2^0 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 2G, 
The Rural New-Y orker 
THE BVSI NESS FARMER'S PARER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1S50. 
Published weekly by the Kural Publishing Company, 409 Pearl Street, Hew York, 
Herbert W. Collingwood. President and Editor, 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wsi. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Hoyle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8s. 6d.. or 8*9 marks, or 10 ^ francs. Remit in money order, 
express order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates 50 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 
responsible person. But to make doubly sure we will make good any 
loss to paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler 
advertisingiu ourcolumns, and any such swindlerwill be publicly ex¬ 
posed. We protect suberibers against rogues, but we do not guarantee 
to adjust trilling differences between subscribers and honest, respon¬ 
sible 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 time of the transaction, 
and you must have mentioned The Rural New-Yorker 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. 
* 
We call attention to the following letter: 
I would like to make application through your paper 
for samples of cream which cannot be churned into butter. 
The cream can be sent by mail in a small bottle holding 
one-half to one ounce. The bottle and cork should be 
boiled for 10 minutes, cooled, then filled nearly full with 
cream that will not churn, packed with cotton in a paste¬ 
board box addressed to W. M. Esten, Storrs Agricultural 
Experiment Station, Storrs, Conn. Postage, one cent for 
each ounce. An outfit for mailing samples will be fur¬ 
nished on application to the above. 
During the year we often have reports from people 
who say they cannot churn certain samples of cream. 
There must be some definite reason for it. Prof. 
Esten wants to learn what the reason is. You can 
help him! 
* 
I found a copy of your publication in a bale of prairie 
hay, dated about two years ago. Of course the hay was 
fresh cut about that time, but where it had been stored 
during that time is another story. Kindly send me a copy 
so that I may become a subscriber. J. a. e. 
Savannah, Ga. 
We print that as an illustration of the strange 
ways in which The R. N.-Y. is often introduced to 
new readers. The paper goes into every nook and 
corner of the country, and it would seem as if every 
reader considers himself a sort of missionary to help 
push it on. We have hundreds of readers who saw 
their first copy in some unexpected place—like that 
mentioned above. We do not believe there is a paper 
in America with stronger and more active friends 
than those who go about talking “R. N.-Y.” 
* 
Last year a reader complained that a commission 
house would not pay him for a shipment of produce. 
The firm has a good rating, but for some reason 
failed to pay for the goods. After some correspond¬ 
ence the money was sent and we mentioned the fact 
in print. Now we have a letter from another reader 
who had been for some years trying to collect from 
this same firm. When he saw the statement he 
wrote again, saying that he would report the case to 
The R. N.-Y. He had not heard from them before 
in five years, but to his surprise he got a letter the 
next day saying they would look the matter up at 
once. Then they added: “We never had any 
correspondence with The Rural New-Yorker in onr 
lives.” It doesn’t matter much, but we have copies of 
the correspondence here. We merely give this as an 
illustration of the way some of those things work out. 
* 
When a bank takes $100 of a farmer’s money, it 
is obliged to submit to legal inspection and oversight. 
To that extent at least the farmer is protected. When 
a commission merchant takes $100 worth of a farmer’s 
produce he can usually do what he pleases with it. 
He makes certain returns and deducts certain charges, 
and unless the farmer is rich and powerful or has 
strong friends he must take what is offered him. 
Imagine what would happen if savings banks could 
handle depositor’s money as loosely as commission 
merchants are permitted to handle a farmer’s goods! 
Then when you have figured that out tell us why the 
cash should be given sounder protection than farm 
produce which represents cash. As we see it there 
is the whole story of the effort to give legal protection 
to farm shippers. We have the documents here to 
prove that hundreds of such shippers have been 
shamefully robbed. We believe such a law as that 
now before the New York Legislature would drive 
many of the “snides” out of business and prove a 
blessing to the reliable and honest merchants. 
The Nightshade Family. 
This is a pretty good name for the picture papers yon 
list. One thing, however, is fortunate. These papers have 
a limited circulation among the hard-fisted farmers. They 
go mainly to amateurs about the cities, men of wealth and 
country places. I have so far not seen one real farm 
paper advertising the Wonderberry this season. After 
what has been said concerning it, it takes some nerve for 
a farm paper to advertise it. w. e. m. 
We referred to the papers named as the “aristoc¬ 
racy” of the farm press. The old French aristocracy 
had for its motto “ Noblesse oblige.” A rough-and- 
ready translation might state that by reason of their 
position they felt obliged to be, noble. This ob¬ 
ligation appears to be more lightly attached to the 
“aristocracy” of the farm press. Three more farm 
papers have now joined the nightshade family. Here 
they are: 
The Western Fruit Grower. 
Successful Farming. 
Ghxen’s Fruit Grower. 
All of these papers know better. One of them 
gives an excuse so lame that it drags both feet. It. 
is a high tribute to the farm press in general that 
these papers stand alone! But what man do you 
suppose goes the limit, and not only puts h'is paper 
in the nightshade family, but gets into it himself? 
The answer ought not to be hard. It is our plausible 
friend, E. G. Lewis! He prints the Sunberry adver¬ 
tisement in “The Woman’s Magazine” and then uses 
the statements in Childs’ catalogue as the text for an 
eloquent editorial. He sees in the history of this 
plant the story of his “American Women’s League!”. 
Very likely, without fully realizing it, Mr. Lewis is 
as near right as he ever was in any of his state¬ 
ments. The Wonderberry got through a season on 
“hot air” and curiosity. It is now repudiated by the 
highest horticultural authorities, classed with a com¬ 
mon weed, and turned down by the reputable farm 
papers and put among plants containing poison by 
expert chemists. And yet Mr. Lewis sees in the story 
of this plant the history of his American Women’s 
League! 
* 
SATURDAY, MARCH 12!!! 
I was very much pleased to read a request that every 
subscriber write on March 12 to their Senators and Con¬ 
gressmen requesting them to work for parcels post. If 
you can get them all to do it. it would have a tremendous 
influence at Washington. I hope you will keep right at 
them. Tell them to have their hired man and their sons 
all write too, and all write separate letters. c. w. b. 
Massachusetts. 
We women must uphold the editor of The R. N.-Y. in 
his plan of stirring up our representatives in Washington 
on the question of parcels post by a concerted action on the 
12th of March. There should, if we women alone do our 
duty, be such a snowstorm of letters coming down on the 
devoted heads of our representatives, that they will realize 
their constituents have waked up. 
New York. mks. e. e. de graff. 
Ballinger is skatiug where the ice is mighty thin, 
Taft has handed him a pole lest he should tumble in, 
Allds is on the griddle and the griddle’s mighty hot, 
Farmers, up and at them! Tell them tchat is what! 
Congress is in session, Cannon’s loaded too, 
Says a parcels-post bill, won't be carried through; 
Congress is in session, oleo is ou the spot. 
Farmers, up and at them! Tell them what is what! 
j. F. c. 
These letters are but samples of many. We can 
promise the greatest snowstorm of letters ever known 
in Washington. And these letters will not be mere 
collections of words, but they will carry the con¬ 
victions of men and women who mean business, and 
who are sick and tired of delay and temporizing. 
Now you know that The R. N.-Y. does not claim 
any particular power for itself. We might stand 
here and talk until we were black in the face, and 
the politicians would laugh at us if we had no evi¬ 
dent backing. When 400,000 men and women play 
the stamp act on them they will not laugh;, it will 
be the most serious time they have struck in years— 
for a new Congress is to be elected this year. So 
remember the date (March 12) and up and at them. 
Make them say yes or no on parcels post. They can 
compel the Government to try the experiment on 1,000 
rural routes if they want to, and they will “want to” 
if they find you mean business. Now then, ladies and 
gentlemen, we have done our part—it is up to you! 
* 
In spite of all we have said we get letters signed 
“A Subscriber,” “A Friend,” or with some other 
anonymous signature. These letters often make 
serious charges against individuals or business houses, 
and demand that we print them with endorsement. 
Of course, no notice can be taken of-such things. 
Life is too short, or rather too long, to spend time 
on people who will make serious charges, or expect 
us to make them, and then fail to stand openly back 
of the charge. We desire to do all we can. legiti¬ 
mately. to expose evil and fraud, and we should have 
the backing of readers in order to make such exposure 
effective. Whenever one man denounces another or 
casts suspicion upon him one of the first principles of 
fair discussion requires that he back up his charges 
with his name and the facts. One reason why The 
R. N.-Y. has been able to help its readers along this 
line is because people come up man-fashion with 
definite statements, and prove them openly. We do 
not pretend to be any match for politicians or wire 
pullers at secret games or insinuations. We must 
come out openly if we are to work at all, and there¬ 
fore anonymous letters or charges are of no use to us. 
* 
• 
A short time ago the English soldiers tried their emer¬ 
gency rations on one hundred men and their officers. They 
marched 14 to 20 miles a day and cooked the rations 
themselves. Only one man got sick and that chap ate 
some nightshade berries. It may have been Wonderberry. 
California. w. j. b. ai. 
I wish you could have seen a young lady in this neigh¬ 
borhood after she had tasted one of those miserable “Won- 
derberrios.” She is pretty, all right, but the face she 
made when she had bitten the thing would have broken a 
looking glass or a kodak either. w. c. c. 
Virginia. . 
We have been waiting patiently for our friend John 
Lewis Childs to print that letter from Dr. Greshoff 
given on page 113. We might offer a valuable reward 
to the first person who can find it in his catalogue 
or advertisement. Suppose we say that as such re- 
. ward we will assign and deliver as a free gift our 
claim on Mr. Burbank for the $10,000 lie offered for 
proving the connection between Wonderberry and black 
nightshade! Now let Mr. Childs consider the notes 
printed above. He will see the danger which threat¬ 
ens society when the pretty girls break mirrors with 
their faces and soldiers fall out of the ranks. Does 
not this peril to the flag and the fair sex appeal to 
him? 
k 
I expect to purchase, this Spring, about one-half ton of 
barbed wire, and I would like you to tell me whether there 
is any way in which I can test a sample of the wire, 
eilher by chemicals or otherwise, to determine the quality 
of the galvanizing? In other words, how can I toll good 
wire when I see it? c. v. 
There is a chemical test for wire which manufac¬ 
turers and large consumers use. It is known as the 
copper sulphate dip test and consists in dipping the 
wire in a solution of sulphate of copper of a certain 
strength. This test involves a knowledge of chemistry 
and experience with metals which puts >t out of the 
reach of a farmer. We see no chance for a sure test 
which consumers could safely use. They would better 
leave such tests to chemists, as they do analyses of 
fertilizer or feeds. The time has come, however, when 
no man should buy a large quantity of wire except on 
a chemist’s guarantee that the galvanizing carries the 
proper amount of zinc. The chemical test is not 
expensive, and we believe there are many commercial 
chemists in the country who would make such tests 
for a small charge. They could take half a dozen 
samples of wire, and in a short time tell how much 
zinc they carried. We believe that this is to be 
the true basis for buying wire in the future, and we 
shall do our best to encourage and develop such tests. 
BREVITIES. 
When you hurry so that you put a stitch in the side of 
time you save nothing. 
The latest is a cement land roller made In sections 
strung on an axle. It is said to pack the soil well. 
Talking of “sports,” or bud variations, perhaps that 
accounts for Mr. Pease’s 350 Bartletts that all bore Sheldon 
pears, page 231 
This is a good time for the housekeeper to make a few 
pointed remarks about the advantages of the home garden. 
Just how much variety does your vegetable cellar show 
at this season? 
In some of the larger towns the plan of furnishing steam 
heat to a number of houses from some central point is 
growing; householders pay for the heat supply on about the 
same plan as light or water. 
When a man has some cheap fertilizer or tool to sell it 
is a very cunning trick to say, “give it a trial anyway— 
no matter what these wise men say!” Of course if they 
can get 1,000 or more people to “try it” in this way they 
can sell all they start out to—and then it doesn’t matter. 
Here is a tip. In sending a stamp on a letter to be 
used in replying moisten the center of it and stick to the 
paper. Then it can he taken off and used easily. When 
you moisten one corner and stick it that corner pulls off 
bare and mucilage may be necessary to put it on an en¬ 
velope. 
“Potato canker,” a so-called new disease, is reported 
in Newfoundland—brought there in a cargo from Scot¬ 
land. This “canker” appears to be different from our rot 
or blight, changing the tubers to a mere mass of pulp. 
If this prove to be a new disease potatoes from Great 
Britain should be kept out of this country. 
For the first time in five years European eggs have 
been coming into New York in quantity during the past 
few weeks. They are preserved with a thin film of paraffin, 
and are said to be fresher in flavor than cold storage stock. 
They are retailed without deception, the paraffin film 
being left on. They are wholesaled with profit at 23 to 24 
cents a dozen, after paying five cents a dozen tariff duty, 
and four cents freight charges. 
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