jsiio. 
THE RURAX. NEW-YORKER 
63a 
THE PHYSICIAN AND HIS PATIENT. 
As a brother farmer who has spent 
about 15 years in the practice of medi¬ 
cine. perhaps I can answer a few of 
the questions suggested by “S. A.” on 
page 367. He feels that he has been 
victimized by members of the medical 
profession in that they have accepted his 
money for aid which they have not 
rendered, and he compares this transac¬ 
tion with the taking of money for goods 
which do not prove to be as represented. 
In the first place let me say that “S. A.” 
and his wife have my sincere sympathy, 
as I read between the lines of his com¬ 
munication a story of discouragement 
following vain efforts to recover health, 
without which life wears a dreary as¬ 
pect indeed, but I feel that unless he has 
been exceedingly unfortunate in his 
choice of medical advisers he is not fair 
in accusing them of taking money for 
services which they have not given, for 
he should know that honest, intelligent 
physicians do not charge for curing their 
patients. In the present state of medi¬ 
cal science, advanced though it is, few, 
very few diseases are cured by the phy¬ 
sician, and whatever attitude in the mat¬ 
ter they may be compelled to assume, 
by the laity, no one appreciates this fact 
better than the doctors themselves. Cure 
of disease is directly brought about by 
the natural recuperative forces of na¬ 
ture, and remedial measures are directed, 
if intelligently directed at all, toward 
establishing and reinforcing those na¬ 
tural powers of resistance to disease 
which are inherent in all living tissues. 
No physician can tell in advance whether 
a cure can be brought about in any 
given case or not, consequently no 
honest physician ever promises a cure. 
He simply engages to bring to his pa¬ 
tient’s aid all the measures of relief 
which the accumulated knowledge of 
years of medical research affords. If 
he does this intelligently and con¬ 
scientiously and if he exhibits in each 
case the knowledge and skill which it 
is his duty to possess, and which the 
public have a right to expect of him he 
has done his full duty, and is entitled 
to compensation, even though his ef¬ 
forts have been of no avail. In short a 
physician charges for his services, not 
for cures. 
Possibly the physicians employed by 
"S. A.” have not frankly explained this 
to him, and if they have not, his state¬ 
ment that he has employed a dozen or 
more may suggest a reason for this lack 
of candor on their part. I believe it true 
that the majority of physicians, while 
not as frank with their patients as they 
would like to be, are as honest as they 
dare to be, for, O, the credulity of man¬ 
kind ! Particularly of sick and suffering 
mankind. Unwittingly they encourage 
fraud and put a premium upon deceit. 
How eagerly they listen to those who 
come to them with boastings and prom¬ 
ises, and what scant patience they have 
with those who feel compelled to tell 
the plain and ofttimes unpalatable truf^ . 
In their anxiety to secure relief they are 
ready to grasp at straws and to lay 
aside much of the judgment which char¬ 
acterizes their other actions in life. 
Those human ghouls, the patent medi¬ 
cine fakers, understand this and profit 
by it. 
If the friend mentioned who was 
duped by an alleged electrical cure for 
rheumatism had exercised the same 
judgment that he probably would have 
exercised in the purchase of a compli¬ 
cated machine with which he was un¬ 
familiar, he might have saved both his 
money and the mortification of knowing 
that he had been swindled. The average 
man who desires to invest in something 
with which he is not familiar first seeks 
expert advice in the matter, but how 
many who are attracted by the extrava¬ 
gant claims made for some alleged cure 
before investing their time and money 
ask the opinion of a competent and re¬ 
liable physician who may fairly be sup¬ 
posed to possess expert knowledge in 
these matters? Or how many, if they 
chanced to get such an opinion would be 
guided by it? There seems to be in¬ 
grained in the human mind a longing 
for and a belief in the miraculous, par¬ 
ticularly in matters relating to disease, 
and it is upon this form of credulity that 
vendors of proprietary cures wax fat. 
Strict honesty also compels the admis¬ 
sion that some legally qualified practi¬ 
tioners of medicine are not above taking 
advantage of*this same human weakness 
to increase their prestige with the laity. 
The practical question then is, how are 
those who are untrained in medical mat¬ 
ters to protect themselves from such 
frauds? 
Probably the best advice that can be 
given them is acivice that would be 
equally applicable to the problems which 
arise in the other affairs of life. Exer¬ 
cise fully all the discernment with 
which you may be endowed, and in mat¬ 
ters concerning which you cannot hope 
to be intelligently informed consult those 
whom you believe to be best equipped to 
give you expert advice and in whose 
judgment and honesty you have the most 
reason to place confidence. 
M. B. DEAN, M.D. 
TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF CHEMICALS. 
I. (! art he, Michigan .—In a recent news¬ 
paper article Prof. J. W. Sanborn made 
the following statement: “I have used 
chemicals for 35 years, and this year took 
off a crop of Hungarian millet and a crop 
of potatoes that makes the thirty-first since 
any application of any yard manure, and 
the twenty-seventh since chemicals were 
applied and continued annually. As at 
Itothamsted, the chemical manure leads 
yard manure. For Hungarian, the thirty- 
first crop was at the rate of 7,013 pounds 
to the acre, and potatoes 395 bushels per 
acre.” I wish you would induce Prof. 
Sanborn to make himself clearer in regard 
to this manure question. The field in 
question might have had manure or 
chemicals off and on within the stated 
periods. Nor does he state what amount 
or what grade chemicals used in order to 
get such good results. 
Ans. —In answer to Mr. Garthe, I will 
say that in 1876 I began the experimental 
use of chemical fertilizers on Wilson 
Farm, the family inheritance from the 
original forests. During my 18 years 
of absence from that date my father 
continued them after his own manner 
until my return in 1894. Among other 
sections he included a walled acre that 
had been manured in 1877 and laid 
down to grass. In 1881 annual appli¬ 
cations of chemical fertilizers were be¬ 
gun. For a few years he applied 300 
to 450 pounds of potash and phosphoric 
acid, including 36 pounds of sulphate of 
ammonia. Then apparently doubting 
the economy of the nitrogen supply 
dropped it and used on one side floats 
for the phosphoric acid and on the other 
half acid phosphate. I may say that the 
sulphate of ammonia increased the crop 
and that the floats clearly gave better 
returns than the acid phosphate, al¬ 
though it should be said that the side 
having floats had also a light applica¬ 
tion of common land plaster. Other 
pieces on the farm, however, confirmed 
the successful use of the floats. They 
are yet in common use with me. I make 
these passing notes without detail, as 
they do not bear directly on the question 
addressed to me. 
At the end of 15 years, when I com¬ 
pletely changed the design of the acre 
lot, I summed up the balance sheet of 
the acre under the light dressing given 
it, and found that the total crop had 
been 44,443 pounds hay, worth standing 
$219.84, and that the cost for chemicals 
and their application had been $93.58, 
giving a net yearly income of $8.42. 
Since this period one-half the area has 
been in grass and the other half in crop 
rotation of eight years, eight crops be¬ 
ing fertilized differently. A few skips 
of annual application of fertilizers have 
been made under the press of other 
business or from oversight. The crops 
inquired for by Mr. Garthe were the 
twenty-ninth since chemicals and thirty- 
third since yard manure. The amount, 
though the season was an abnormally 
dry one, was quite above average re¬ 
turns. This is accounted for in the fact 
that witch or quack grass had driven 
out the Timothy and taken possession of 
the tillage half. The sod was turned 
and harrowed in the Fall and every 
week until the middle of June, when it 
was sown to Hungarian, while the til¬ 
lage section had potatoes for a crop. 
Fertilizer used for the Hungarian was 
180 pounds nitrate of soda, 300 pounds 
of floats and 150 pounds muriate of 
potash, a combination that I do not 
commend, while for the potatoes there 
were used 400 pounds nitrate of soda, 
160 pounds of muriate of potash and 
400 pounds acid phosphate. This for¬ 
mula is not to be commended, but the 
results of 7,013 pounds of Hungarian, 
despite a very severe drought, and of 
395 bushels of potatoes, is good for the 
twenty-ninth crop to chemicals, however 
treated. The ground was cutting a ton 
of hay to the acre when the trial year 
began in 1881. I should add that the 
Hungarian was over dried and the crop 
more than standard in this respect. No 
yard manure had been applied during 
the 29 years. j. w. sanborn. 
New Hampshire. 
Mare With Kidney Disease. 
We have a mare 20 years old or more. 
For over a year she has been passing dark 
red water; it began to be thick and yellow¬ 
ish first, then grew red and finally darker. 
She would strain and groan terribly when 
passing water. We gave her two bottles 
of a specific for kidney and bladder trou¬ 
bles ; since then she has not groaned, but 
is no better otherwise. What can I do 
for her? s. l. b. 
Maine. 
Have her bladder examined by an ex¬ 
pert veterinarian as we suspect that it 
contains a stone or gravel, and these might 
easily be removed by operation. If there 
is no such cause there is chronic disease 
of the kidneys, and at her advanced age 
there is little hope of recovery. Suitable 
treatment would be ten drops of fluid ex¬ 
tract of belladonna leaves and half an 
ounce of fluid extract of raw palmetto com¬ 
pound two or three times daily ; or the 
veterinarian may have some medicine that 
be considers especially indicated after ex¬ 
amining the mare. a. s. a. 
The proof of 
the Hay Press 
Is its capacity and earning power. Spencer X 
Hay Press Catalogs make great and dellnite 
claims. Every claim is proven by the press In ac¬ 
tion or no sale. Contract protects you. 11 covers 
every claim by positive Ugures. The nature of the 
contract itself should convince you of the absolute 
superiority of the press. Send „_ 
for our new catalog K. Please/JJ Write 
mention this paper when / j\?r~ ■ us now. 
you write. 
J. A. SPENCER 
t 
• Rabbits. 
Chickens, Hogs, Sheei 
attle. 160 styles, 
>. 9 galvanized Coiled 
Spring rust proof wires. Will defy _ 
stock, wind and weather. Free sample 8 
& cat'g. 15 to 35c per rod. We pay freight 
The Brown Fence & Wire Co., 
DEPT. 59 Cleveland, O 
Cents a Rod 
For22-in. Ilog Fence; 15 3-4e for 
26-inch; 16 3-ic for 31-inch; 22e 
for 34-inch; 25e for a 47-inch 
Farm Fence. 50-Inch Poultry 
Fence 33c. Sold on 30 days 
trial. 80 rod spool Ideal Barb 
Wire $1.55 Catalogue free. 
KITSELMAN BROS., 
Box 230 MUNCIE, INO. 
FENCE 
Strongest 
Made 
Madeof High Carbon Double Strength 
Colled Wire. Heavily Galvanized to 
prevent rust. Have no agents. Sell at 
factory prices on 30 days’ free trial. 
Wo pay all freight. 37 heights of form 
and poultry fence. Catalog Free. 
COILED SPRING FENCE CO. 
Box 263 Winchester, Indiana. 
LAWN FENCE 
Many designs. Cheap as 
wood. 32 page Catalogue 
free. Special Prices to 
Churches and Cemeteries. 
Coiled Spring Fence Co. 
B0X314 Winchester. Ind. 
1 
Cheap as Wood, 
ii logossosilisseeegiWfQilioalz i<8>»i . 
... ..111111111111111111111 mm 
'.<>.<><><581 j I |88888888888888888>:<88>! S88888 
i>a<8888i i ; i888>:<885>:<8885>:<8»:<>:<»:<>:<>^>:<>: :<>?>:<>:<>:<>:< 
Wemanufscturo Lawn and Farm Fence. Sell direct 
shipping to users only, at manufacturers ’ prices. Nv 
agents. Ourcatalog is Free. Write for it today. 
UP-TO-DATE Mf G. CO. 936 10th St., Terre Haute. Ind. 
A NEEDLESS RISK. 
Laxness in the Selection of Roofing Material 
Pays a Tremendous Cost in Fire Losses. 
New York City boasts of one of the 
most efficient fire departments in the 
world. During a recent year in that 
metropolis 279 fires, or over 23 fires 
a month—almost a fire a day—were 
caused by sparks and burning embers 
falling on the roofs. 
In Philadelphia the report for 1906 
of an equally efficient fire department 
shows a total of 355 fires caused by 
sparks. 
The report of the fire department of 
Watertown, New York, shows that 
sparks were responsible for nr re fires 
than any other cause, except careless¬ 
ness in the handling of lamps and 
stoves. 
The fire record for 1907 of Atlanta, 
Georgia, shows 166 fires— SO per cent of 
the total—were caused by sparks on 
roofs. That of Birmingham, Alabama, 
shows 136 fires from the same cause in 
one year alone. 
These figures do not include the 
numerous chimney fires, when the latter 
did not spread to the roof. 
They do show, and they prove con¬ 
clusively, that an inflammable roof is an 
ever-present danger. Some rooling ma¬ 
terials, instead of being a protection 
from fire, really attract it by their com¬ 
bustibility. 
These showings, which are taken from 
official records, should be enough to 
make one think twice before covering 
his building with a combustible roof. 
And after thinking twice, he will in¬ 
vestigate. He will not need to consult 
experts, though perhaps an opinion from 
one or two would not be out of place 
here. 
Professor James M. White, super¬ 
vising architect. University of Illinois, 
is enthusiastic for slate. “A good slate 
roof is the most economical roof that 
can be put upon a building,” he says, 
“especially from the standpoints of fire 
protection and durability.” 
Under the title of “The Exposure 
Fire Hazard” the editor of the Ameri¬ 
can Contractor, of October 19th, 1907, 
said: 
“Reliable statistics tabulated from ob¬ 
servations of several years, established 
the fact that nearly one-third of the 
fires are chargeable directly to the ex¬ 
posure hazard.” 
In weighing these facts one should 
not fail to compare them with the fire 
danger of such inflammable materials as 
shingles or tar, pitch and asphalt, which 
form the basis of most composition or 
“ready” roofings. 
Protect Your Home 
Against Fire 
The cheapest insurance is a 
roof of slate—a roof that is 
absolute proof 
against sparks from 
adjacent fires. With such 
a roof upon your house, barn 
or outbuildings you are se¬ 
cure from this danger— 
you pay lower insurance 
and are forever free from 
expensive repair bills, 
for a roof of slate 
never wears out— 
warps, cracks or needs painting or repairs. 
Sea Green and Purple 
Roofing State 
is absolutely indestructible. It is solid 
rock —quarried from a depth of 200 
feet below the earth’s surface—sprit 
into convenient form for laying and 
in this natural state is ready 
to put on your house or barn. 
Send For This 
Booklet Today 
All that you want to 
know about ‘'Roofs’* 
is told in our 18-page 
‘ij*> booklet. Information 
that will save you 
money in the final se¬ 
lection of a new roof 
for any building—is 
yours Tor the asking . 
Sign and mail the coupon 
and we will send it without a penny of cost. 
The American Sea Green Slate Co .4 
(Roofs that never wear out) 
HO Clark Street, Granvlllo, N. T. 
% 
Sign and Mail this CouponToday 
The American Sea Green Slate Co., 
HO Clark Street, Granville, N. Y. 
Send tile Book “Roofs”and name of the nearest dealer in 
Roofing Slate to thiB address: 
Same ...... 
A dtlresa ...... 
Town .... State . 
S Style Roof . 
■ -ApproTf mate Size, 
3a imbsi lanaasaa 
■ ■■BaBiiaa3iaiaa &■■■ 
