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THE RURAL NEW' -YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER’S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established isso 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 888 West 80th Street, Hew York 
Herbert W. Collixgwood, President and Editor. 
John' J. Dillon', Treasurer and General Manaper. 
Wil F. Dillon, Secretary. -Mrs. E. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. $2.04. equal to 8s. Gd., or 
8)4 marks, or 10)4 francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal cheek or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates 60 cents per agate line— 7 words. 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 good any loss to paid 
subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler advertising in our 
columns, and any such swindler will be publicly exposed. « e protect sub¬ 
scribers against rogues, but we do not guarantee to adjust trifling differences 
between subscribers and honest, responsible advertisers. Neither will we be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month of the tune of 
the transaction, and you must have mentioned The Rural New-Yorker 
when writing the advertiser. 
A coat of brilliant paint may cover a fatal defect 
in a farm machine. We see this in the story of Mr. 
Morse’s accident on page 675 Here was a part of a 
plow supposed to take the hardest pull—a poor piece 
of rotten pine. It should have been the best ash or 
oak, but the paint made the rotten pine look like true 
timber. There is no excuse for any such fraud as 
this. In order to save a few cents this inferior stuff 
is used, endangering human life and delaying work. 
And it is such a foolish fraud, for the rotten stick is 
sure to break and expose the whole thing. 
* 
Evidently some of our readers are confused over 
the potato diseases—scab and blight. We have had 
full particulars about soaking potato seed in formalin 
and water to kill the scab germs. Now some of our 
people think this treatment will prevent blight so that 
no spraying will be necessary. This is wrong. The 
blight is an entirely different disease from the scab. 
While we think soaking in formalin keeps the seed 
piece in good condition the operation could not have 
any effect in preventing blight, when the germs of this 
disease attack the plant from the outside. Do not 
neglect to spray if you expect to keep off blight. The 
scab is an underground disease of the tuber—the 
blight works above ground on the vine. 
* 
The Luther Burbank Society is still working on 
that devoted band of ‘TOO life members.” Nearly 
•very day we hear from people who have been so¬ 
licited. The thing that nearly lands these friends is 
the thought that they are to be associated through 
life with such people as Helen Gould and others of 
the rich and great. There is a list of notables who 
have already enlisted for life under the Burbank 
banner. One of our people saw the name of John 
Wanamaker in this list, so he wrote for further 
information. This is what he received in reply: 
‘‘I regret to say that I do not know anything about 
the Luther Burbank Society in question, except what is 
printed, and that I was elected an Honorary Life Mem¬ 
ber, which did not require any dues to be paid, and 
therefore I have not paid any. Very truly, 
JOHN WANAMAKER. 
It is a good chance that all the other life members 
except Mr. Luther Burbank would tell much the 
same story. Our only comment is that it seems a 
shame that public men will permit their reputations 
to be cut up and used as “sucker bait!” These invita¬ 
tions are going to a class of people who really think 
they can help their business materially by associat¬ 
ing as “life members” with these great men! 
* 
They are all beginning to think about this 35-cent 
dollar. The jokers and the poets are now taking it 
up, as in the following from the Kansas City Journal: 
“Did your daughters marry rich men?” 
“Not exactly. One married a farmer and another mar¬ 
ried an ultimate consumer. But the third may make up 
for all that.” 
“How so?” 
"She's engaged to a middleman.” 
We started out many years ago, well knowing that 
little would be done with this middleman question 
until the idea came to be a part of popular thought. 
Nothing makes real headway in history until it is ac¬ 
cepted as a part of popular song, story, joke or gen¬ 
eral conversation. Then nothing can stop it. The 
“35-cent dollar” is going just that way, dor that is 
what this joker had in his mind. It has been generally 
supposed that a big family of girls is an asset more 
ornamental than useful, yet with one married to a 
farmer, another to a consumer and a third to a 
middleman the entire dollar ought to stay at home. 
Anything which turns the human mind to a discussion 
of the “35-cent dollar” is a good thing, for the hole 
made by cutting out the 65 cents is where farmers 
may read their duty. 
It may have been your experience, as a farmer, to 
move into a new, roomy house—out of a habitation 
which had become a little too crowded for your grow¬ 
ing family. Perhaps you have lived for years as a 
tenant—to move at last into your own home. We 
bring up these familiar illustrations in order that you 
may realize how The R. N.-Y. and its people feel at 
this time. We are slowly fitting into our new home 
in the old church building. You know how the very 
fact that one suddenly acquires elbow room makes 
the elbows seem awkward for a time, and how the 
new things seem hardly adapted for practical use. 
Sooner or later we all grow and fit into the new sur¬ 
roundings, and the old machine goes on smoother 
than ever. This is the first home which The R. N.-Y. 
has owned. That event is worth considering, and we 
will turn the consideration over to the Hope Farm 
man. We want to thank our readers for all their 
good wishes. There are so many that we cannot reply 
to all of them personally. We will try to live up to 
them through the paper. 
* 
There is probably no reason why Gov. Sulzer of 
New York should take our advice or care particularly 
for it. Advice is cheap at least, and no one need 
take it against his will. If we were Governor of New 
York we should give the best possible imitation of 
President Wilson in going straight to Jerseymen and 
asking them to make their representatives do their 
duty. In New Jersey it is a question of jury reform, 
with the politicians against it and the people favoring 
it. In New York it is State-wide direct primaries. 
Again the people favor the reform and the politicians 
oppose it. The thing for Gov. Sulzer to do, as we 
see it, is to go right out to the people and tell them 
plainly just what direct primaries will do for them. 
No use pounding at the politicians. They are proof 
against everything except the vote of “the folks back 
home.” They fear the man who will go into the 
voting booth with a sharp pencil. Let the Governor 
waste no time on hot air or cold-blooded politicians, 
but get right out to the country people and make them 
understand what direct primaries will mean for them. 
* 
The commission man’s bill in New York will go 
into effect August 1. No one can legally sell farm 
produce on commission after that date unless he has 
obtained a license from the Commissioner of Agricul¬ 
ture and executed a fidelity bond for $3,000. The 
first thing, therefore, and in its way the most impor¬ 
tant thing for shippers, is to see that this license 
feature is made useful. Here is the section of the 
law referring to the license: 
Granting and revoking licenses. The Commissioner of 
Agriculture may decline to grant a license or may revoke 
a license already granted where he is satisfied of the 
existence of the following cases or any of them : 
1. Where a money judgment has been entered against 
such commission merchant and upon which execution has 
been returned unsatisfied. 
2. Where false charges have been imposed for handling 
or services rendered. 
3. Where there has been a failure to account promptly 
and properly or to make settlements with intent to defraud. 
4. Where there have been false statements as to con¬ 
dition, quality or quantity of goods received or held for 
sale on commission when the same might be known on 
reasonable inspection. 
5. Where there have been false or misleading state¬ 
ment or statements as to market conditions with intent 
to deceive. 
G. Where there has been combination or combinations 
to fix prices. 
7. Where the commission merchant directly or indi¬ 
rectly purchases the goods for his own account without 
prior authority therefor or without notifying the con¬ 
signor thereof. 
Now we believe the Secretary of Agriculture de¬ 
sires to keep the snides and fakes out of the com¬ 
mission business. Refusal to issue a license will do 
this, but naturally such refusal can only be made for 
causes here stated and there must be full proof. Let 
us begin to cut these rogues out now—before the 
licenses are given out. Every shipper who has been 
tricked or robbed by a commission man in New York 
should write us at once, giving facts and details. 
We will see that the evidence is presented. Of course 
you will understand that there must be clear and 
logical proof in order to make such cases effective. 
Hearsay evidence or personal opinion will not answer. 
We have loads of evidence here now, but there cannot 
be too much of it in the next three months before 
these licenses are granted. Here is where you can 
help make this law effective. There is no sense in 
throwing the entire work of deciding this license 
question upon the Commissioner of Agriculture. The 
proof of fraud must come from farmers, and they now 
have a chance to take a direct part in making this 
law effective. Let us have the facts regarding any 
commission crook and we will see that they get to 
headquarters. 
May 17, 
The first page picture is a story without words. 
The tree agent has written out a good-sized order, 
and the farmer is just ready to sign the contract. Up 
on the porch the farmer’s best friend, his wife, is re¬ 
minding him that the last time he signed a contract 
he was badly swindled. One of the neighbors is look¬ 
ing at the “book of samples,” and the wonderful fruits 
that grow on paper are tempting him as the apple 
tempted the original Adam. The children, too, are 
backers of the tree agent, and he will walk off with 
two good contracts. The picture tells it all—no need 
for us to add a word. 
* 
The letters on “the under side of agriculture” 
printed on the next page were shown to a man who 
is very prominent in agricultural education. His first 
comment was: “Why do you print such letters?” Our 
answer was that they represent the views of at least 
half and probably a majority of our working farmers. 
If you ask what we mean by “working farmers” we 
answer the farmers of limited opportunity and educa¬ 
tion, who do a large part of their own work and who 
find it difficult to obtain credit on terms which will 
permit them to improve their farms permanently. We 
asked our friend what proportion of all the farmers 
of his State the experiment station reached with its 
bulletins. After some thought he concluded it was 
less than 10 per cent. What proportion of farmers 
are influenced or instructed through the teachings of 
your agricultural college? He could not put the num¬ 
ber at over 15 per cent., but he thought it was gaining. 
Do you hear such criticisms as are made in these 
letters? Of course, there have always- been critics 
and always will be. Is there not now more than ever 
criticism that the colleges and stations do not take up 
more of the economic and public questions relative 
to farming? After some thought our friend admitted 
that this was so. By these admissions he fully justi¬ 
fied these statements of the “under side.” We find 
that the more thoughtful of the agricultural teachers 
realize the situation into which farm education is 
working. That education has been almost entirely in 
the direction of “farm efficiency”—showing how to 
make the land more productive and thus produce 
larger crops. While this has been developing, both 
common sense and the pocketbook have taught the 
working farmer that he needs something which the col¬ 
leges and stations have thus far failed to give him. 
The consumer’s dollar is now more important than 
the producer’s dime. In spite of the apparent splen¬ 
dor of our new agricultural education and tfye vast 
sums of money annually appropriated for it, the real 
leaders know that the rank and file of our farmers are 
losing confidence in the ability or the inclination of 
professional agriculture to help fight their battles. 
For we have all learned that there must be battles 
as well as bulletins. It is only fair to tell the col¬ 
leges and stations that unless they will of their own 
initiative do the work which farmers need, those same 
farmers will compel them to do so by obtaining con¬ 
trol of these institutes. 
BREVITIES. 
May came in with a warm wave. 
The latest “sure cure” for catarrh is living 90 days 
on apples and olive oil. 
Alfalfa is a great crop to follow early potatoes, pro¬ 
vided you can get the potato crop off early enough to 
seed the Alfalfa in time. 
Farmers in western Canada are after two ends of the 
35-cent dollar. They want cheaper money for farm de¬ 
velopment and a better farm price for Canadian grain. 
One thing the dairyman does not know with all his 
troubles—what it means to see his peach trees in full 
bloom while ice forms on the water tubs. 
According to Chicago statistics, the smoke of locomo¬ 
tives costs that city annually $7,938,276, while the total 
smoke damage Trom all sources is estimated at $18,461,106 
per year. 
The “dust spray”—blowing dry lime and sulphur and 
Paris green upon apple trees—does not gain in favor 
rapidly, but is still practised by some good growers. Many 
orchards ate now so large that it is very difficult to do 
a complete job with liquids. 
London “Farm and Home” says one of the most success¬ 
ful farmers in Essex, England, is a man who has been 
blind since the age of 14. lie was a musician who went 
“hack to the land.” He farms 1,000 acres, is a keen 
judge of cattle and sheep and is able to judge the quality 
of hay or the quantity in a stack. 
A strange theft reported by an exhibitor at the Royal 
Horticultural Society’s London show was that of orch:d 
pollen. Some unscrupulous visitor stole the pollen from 
the hybrid orchid Brasso-Cattleya Cliftoni magnifica, no 
doubt for use in plant-breeding experiments. 
Gelechia Gossypiklla is the name of an insect which 
the Department of Agriculture is trying to shut out from 
this country. It is commonly known as the pink boll- 
worm and lives in Egypt and India. It lives within the 
seed of cotton, and the government is to prohibit the 
importation of all seed from regions where the worm is 
known to occur. 
