1040 
The Rural New-Yorker 
the business farmer's paper 
A National W eekly Journal for Country ami Suburban Home* 
Established tsso 
FiiltlWhcd irwkl.T by the Rural Pnbllshlnfr Company. 888 Went 80th Street, .ten York 
HERBERT W. Coltjnowood, President and Editor. 
.Ions J. DtlXOU, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wr. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. $20*. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
SW marks, or lti'A francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check 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 tiansient oiders. 
•‘A SQUARE DEAL” 
YVe believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. P.ut to make doubly sure we will mwe good anyloss to paid 
subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler 1" °S r 
columns, and any such swindler will be publicly Pm^Lneei 
sc fibers against rogues, but we do not guarantee to adjust 
between subscribers and honest, responsible advertisers N«Uner ? “LYfJ? 
resnomable for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one 1"SSSl?!ifS? Yomes 
the transaction.and you must have mentioned The Rleal Mm Yorker 
when writing the advertiser. 
There was the usual swarm of humanity at the 
New York State Fair, with a good display of all farm 
products. We shall give studies of the fruit, li\e 
stock and machinery—somewhat out of (lie line of 
ordinary "reports.” The show seemed different from 
that of former years. There was no such jam in 
the struggle for food and a place to sleep which 
formerly stretched the capacity of Syracuse to the 
limit. There were apparently fewer practical farm¬ 
ers on the Fair Grounds. In fact the exhibition 
seems to have broken away from a "Fair and en¬ 
tered the list of expositions. Its appeal seems now 
to he more to town and city people rather than to 
plain farmers. The educational features are still 
there, and any farmer can learn much about his 
business, but it is a fair criticism to say that the 
spirit of the exposition is drifting more and more 
toward the town and city visitor. 
* 
I am thinking very soon of making an investment in 
high-grade cattle for a farm I have in Massachusetts. 
I wish to learn at once all about pedigrees, methods 
of registration of cattle, names and location of cattle 
societies, also some of the more important importers 
and distributors of good cattle. In other words, I want 
to “get my bearings” and all possible fundamental in¬ 
formation obtainable. w * H. F. 
New York. 
That is a fair sample of letters which come to us 
every week. We are convinced that there are more 
of such prospective buyers among the readers of 
The It. N.-Y. than could be found by any other paper 
in the country. We have told this man where to go 
and learn about the various herd books and forms 
of registration, and introduced him to breeders who 
can fit him out with cattle. There are hundreds 
more like him. Some of them are men of means 
who have -bought farms or wish to stock up old fam¬ 
ily places. Others are fruit growers or gardeners 
who want a small herd of choice cattle. It is evi¬ 
dent to us that certain lines of the dairy business 
are rapidly changing. Many of the old-time one- 
man dairies of about 10 cows are being given up— 
driven out by the high cost of making milk or the 
hard requirements of inspectors. Their places will 
be taken by small herds of high-grade or purebred 
cows kept on fruit farms or market gardens to con¬ 
sume the wastes and provide Winter work. The 
demand that we speak of comes from men who 
have the capital with which to buy the best. 
* 
We still keep right at the commission man’s law. 
The Ii. N.-Y. worked for years to help make the law 
possible—now we are prepared to work harder to 
make it workable. As a sample of the way some of 
the dealers are squirming here is a note written one 
of our readers: 
I have noticed that you ship to a New York mer¬ 
chant, who sells them again. Now I am taking the lib¬ 
erty of writing to you hoping that you will grant me 
a trial shipment. Now I want these eggs for my per¬ 
sonal use, and I can offer you one-half cent below the 
highest quotation net. You will notice that I do not 
make a business out of it, but for my personal use. 
Now the object of all this beuevoleuce on the part 
of the dealers is to kill off commission shipment if 
they can. The new law covers commission sales, 
but would not hold a dealer responsible for any such 
deal as this man suggests. He might find fault with 
your eggs and send what lie saw fit. Of course he 
could also do that on a commission sale, but in the 
latter case you might get him on his bond, while the 
way he suggests would leave him free. Many of the 
dealers want to make the new law look like a farce. 
They think this will follow if they can get shippers 
to give up commission sales. There would then be 
no chance for strengthening the law next Winter. 
If we let the law become a plaything Albany will 
not listen again. If we make it a cutting tool Albany 
will come running with hand at the ear to listen. 
Make your dealer show his license and hold him 
to a commission sale. 
<THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
If there is one fake meaner than another it is the 
one who advertises the snide medical “cure.” Some 
of these cures represent just petty robbery. One 
prominent “cancer cure” was found to be cloth bags 
containing a mixture of 98 per cent of sand and 
clay and two per cent of bone black. It was claimed 
that this would “draw the cancer poison from the 
system.” Many deluded dupes paid $5 or more for 
this “cure.” It was harmless at least, but many 
others are loaded with dangerous drugs or liquor. 
It is hard to shut these fakes out of the mail. The 
manufacturers are not required to submit their stuff 
for examination before selling it. and they are not 
obliged to print the complete formula on the label. 
The government must prove that the stuff is a fake 
or is injurious before the sale can be stopped. And 
when the government attempts to prove this, if there 
is great profit in the business, there will he lined up 
to defend the nasty stuff great chemists and experts 
who have been hired with part of the graft. And 
great newspapers take another part of the graft for 
advertising. It is often hard for the government to 
make headway against these forces and stop the 
sale of such fakes. Every decent man and woman 
should lieli» by refusing to buy such stuff and de¬ 
nouncing them whenever a chance is offered. 
* 
Many Southern potato growers find themselves 
face to face with a great trouble. The Irish Cobbler 
is the favorite variety for growing in parts of the 
South. While not the earliest this variety is a heavy 
yielder, a strong, quick grower and with a shape that 
is recognized in the market. The demand is for “Cob¬ 
blers,” though other good varieties are introduced and 
sold. The popularity of this variety lias led to mis¬ 
takes and dishonesty until the papers do not fit the 
potato. Northern growers have begun to mix in with 
the Cobblers other varieties of much the same shape 
and appearance, until now complaints come thick 
and fast about bogus seed. A grower will find one- 
third or more of his crop some late variety which is 
worse than useless for his purpose. The only ad¬ 
vantage the Southern grower has is his ability to 
get his crop into the early market. The true Cob¬ 
bler permits him to do this, but it is nonsense for 
him to plant varieties which will ripen along with 
Cobblers grown in the latitude of New York. Yet 
this is what happens when this mixed or mongrel 
seed is planted. At the time when his potatoes 
ought to he on the market the late varieties which 
have been palmed off on him have barely begun to 
set tubers. The thing is rapidly becoming a serious 
nuisance, and the seedsmen and seed growers must 
stop it or lose their reputation and theirjtrade. This 
mongrel seed is as bad a fraud upon the purchaser 
as is selling grade cattle for purebred stock, and the 
average buyer has little idea how badly the Irish 
Cobbler seed is adulterated. The mix-up is so bad 
that no seedsman lias any business to guarantee 
pure Cobbler seed unless every tuber is grown un¬ 
der his own eye and the misfits or “rogues” pulled 
out before they form tubers. 
* 
On page 1002 we referred to the failure of Marc 
W. Cole to 'receive a renomination for the New York 
Assembly. This case is probably typical of others 
in New York in one of the most curious political 
mix-ups the State has ever known. Mr. Cole served 
Orleans County well. He supported the progressive 
measures before the Legislating, and when the Or¬ 
leans County folks demanded support of direct pri¬ 
maries Mr. Cole voted for the bill against the wishes 
of party leaders. When the question of impeaching 
Gov. Sulzer came up, Mr. Cole, after first opposing 
the report, voted for impeachment. The Orleans 
County people, or at least Mr. Cole’s party, connect¬ 
ed Gov. Sulzer with his primary bill, and were as 
much opposed to impeachment as they were in favor 
of primaries. Mr. Cole obeyed them in one case 
and opposed them in the other. He claimed that he 
acted like the member of a grand jury on the evi¬ 
dence submitted to him. The primary question was 
for the people—the impeachment for the Legisla¬ 
ture. When the people are angry, however, they do 
not stoj) to discuss fine points. If a man does not 
do what they want they get rid of him if they can. 
They may make a mistake in doing so, hut for many 
years they have done the other thing and steadily 
lost their power. That “other thing” was permitting 
the politicians to argue them out of a course which 
instinct taught them carried the moral side and the 
plain justice of a question. We make no comment 
regarding Gov. Sulzer and his troubles. He will 
have a fair chance to defend himself. The sym¬ 
pathies of the people are evidently with him, not so 
much for his own personality, but because his ene¬ 
mies typify to country people that brutal thing in 
politics which they feel has long held them in 
slavery. 
September 20, 
This is the apple puzzle season. Most of us find 
apples in the orchard which are strange to us. In 
one mixed orchard at home the boys lost the original 
map, and as the fruit comes in bearing we are not 
sure of the varieties. As they mature we send speci¬ 
mens to the Agricultural Department at Washing¬ 
ton for identification, and thus have the records true. 
We know that hundreds of readers are puzzled in 
the same way over varieties. Let them go to the 
highest authority at once. The Department has 
several experts of high reputation who will gladly 
identify your fruit. They will forward you franked 
mailing boxes in which the apples may be sent with¬ 
out charge. Therefore send your fruit puzzles direct 
to the Department. 
* 
* Do you realize what parcel post is doing for hun¬ 
dreds of our farmers? There will soon be an enor¬ 
mous mail trade done in such products as nuts, ma¬ 
ple sugar, sausage, dressed poultry and choice cuts 
of meat The trade will start with those things 
which bring 15 cents or more per pound. For in¬ 
stance. a choice chicken will bring enough to pay 
the postal rates, while potatoes would not pay. 
Some of our readers are learning how to advertise. 
One of them lias paid $8 per line for advertising 
pecans and found it profitable. Our advice is to 
advertise in your local town papers when you have 
something choice to sell. This has always paid us. 
You can sell your goods and you make a friend of 
the paper. You are justified in calling upon it to 
defend farm interests when such defense is needed. 
* 
One day, a few years since, a young man walked 
in upon us looking for a position as farm manager. 
He said he had just been graduated at a leading 
agricultural college and considered himself qualified 
to conduct a large farm. He did not look the part, 
and it soon became evident that he bad never done 
real farm work. We sent this young man to a bluff, 
hearty farmer who a few days before had called 
for a head farmer or superintendent. This man 
sized the young fellow up accurately—lie had a 
good understanding of the principles of agriculture 
as taught, but knew little or nothing of how it was 
practiced. 
“Get out and work as a hired man first—you can’t 
manage men until you know what a man’s work is.” 
The young fellow rose to the occasion, and instead 
of being insulted came back with this: “All right, 
give me a job as hired man and I’ll make good.” 
He got the job and stayed by it, milking and doiug 
with his own hands the very thing which later he 
meant to manage or direct in others. He got the 
job he was after later, and found his experience 
the best possible foundation for the use of what he 
learned at college. The manager was three times a 
boss because lie had been a real hired man. We do 
not know what proportion of our modern college 
graduates would he willing to take such criticism 
in good spirit, yet the ability to do so ought to be a 
part of their college course. 
BREVITIES. 
The line fence question is a very live wire. 
The employer’s liability bill before the last Pennsyl¬ 
vania Legislature failed to become a law. This answers 
several readers. 
There seem to be more 35-cent dollars than ever be¬ 
fore this year. The transportation companies always 
get a 100-cent dollar. 
For Fall treatment of young Alfalfa we would clip 
now and let the clippings lie on the ground. Then let 
the later growth alone. 
As wild goats flourish in the Alaskan alps the live 
stock bureau of the Canadian Department of Agricul¬ 
ture is considering the introduction of hardy domestic 
goats into the Canadian North. 
A new law that became effective in New York State 
September 1 compels hotels to supply sheets with a 
minimum length of 1)1 inches, and to provide fresh bed¬ 
clothes and towels for each guest. 
“Russell’s White Drops” is a Rhode Island baby 
remedy. The Department of Agriculture found codein 
and alcohol in it—which would make it more of a baby 
killer. It should be “white dope.” 
ACCORDING to the Federal Horticultural Board, dur¬ 
ing the last fiscal year this country imported 3,770,041 
growing trees. France sent us 1,782,255 trees, Ger¬ 
many 849.245. and Holland 090,G32. 
Now they have a “score card” for babies to. be used 
at baby shows. Under it the child which might win 
the leather medal on bis looks alone may have a chance 
at gold with his brains and shape considered. 
The British National Land and Home League for 
Promoting the Revival of Country Life is urging the for¬ 
mation of agricultural wages boards, with power to 
fix wage scales for farm laborers in accordance nv ltn 
local conditions. 
Tn our local market a farmer stood on the street 
selling tomatoes, or trying to, Jit 15 cents for a large 
basket. A girl came from a tenement bouse, passed the 
wagon to a grocery store, and bought a can of toma¬ 
toes for 12 cents! This is one example of the high 
cost of both living and intelligence. 
