THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May 7, 
548 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 409 Pearl Street, New York. 
Herbert W. Collinowood, President and Editor, 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, .Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Hoyle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.M, equal to 
8 s. 6 d., or 8*2 marks, or 10*2 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 
advertising in ourcolumns, and any such swiudlerwill 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 wo be responsible for the debts of 
honest bankrupts sanctioned by tiio 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 fanners who do not now take it, we send it 
10 weeks for 10 cents for strictly introductory pur¬ 
poses. c We depend on our old friends to make this 
known to neighbors and friends. 
* 
Keep in mind that milk case which wc reported on 
page 297. S. K. Bellows, of Delaware County, N. Y., 
brought suit against Inspector Raynor, of the N. Y. 
City Board of Health, for damages caused by rejec¬ 
tion of milk. It is expected that the case will be tried 
at Delhi in May. This is a test case to determine the 
standing and rights of the city milk inspectors. Great 
interest is manifested all through the dairy regions. 
Mr. Bellows is not forced to make the fight alone, for 
fanners are coming to his aid, and making common 
cause with him—as they ought to do. 
* 
That is a good argument for a full supply of humus 
in the soil advanced by Prof. Roberts on page 542. 
When soil not supplied with humus freezes there is 
no expansion laterally or sidewise. The result is 
that the force of the expansion is thrust upward, lift¬ 
ing plants out of the ground. Where the soil is full of 
humus we can easily see that part of the force could 
he expended laterally. We have had proof of this in 
the behavior of strawberries and young trees. It is 
one of the reasons why we want the strawberry fields 
packed as full of liumus as we can get them. 
* 
A short time ago I got a ticket to the side show. 
Now I want admission to tbe main tent. Enclosed find 
price. 1 must say that your paper is worth the money. 
Michigan. e. k. w. 
A trial subscription to The R. N.-Y. is hardly a 
side-show ticket. It admits one to the regular per¬ 
formance—it is all under one tent. The only difference 
is that the “trial” gets but 10 issues, while the regular 
stays for the continuous performance. Wc try to 
make this so varied that no one will go to sleep. If 
you will stand up and say yon do not get your money’s 
worth your money will be refunded at the door, and 
we shall be pleased to have you tell us where you get 
more for a dollar. 
* 
Last week we spoke of a new bill to regulate the 
commission business in New York. It was introduced 
in the New York Assembly, April 20, by John M. 
Lupton, a seed grower and farmer of Long Island. 
This bill makes the proposed legislation a part of the 
agricultural law, as will be seen from the copy printed 
on page 549. ‘The Commissioner of Agriculture is to 
collect and distribute figures and facts regarding prices 
and market conditions. Commission merchants in cities 
of first and second class must take out license and 
give bond for $5,000. This bill differs from the other 
in several respects. The Commissioner of Agriculture 
will enforce it, the bond is smaller and facts and 
figures are to be given. It will be a good thing for 
shippers. By all means help pass it. 
* 
Gov. Chas. E. Hughes, of New York, has accepted 
an appointment to the U. S. Supreme Court. He will 
assume his new duties on October 10. Formerly the 
appointment of a lawyer to the Supreme bench was 
generally accepted as a matter of course without par¬ 
ticular comment regarding his personal views of great 
public questions. Now, however, the great majority 
of our people will ask how a justice stands regarding 
property rights and the holding of public franchises 
and utilities. This increased interest in such things 
indicates a healthy growth of public sentiment We 
think it will be the general opinion that Gov. Hughes 
is a conservative and not as radical regarding the 
Nation’s duty toward the great monopolies as most 
of us would wish. The most disappointing thing is 
that the Governor’s chair will be filled, though only 
for 19 weeks, by Horace White—who carries a coat 
of insurance whitewash. 
You may be interested in the following from a 
Massachusetts reader: 
Government seeds do not come my way this year. I 
liave always had a surplus of them before, but my name 
was scratched off the mailing list this Spring. I pass 
my receipt on to others who may desire to abate the 
nuisance. Protests did not seem to do much good, so I 
wrote our Congressman that I had voted for him at 
every opportunity, and had been heartily with him in 
the course he had taken in Congress, but that if he 
ever sent me another packet of free seeds I would vote 
for the ether fellow every time I had a chance. 
Heroic treatment for a nuisance! Try to get rid of 
one in any other way and see how you come out. We 
understand perfectly that various public men will 
not agree with this, but we care less for their opinions 
than we do for the way they usually respond to heroic 
treatment. 
* 
Volunteers for that farm crop investigation are 
coming in. The work is simple. You take a single 
field of any crop you like, preferably one planted this 
year. Starting with the unbroken ground, keep an 
accurate account of every hour you spend at work in 
the field. For example, see just how many hours 
you spend plowing or harrowing or seeding. Figure 
the hours you work alone at 20 cents and the time 
with the team at 40 cents. Add to this the cost of 
seed and fertilizer. Give us your first report as 
soon as you have the crop in the ground. Then as 
further work is done send us the time. On page 522 
you will find a statement of the cost of a potato 
crop up to the first harrowing. That is what we 
want, and if we could get 1,000 accurate reports we 
could make one of the most useful studies of crop 
production ever published. 
* 
And now the Lackawanna Railroad has joined “the 
movement for education of the agriculturist.” It is to 
proceed by means of books and pamphlets and also 
model farms. This is commendable, but why give all 
the benefits of education to the agriculturists? Why 
not include the plain farmers? They need information 
about growing larger crops, but they also need a 
larger share of what they now produce. Let the 
Lackawanna take 5,000 shipments of produce over its 
road. State the exact net price the farmer receives 
at the car door. Then follow those shipments through 
to the last retail buyer. Get that price and tell us 
in detail just where the difference goes to, and who 
are the people along the line of handlers who are dead 
sure to get their share, no matter what becomes of 
the goods. This is what we call education for farmers, 
and the Lackawanna cannot do any more important 
work than to dig out these figures. 
* 
The Hope Farm man wishes to obtain the school 
figures from your township. What does it cost to 
educate a child? We see from this week’s notes that 
in one locality in Pennsylvania the cost to the public 
for a 10 years’ course in the common school is $160. 
With four years in the high school added the cost is 
$300. How does this compare with your figures? 
There is no effort or intent in this to belittle the 
need of public education or begrudge the sum needed 
for it. We would rather give far more money than 
is now spent if it could be shown that children would 
be really helped by it. The time has come to get 
into all our public expenses and see where the money 
goes. We get no useful results by attempting to 
analyze the enormous sums spent by States or by the 
nation at large. That is why we wish to compare 
the figures for townships and communities. Our peo¬ 
ple can understand these smaller items, and we can 
get more out of them. 
* 
It has never occurred to us that Gov. J. F. Fort, 
of New Jersey, would be likely to go into history as 
one of the world’s great characters. Still, we would 
like to be in his place for the next six months. There 
is' a chance for a. square-cut contest with the Legisla¬ 
ture which would do Jerseymen more good than any¬ 
thing that has happened in years. When the last 
Legislature adjourned some of the members appear 
to have had “a high old time.” Sensational reports 
were printed in the newspapers, and there seems to 
be no doubt that disgraceful scenes were enacted in 
the State House. There was and is a general desire 
throughout the State for an investigation, but the 
members of tbe Legislature, for good reasons no doubt, 
refuse to investigate themselves. When Gov. Fort 
ask's for such an investigation the Speaker of the 
House refuses, and dares the Governor to call an 
extra session for that purpose. There is where we 
would like to take Gov. Fort’s job for a while. The 
Governor of New Jersey has come to be little more 
than a clerk for the Legislature. The constitution 
gives him small powers to begin with, and a long 
line of politicians who have occupied the chair have 
played small politics until you can hardly see these 
powers with a spy glass. What New Jersey needs 
is some Governor who can kick politics out of the 
back door and give actual character and power to the 
executive office. The proposed investigation of a 
few drunken politicians is a small affair, but the im¬ 
pudent bluff put up to the Governor of a State means 
much to the people of New Jersey. If we were in 
Gov. Fort’s place, we would call the Legislature at 
once. If they adjourned without investigating, we 
would call them again, and keep on calling until they 
did their duty. We would treat that Legislature just 
as we would some “smart Alick” of a boy until he 
came to time. The people of New Jersey would stand 
back of just that sort of a Governor, for they well 
understand the evil and folly of the present political 
nest at Trenton. 
* 
The U. S. Supreme Court has decided that “the 
transmission of intelligence” from one State to another 
is as much an act of interstate commerce as any 
traffic in material goods or merchandise. The case 
decided involved a “correspondence school.” This 
had headquarters in one State with pupils all over 
the country. One of its collectors went into a 
Western State and brought suit against a pupil who 
had not paid his dues. The State courts decided 
that the correspondence school could not legally sue, 
since it had not complied with certain State laws. 
The Supreme Court reversed this decision, and de¬ 
cides that instruction carried on through the mails 
•between one^State and another is interstate com¬ 
merce, and that Congress has the exclusive right to 
regulate such commerce. The. men who framed our 
original constitution probably never dreamed lhat any 
such condition would arise. The fact is that now 
these correspondence schools are under Federal con¬ 
trol, as would be the business of a paper or magazine 
which circulated in various States. 
* 
I know of a Mississippi plantation that was ruined by 
the importation of clover seed that contained a large 
percentage of Johnson grass. w. m. d. 
No doubt .of it, though in some parts of the State, 
where stock-raising is the main business, Johnson 
grass is considered a valuable fodder plant. On the 
cotton or corn plantation it becomes a pest, and a 
great nuisance. Many a farm North as well as South 
has been plastered with weeds brought in through 
clover or Alfalfa. Some of these cheap grass seeds 
are foul with weeds. We believe that New York 
State has suffered greater damage through the intro¬ 
duction of such weed seeds than through importation 
of tuberculous cattle. Farmers now have such seeds 
examined at Washington, or by the State experiment 
station. We need strict laws to punish the wilful 
sale of such adulterated trash. You will remember 
that a New York fanner bought seed from the Moore 
Seed Company under “guarantee.” It was pronounced 
“the poorest specimen” the authorities had seen, and of 
course returned. Yet the Moore Seed Company kept 
both seed and money! 
BREVITIES. 
“Something to sow in hot weather to serve for Winter 
horse feed.” That is the frequent call. Soy beans are 
recommended. We usually sow corn fodder thickly in 
drills. 
The latest report is of a farmer in Dakota who uses 
a gasoline plow with strong headlights like those on an 
automobile. These enable him to plow by night as well 
as day, and the outfit can be kept going all through the 
24 hours. 
We have a letter from a dignified gentleman who says: 
“I view with alarm the encroachment upon the rights 
of the common people !” So do we, but we do not intend 
to stand still and “view” it. When a hog roots his nose 
under the fence and there is a club handy, we know 
what to do! The postage stamp is your club. 
Ox page 474 a “greenhorn” asked what to use on his 
' hands when they blistered. We usually get what is 
called for. Here is an answer from Maine: “The best 
preparation for the hands I have been able to find is a 
mixture of best witch hazel extract containing about 
15 per cent alcohol, and glycerine. It strikes in quickly 
and leaves the hands in nice condition.” 
That Dakota plan of placing a collection of diseased 
plants in the rural school is a good one. Right along 
side of it we would like to put a collection of statements 
showing what the products grown in that district bring 
at the farm—and what the final consumer pays for them. 
What is better than the consumer’s dollar to provide the 
basis for school arithmetic? 
During the past 33 years the total loss by fires in this 
country was $4,484,326,831. This loss is growing larger 
year by year. It averages nearly .$600,000 per day or 
$25,000 per hour, or over $400 per minute, or nearly $7 
every time the clock ticks. In the midst of this loss 
the U. S. Government has $300,000,000 worth of buildings 
and spends $20,000,000 more each year. Yet the govern¬ 
ment does not insure its buildings against fire and thus 
saves some $600,000 per year. Instead of insuring the 
Government endeavors to make its buildings absolutely 
fireproof. The Geological Survey is kept busy testing build¬ 
ing materials which are used by the Government and has 
shown that fireproof buildings can be built. There is 
no doubt that the use of concrete, brick and stone is 
rapidly growing in the country as well as in the city. 
The price of lumber has not increased as was expected 
for the demand is more and more for fireproof materials 
and less for wood. 
