ioio 
THE RURAfc NEW-YORKER 
September 6, 
PUBLISHER’S DESK 
About four years ago the agent of the 
E. A. Strout Company, a Mr. Allen, 
came to me and wanted me to allow him 
to offer my farm for sale, telling me in 
the hearing of a good witness that it 
would cost me nothing if they sold it and 
nothing if they did not. I consented. 
Later he came to me with what he said 
was a listing blank for me to fill out. giv¬ 
ing the number of acres, list of stock, tools, 
etc., and asked me to sign my name to it. 
I did so in a hurry without knowing the 
full contents of it. The agent told me I 
had the right to withdraw' the property 
at any time. They had it nearly four 
years, and as they made no sale, I con¬ 
cluded to withdraw it. The agent told 
me he would have it withdrawn. Sev¬ 
eral days later he admitted he had not 
withdrawn it, but said he would at once. 
Some time later when I spoke to him 
about it, he informed me that I hml 
signed a contract agreeing to pay $25 if 
I had it withdrawn. I told him that was 
news to me, that I did not know that 
I had signed anything to that effect, and 
that he had told me the paper was a 
listing blank. We had some words, and 
I finally told him to make out a receipt 
and I would get him the money. lie 
failed to do so, and I heard no more from 
him. This occurred in March, 1912. 
Later I sold the farm. In November he 
came to me and demanded that I fill out 
a blank telling him to whom I sold the 
farm, for what reason, etc. I refused to 
do so, telling him it was none of his busi¬ 
ness, so he never mentioned the subject 
to me again, lie told a neighbor that he 
did not take anything out of me and was 
not going to do so. Well, the next I 
heard from them was a demand from the 
company direct for $25. I wrote and 
told them all the facts, but they persist 
in the demand for the fee. Now what 
would you advise me to do? I have 
given you the facts, and I can refer to 
the best people of the place. I should 
like to have you publish the facts in The 
R. N.-Y. as I would like the people to 
know the case as it is. w. A. K. 
Massachusetts. 
This is really not much different from 
the other complaints that came to us 
from other States and sections where the 
Strout Company operates. There seems 
to be an inference that possibly the local 
agent Allen did not intend to penalize 
the farmer in this case, but that the com¬ 
pany was responsible for the demand. 
However, this may be, the evidence is 
that the farmer was verbally assured that 
it would cost him nothing and that he 
was led to sign the contract on the be¬ 
lief and representation that it was only 
a “listing blank.” In this the farmer 
is corroborated by the instructions of 
the Strout Company to their agents. Un¬ 
der these circumstances we do not think 
the contract binding, and our judgment 
is that no court would enforce payment 
of the fee under such circumstances. In 
disputes where there are honest differ¬ 
ences, or misunderstandings, we always 
advise against lawsuits, if a farmer can 
give and take and make settlements, but 
in any case where there is deliberate 
misrepresentation and fraud it becomes 
one s duty to the public in genei'al and 
to himself in particular to fight. 
I mailed oi'der and check for $75 to 
Mr. Abbott Frazer of the Knollwood 
Farm, Townsend, Mass., for baby chicks. 
May 14th we received the first install¬ 
ment—100—of which a little more than 
live per cent were dead on arrival. The 
balance were diseased, and we lost more 
than 50 per cent within a week. On ac¬ 
count of the poor condition of the first 
shipment and the delay in filling the or¬ 
der, we wrote him on May 15th to cancel 
the balance of our order, and refund the 
balance of $60. May 21st the second in¬ 
stallment of 200 chicks ari-ived; more 
than 10 per cent dead. May 24th the 
final shipment arrived, but only contained 
180 chicks instead of 200. The last two 
shipments were afflicted as the first one 
was, and we have lost more than 50 per 
cent of the entire number, while of those 
we have bought from other parties and 
hatched ourselves the loss has not been 
four per cent. Instead of receiving our 
chicks within a week from the time of 
order it was nearly a month before the 
order was completed. J. N. T. 
Virginia. 
We, perhaps, have more complaints 
about baby chick shipments than any 
other one thing, but the rule is we find 
both the buyer and seller reasonable and 
willing to share up any loss which occurs 
on such shipments. We have written 
Mr. Frazer of Knollwood Farm, several 
letters with regard to the complaint, but 
he does not seem to consider the matter 
worthy of his attention, as no reply has 
been received to any of our letters. Re¬ 
gardless of the merits of the complaint, 
no poultryman who entirely ignores and 
refuses to answer the letters of a cus¬ 
tomer under circumstances of this kind, 
is worthy of the confidence of Tiie R. 
N.-Y. readers. We are printing the 
above complaint with these remarks in 
order to save other subscribers from a 
similar expei’ience. 
Two of our subsci’ibers have sent 
shipments of eggs to the Suffrage Pure 
Food Stores, 2540 Broadway, New Yoi-k, 
for which they have not yet received set¬ 
tlement in full; $7.20 is due one pai’ty 
and $32.60 due the othei'. The excuse 
made for delaying the adjustment is that 
city purchasers in their section are out 
of town, and when Fall sets in they hope 
to do better. This is a blow for the 
Suffrage Pure Food Stores, as our people 
will not be willing to make shipments to 
them and await their pleasure for the 
returns. If the eggs were sold, as they 
say they were, returns should be made 
at once. 
I enclose a card from R. D. Martel, 
Chicago, Ill. It looks as though this 
firm is anxious to get rid of lots of 
money, offering the wages they do to an 
absolute sti’anger. I have no use for 
such schemes. What do you know about 
them? A. L. G. 
Colorado. 
As far back as early in 1910 we told 
this about the Martel scheme: “All such 
offers ai-e fakes. They will not send you 
a check that you can get the money on, 
and they will not pay you $85 per month 
or any other amount, except what you 
may eai'n on a commission basis can¬ 
vassing for them. Fake concerns make 
big promises simply to induce you to 
fake your neighbors for their benefit.” 
As I am a subscriber to your paper 
and often see whex-e you help people 
either by work or advice, will you let 
me know what you think or can learn 
about the Great Eastern Real Estate 
Company? I have written them several 
times without reply. Had I read your 
“Hind-Sights” sooner I would not have 
had the deeds. Can you locate Mr. How¬ 
ard L. Jones? W. S. T. 
Maryland. 
A letter addi'essed to Mi'. Jones is re- 
tuimed with the infoi-mation that the 
Great Eastern Company has been out of 
business neai'ly five years now. The 
county clei'k tells us this property lies 
between Lakewood and Lakehurst, and 
there have been no impi'ovements on it; 
that it is cheap land worth about $10 an 
acre. We are told the land is all white 
sand covered with scrub pine and scrub 
oak, and some of it has been bought for 
$5 an acre. One of our subscribers re¬ 
ports that when she inquired about it she 
was told to leave it alone. It is said the 
operators of the company live in Plain- 
field, but we have been unable to get in 
communication with them. 
Some time in the month of February 
I wrote for pi-ices on lime-sulphur to the 
Wilkinson Sprayer Company, Saint 
Louis, Mo. March 1st I ordered a barrel 
at $8, with instructions to ship at once, 
as I needed to use it right away. I 
waited two weeks, and as it had not come 
bought my spray mixture elsewhere and 
later the barrel came. I had no use for 
it, but the company refuses to take it 
back or reimburse me at all. They have 
my $8 and the barrel of lime-sulphui', too. 
Missouri. M. T. 
We were unable to make any impres¬ 
sion on the Wilkinson Sprayer Company. 
They absolutely ignore our lettei's. The 
expei'ience of this subscriber is not, to 
say the least, intended to promote trade 
with this concern. 
I am inclosing a proposition that came 
to me last week. As lecturer of a Sub¬ 
ordinate Grange it seems easy for com¬ 
panies and crooks with all kinds of 
schemes to secure my address, and hard¬ 
ly a week passes without some get-rieh- 
quick scheme is received at Sunny Brook 
Farm. Although only 26 years old I 
work too hard for my money to bite on 
any such tricks. I certainly congratu¬ 
late you on the work you are doing 
through the Publisher’s Desk, and am 
sending you the inclosed because I be¬ 
lieve it is a fake and needs exposure. 
New Yoi'k. c. R. B. 
The pi'oposition enclosed from Wheat- 
ley Heights Estate was to give this sub¬ 
scriber a building lot on Long Island. 
This looks very innocent and even gener¬ 
ous. The letter making the offer is so 
oily and plausible that it is not surpris¬ 
ing that those who are not familiar with 
such schemes take the bait. This free 
offer of a lot is expected to interest the 
prospective victim so as to sell him an¬ 
other lot at a price probably twice what 
both lots are worth. The property which 
requires fake schemes of this kind to se¬ 
cure purchasers must be of little real 
value indeed. No R. N.-Y. reader has 
any excuse for want of information on 
these schemes to sell worthless land. 
J. J. n. . 
Best-Hated of Farm Tasks 
O N the spreaderless farm the thought of the great 
heaps of manure piling up constantly in barn yards, 
stables, and stalls, is a gloomy one. Those piles 
mean much disagreeable and hard work. Three times every bit must 
be handled. It must all be loaded onto high wagons. It must be 
raked off in piles in the fields. Then every forkful must be shaken 
apart and spread. 
Compare that old-fashioned method with the spreader way. Yon 
pitch the manure into the spreader box, only waist high, drive out and 
— the machine does all the rest. 
And, far more important, if you buy an I H C spreader one ton of 
manure will go as far as two tons spread by hand, with the same good 
effect on the soil, and it will all be spread evenly. 
I H C Manure Spreaders 
are farm necessities. The man who uses one will get the price of it 
back in increased crops before its newness has worn off. 
I H C spreaders are constructed according to plans in which every 
detail, every feature, is made to count. They are built to do best work 
under all circumstances, and to stand every strain for years. They 
are made in all styles and sizes, for small farms and large, low and 
high machines, frames of braced and trussed steel. Uphill or down, 
or on the level, the apron drive assures even spreading, and the cover¬ 
ing of corners is assured by rear axle differentials. In all styles tha 
rear axle is placed so that it carries near three-fourths of the load. 
This, with the wide-rimmed wheels with Z-shaped lugs, makes for 
plenty of tractive power. Winding of the beater is prevented by large 
diameter and the beater teeth are long, strong and chisel pointed. 
A thorough examination of the I H C spreader line, at the store of 
the local dealer who sells them, will interest you. Have him show 
you all these points and many more. Study the catalogues you caa 
get from him, or, write the 
International Harvester Company of America 
(Incorporated) 
Chicago USA 
You too, can make $200 to $300 clear profit monthly! Farmers pay liberally to have their 
hay baled by this solid steel, big tonnage Sandwich that doesn’t break down in the middle 
of a job—that turns out clean, slick, swlid bales. 
It has hopper cooled Gas Engine mounted 
truck, 4, 6,8 or 10-horse power—gear driven 
—the most complete outfit in existence. Tho 
wich beats all ordinary presses 2 to 8 tons 
every working test. 
25 tons are its every 
day job—often 30to40. 
Full power delivered to 
Press by heavy steel 
roller chain. It docs 
away _ with slipping, 
stretching belts. Simple 
time-tried self-feeder — 
with big feed opening. 
Coupled 
up Short 
Simple 
and Safe 
or shine, one and two a minute. 
j, the safest, surest, biggest money maker 
the business f THIS /TREE BOOK, 
Tell,” the surprising story of tremendous 
scores are making with the Sandwich. Write 
Best for us today for your copy by 
Baling return mail. Ask for our 
special terms that let you 
start with little money 
and pay from your 
profits. Address: 
SANDWICH MFC. CO. 
125 A St. Sandwich, III. 
Bax 125. Council Bluffs, li. 
Box )2i. Hum City. Mo. 
Moe s Sanitary Poultry Drinking Fountain 
mLPLMVL COftR AHOYOU 
HAVt ACCHTtf»U0USSV«O 
Of rjPCL W*TE Hri 
Tit Mad Popular Fountain 
co the Market. 
FILLS FROM THE TOC. 
■ Dead air apace between cover 
and reservoir keeps Water cool 
| in summer and from freezirg in 
winter. If not at your dealers, 
__________ write us to aend you one on ap- --g- 
proval and if you find il ia-Qifc fountain you want, write us for a special 
price on your requirement*} Manufactured in three tires: 1, 2 and 4 
gallon. A hook or* * or H*nK ,n K U P when dcsireai 
Run on gasoline, kerosene, distillate, 
any cheap fuel oil. Cost less to run— 
develop more power. Patent throttle 
| gives three engines in one. Many other 
i exclusive features—guaranteed 10 
I years—we pay freight—30 days’ freg 
trial Send for catalogue tofiay. 
1 ENIt Englns Co., 5 Mullet St., Sotroltj Milk. 
11 
PLANT YOUR TREES WITH 
€Bp Red Cross 
DYNAMITE 
Stops First Year Loses, Hastens 
Development, Improves the Fruit 
in Quantity, Quality and Color 
T HE illustrations are actual repro- 
cluctions of photos of 2-year old < 
Bing CherryTreesplanted same day out 
Planted 
in spade* 
dug hole- 
photo¬ 
graphed 
fr< 
oxn life 
ofisame nursery shipment. Similar results 
have been obtained generally. The root 
diagrams show the reason. You cannot afford 
to plant trees in spaded holes. 
Red Cross Dynamite is safely andsuccessfully used by prominent 
fruit growers for planting,cultivating and regenerating orchards. 
Write today for name of nearest dealer, or expert blaster, 
and Farmers’ Handbook No. 30. 
DU PONT POWDER CO., Wilmington, Delaware 
Pioneer Powder Makem e>f America Established 1802 
When you write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply 
and a “square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
