with the tricks of the financial trade. Their 
savings are small and they need all their money can 
safely earn. This incident of the Industrial Savings 
& Loan Company shows how their “friends” may lead 
them on into the swamp and leave them to get back 
as best they can. Long years of study of Just such 
eases has forced The R. N.-Y. to take the position 
that not one of its readers shall be able to say that 
we countenanced an investment in any promoter’s en¬ 
terprise. But talk is cheap—what can be done? Here 
is a note from Ontario Co., N. Y.: 
Your editorial on the Kansas law as to the selling of 
stock is a live wire. Within two miles from home I can 
count up over two thousand dollars that has been filched 
from good people who can ill afford to lose the money, 
within the last year and a half or two years, and I know 
hut a fraction of it probably. One vulture has been par¬ 
ticularly successful in separating widows from the little 
property they had or realized on the husband’s death 
from insurance, etc. A national law would of course be 
desirable, tint why not put up a hurrah for a State law? 
That is what it must come to—a law in New York 
State which will shut out the get-rich-quick fakes 
and make them show their actual assets. This is 
much-needed legislation—one of the things for the 
farmers’ party to push along. We cannot imagine 
either of the old parties as at present organized push¬ 
ing through a “blue sky” law. We will make them 
listen to it anyway. 
Now comes the great season for sowing Alfalfa and 
grass seeds. Not only should the seed be put in 
properly but the seed itself should be pure and vital. 
Unfortunately a good proportion of the seed offered 
for sale is adulterated with weed seed or dead. 
There are too many weeds in the world now with¬ 
out adding them when we seed to grass! Many 
farmers have fought the weeds all their lives and 
kept their farms clean only to find that they have 
loaded up with some fearful pests through the use 
of adulterated Alfalfa seed. The only safe way is 
to have your seed tested by the Department of Agri¬ 
culture before you put it in the ground. Some of the 
seedsmen are willing to stand such a test and issue 
a form of guarantee that their best seed will satisfy 
the government experts. The worst mistake you 
can make in seeding Alfalfa is to bay “cheap” seed 
just because the price is small. The “cheapness” 
consists in trash and dead seed and no seedsman 
who handles such stuff would stand up before a 
government test. 
* * 
We have had something to say about sowing a mix¬ 
ture of barley and rye as a cover crop to follow corn 
or in orchards. Barley is the best grain to grow in 
late Summer or Fall and make a fodder or hay crop. 
In a moist season barley will grow well and cut a 
ton or more of hay to the acre in early October. Rye, 
as all farmers know, is about the toughest and most 
vigorous of our small grains. It will start under hard 
conditions and live wherever it can get its roots into 
the soil. It is one of the best crops for holding the 
soil through Fall and Winter and adding a large quan¬ 
tity of tough organic matter. The theory of sowing 
mixed rye and barley is easy to understand. In a 
suitable season the two grains should start together. 
The barley will grow ahead of the rye and when 18 
inches to two feet high may be cut and cured for hay or 
fed green. Then the rye comes on, covers the soil, 
lives through the Winter and gives a large growth in 
Spring. The two grains thus give both a Fall and a 
Spring crop. In a moist season this outcome is pos¬ 
sible and the combination would pay. In a dry season 
the barley would fail as a forage crop. We do not 
recommend the two grains for general planting except 
when it is reasonably certain that there will be enough 
moisture to carry them through. The experiment is 
worth trying by those who need fodder and a cover 
crop combined. 
* 
With all the holding about the old parties having 
outlived their usefulness, have you heard anyone of 
the radicals point out any of the Republican legislation 
of the past 16 years that he wants repealed? 
That extract is taken from the personal letter of 
a Congressman. Needless to say this man does not 
believe in any new party. We take it this is the chal¬ 
lenge to be made during the coming campaign. It is 
a good question and we submit it to our readers. Most 
of the legislative acts to which the progressives ob¬ 
ject were, on their face, fair and helpful. The dam¬ 
age came in the “joker” or hidden meaning put into 
the bill by shrewd and farseeing men. These “jokers” 
have often changed the entire character of legislation. 
Repeal is not desired so much as a change of mean¬ 
ing which will make such laws what they were sup¬ 
posed to be when they were passed. We shall point 
out several of such things. Most of the objection to 
the old parties is not so much for what they have 
done as for what they have not done. As a single 
illustration take the case of parcels post. The Inter¬ 
state Commerce Commission has now absolutely 
proved that the express companies have for years 
robbed the people. The facts and figures cannot be 
controverted. Leaders of both parties must have 
known these facts, yet they have never had the cour¬ 
age to do anything except play around the subject 
like boys who do not dare clean out a hornet’s nest. 
As a rule the legislation against the public robbers 
and exploiters has been quite harmless when put into' 
actual practice. What the progressives want is live 
legislation that will actually hurt the rascals who get 
rich at public expense. How much of this sort of 
legislation have we really had? 
BREVITIES. 
Killing time is business suicide. 
Open up the subject of cover crops. 
The need of the hour—a few more minutes. 
We need progressives behind the cultivator at least. 
And now they say fruit pickers are born and not made. 
High farming—making three profits grow where only 
one ought to. 
When you get close to the consumer don’t try to be too 
“close” with him. 
The use of farm traction engines is increasing so rapidly 
in Western Canada that schools of instruction are being 
held. One such school lasted six d..ys with 1,000 students. 
