120« 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TEE BUSINESS FARMER’S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Uomei 
Established tsso 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 338 West 30th Street, New York 
Herbert W. Colungwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, 82.04. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
8M marks, or 10H 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 transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is hacked by a respon¬ 
sible person, liutto 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 sob. 
scribers against rogues, but wo do not guarantee to adjust trinuig differencos 
between subscribers and honest, responsible advertisers. fitter 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 time of 
the transaction, and you must have mentioned The Rlral New-iorker 
when writing the advertiser. 
I CAN find customers for the seed potatoes. Uncle 
Sam scut an inspector here and our seed stands high 
enough so that it will do its own advertising. 
This is from a man who has selected for several 
years good specimens of the Irish Cobbler potato. 
This fine variety is so badly mixed up that growers 
are fighting shy of it, although when pure it is very 
superior. The man who writes the above was sure 
of his seed and notified the Department of Agri¬ 
culture. The inspector came and after examina¬ 
tion found the seed pure. The Government certi¬ 
ficate in such a case is like the registry papers for 
a purebred animal. If you have seed that you are 
proud of you can have it tested by the Department 
for purity, vitality and health. The test will be 
impartial and may increase your pride or lower it. 
At any rate that is the way to certify your purebred 
seed. 
* 
Some of the farm papers seem to regard the plan 
of fighting the San Jos6 scale by means of a living 
parasite as a joke. We think the theory as out¬ 
lined by Dr. Surface of Pennsylvania is a true one. 
In California, much the same thing has been done 
successfully. It remains to be seen whether this 
new parasite can endure our Northern Winters. 
If it can we believe it will prove a genuine help in 
cleaning up the scale. There is enough in this theory 
of setting “bug to fighting bug” to justify a thorough 
trial of it. At the same time we warn our people 
not to give up spraying in any way. We have put 
some of the parasites in our own orchard, but we 
shall spray as thoroughly as ever. Even if this 
plan of killing the scale prove a full success it will 
still pay to spray as we do now, for anyone who has 
ever seen the difference between sprayed and un¬ 
sprayed fruit knows that spraying will remain one 
of the necessities of fruit growing. 
* 
I thank you very much for your letter in regard to 
that fake advertising scheme. I guess I shall have to 
get one of those signs. “I buy only goods advertised m 
The It. N.-Y.”; baug it on the wood shed where I shall 
see it every day. D * F - 
Connecticut. 
This refers to an advertised proposition which 
this man was almost persuaded to take up. He is 
a Connecticut Yankee too, and that breed has worn 
out many a faker’s tongue. The sign he refers to 
was printed several weeks ago in The R. N.-Y. It 
might not be so much of an ornament in the wood¬ 
shed, but it would be useful if heeded. We have 
known men to go out to the wood-shed to work off 
their feelings when they knew they had made them¬ 
selves ridiculous by biting at gilt-edged “sucker bait. ’ 
Rather than express their feelings on the children 
or hear the wife say, “I told you so,” they pick out 
the toughest chunks of wood they can find and vent 
their feeling with an ax. A good scheme that, and 
if they could face that sign on the wall while they 
are chopping the lesson would stick. 
♦ 
John Campman, the New Jersey boy who shot and 
killed a supposed chicken thief, was tried and ac¬ 
quitted last week. This is the case where Camp- 
man, aroused by prowling strangers, fired at random 
in the darkness and lulled an unknown man. We 
understand that this dead man was never identified, 
and that the police authorities were not disposed 
to push the case, as they were convinced that the 
shooting was purely accidental. The American 
Poultry Association, through Dr. Gilbert Robinson, 
took charge of Campman’s defense and conducted 
it very discreetly. While we think this boy should 
not be punished, we go on record as opposed to the 
use of dangerous firearms indiscriminately in the 
dark. Some of our readers are quite fierce in their 
advice to shoot and kill. We do not agree with 
this. It is dangerous advice to give to young and 
inexperienced people. Taking human life is too 
serious a matter to consider lightly. If you thiuk 
you must shoot—load with salt and aim high. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
When we talk of advertising in the local paper 
or developing a parcel post trade there are some 
who say: “Too small business—it is only a drop in 
the bucket” Possibly, but the bucket of water is 
made up of drops—each one a useful part of the 
whole. It is in this same small business of the 
retailer that a good share of the consumer’s dollar 
is lost to us. One reason why we are receiving the 
85-eent dollar is because we handle the bucketful 
and let others peddle out the drops. We shall not 
get more than 35 cents until we get some of the 
middlemen out of the way and deal direct. These 
middlemen are not going to move of their own ac¬ 
cord. The advertisement and parcel post will give 
us a chance to move them. It may be a drop in the 
bucket for one man to start direct dealing. These 
drops are precious, and suppose 50 or 100 producers 
could work together. Instead of a drop they would 
soon have a dipperful at a time. 
* 
Now comes the annual conflict with the sports 
and hunters. Many cases are reported to us where 
strangers with guns refuse to vacate the premises 
when ordered to do so, even after the farms are 
fully posted. They claim that a license gives them 
full right to do as they please. There can be no 
question about this in Alabama, for there the law 
is clear, as we see from this section of the Alabama 
game laws: 
6071. Hunting on binds of another without written 
permission , penalty for .—Any person who hunts on the 
lands of another without first having obtained from the 
owner or agent thereof a written permission to do so, 
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, on conviction, 
shall be fined not less than ten nor more than twenty- 
five dollars. 
That is as it should be. In New York the as¬ 
sumption is that all wild game belongs to the 
State—even when it has been protected and fed by 
the farmers! Another good thing about the Ala¬ 
bama game law is the way it takes care of squir¬ 
rels. A penalty is provided for killing them out of 
season, but the farmer’s right to his property is 
recognized in this way, “provided that any person 
may protect his premises from the ravages and 
depredation of these animals at any time and in any 
way!” 
* 
Ginseng ! When this crop was first advocated in 
this country we were asked to take a hand in boom¬ 
ing it and in fingering some of the profits. We were 
convinced that it was a speculative or gambler’s 
crop, and we have never regretted the loss of thou¬ 
sands of dollars which were offered for ginseng ad¬ 
vertisements and refused. Possibly one in 500 of 
those who started to cultivate ginseng have actually 
produced marketable roots. The others lost their 
money, as we told them they would. Now the few 
who grow ginseng come telling us of their won¬ 
derful success. One leading grower sent a bag of 
good roots to a dealer in New York and asked us 
to get figures for him. We presumed of course from 
what those growers tell us that ginseng is like pure 
gold—all you have to do is to show it. But the 
cold facts are different. The dealer who had the 
sample said, “I am glad to get rid of the-stuff.” 
There was a wagon load of similar samples piled 
in his store. The next dealer interviewed would 
not take cultivated ginseng at any price. He now 
has 4,000 pounds which he cannot sell. Another 
large concern would make no offer—“market too 
dull.” All said the cultivated root is inferior to the 
wild. This is just what we found in the New York 
market. Books and bulletins and bluffers may tell 
another story, but this is what the cold-blooded 
dealers say. We think the market for cultivated 
ginseng will improve, but it is a gamblers crop. 
* 
Mr. Morse, on the first page, speaks of the demand 
for good dairy cows. There can he no question about 
this. Some of the certified milk farms near the 
great cities are in constant need of high-class milk¬ 
ers. They do not raise their own cows, but must 
depend on the hill farms for their supply. Some 
of these dairymen are selling milk at 12 and 15 
cents a quart. They have been known to offer .$250 
and more for healthy grade cows which can make 
5,000 quarts of 4.5 per cent milk in a year. A pure¬ 
bred cow capable of doing this would bring $100 
more but it would not pay to sell her as a milker. 
Look around among the cows in your section and 
see how many you can find capable of producing 
10,000 pounds of that sort of milk! Yet they are to 
be found in fair numbers in Vermont—brought to 
light by the cow-testing associations. This continued 
testing year after year has worked off the robber 
cows, and the dairymen know what their cattle can 
do. By using bulls from the cows which show 
themselves superior at this testing the general aver¬ 
age of the herd is raised. Some of the results ob¬ 
tained through this cow-testing are wonderful. The 
November is, 
time is rapidly coming when the business of rais¬ 
ing high-grade cows for this certified milk trade will 
pay far better than making milk. Some of the most 
successful poultry men today are those who produce 
a fine quality of pullets and sell them in the Fall 
for others to feed. In much the same way there is 
to be a great future in producing high-grade dairy 
stock. 
* 
We are done for sowing cover crops this Fall 
north of New York. Now comes the plant food 
problem for next year. On most farms there are 
pond holes or low swampy places where the soil is 
black and sticky. In this black soil or muck will 
often he found large quantities of nitrogen. These 
pockets are banks into which for many years the 
hills and higher places have sent their leachings 
for safe keeping. The muck has certainly kept these 
leachings of plant food safely, by tying the valuable 
nitrogen into forms which are sour and not avail¬ 
able to plants. It is a good thing for you that this 
nitrogen has been held in this way, for* *had it been 
soluble it would have left your farm. As it is you 
can now haul out the muck and by means of Na¬ 
ture’s simple chemistry set this nitrogen free. Haul 
out the muck and mix it with air-slaked lime in small 
piles and let it ferment. If you can work it over 
once so much the better, and if after it is dry and 
fine you can use it as a stable absorbent—better still. 
But the nitrogen is in the muck and black soil and 
slaked lime will start a ferment which will set the 
nitrogen free to help your crops. Make yourself a 
Christmas present of nitrogen. 
* 
Whenever we print the word “goat” in The R. 
N.-Y. we have a flood of letters about this so-called 
“backyard cow.” Here is a sample: 
Your recent issue contains article relative to milch 
goats. This has been very interesting to me, as my 
family consists of but my wife and self, and a cow in 
consequence appears more than necessary for our needs. 
Can you recommend a goat, and where could a pair be 
obtained and at about what cost? Instead of a pair 
I should have said trio, as two does would without 
doubt be necessary. H. D. M. 
As a theory this “backyard cow” proposition is a 
good one, but as a fact there are drawbacks. The 
worst one is the goat itself. A true milch goat is 
worth nearly as much as a cow—at least the breed¬ 
ers will not sell one much below the price of a 
good family cow. They all seem to be figuring on 
the future demand, and consider it better business 
to hold their best stock at very high figures. Some 
ordinary goats seem to be for sale, but at this time 
the really good ones are held at breeding prices, 
which are far above the goat’s real value as a milk 
producer. In the course of a few years the “back¬ 
yard cow” will get down to the business of filling the 
family milk bottle. Just now she seems to be worth 
too much to posterity. 
* 
Now comes the Oregon Agricultural College with a 
champion hen. She laid 1)9 eggs in 100 days and 
2S3 eggs in nine days short of a year. This is not a 
“Tom Barron” Leghorn either. She is not even 
“purebred,” but an egg hen: 
“What breed is she? The only answer to that ques¬ 
tion is that she is an egg breed,” said Professor Dryden. 
“She was bred from a strain of good layers, and this 
is the encouraging feature of the record. We have her 
ancestry for several years. Her dam was the product 
of crossing a Barred Plymouth Rock and White Leg¬ 
horn, her sire was a sou of her dam, a White Leghorn 
male that has produced a great number of good layers. 
She is, therefore, a product of in-bred good layers of 
different breeds.” 
There is a hen which certainly had to “act like 
father’s folks.” At a poultry show she would not 
have been noticed by the judges, yet as a layer she 
walks up to the head. These poultry contests are 
doing a great thing for the actual business of pro¬ 
ducing eggs. It is hard to understand the position 
of the so-called poultry papers in ignoring these con¬ 
tests. They apparently do it to please the fanciers, 
who seem to think that feathers rather than eggs 
form the most important hen product. They may 
keep on their high horse for a while longer, but it 
is only a question of time before they will have 
to get down to the ground—where the people live. 
BREVITIES. 
Frost still keeps away from us—but rains stays by. 
A bumper crop bumps the farmer harder than any 
other class. 
Frost may hurt the corn, but the root crop keeps 
on growing. Mangels beat silage this year. 
We handle seed corn on the basis of 56 pounds a 
bushel of shelled and 70 pounds a bushel of ears. 
Keep the cellar doors shut at night. A neighbor 
stumbled through an open door the other night and was 
nearly killed. 
A FEW weeks ago we gave the story of several new 
chestnut varieties which promise to be partly or en¬ 
tirely blight proof. There is no way of obtaining wood 
or nuts of these varieties yet. They will be tested more 
completely. 
