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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FAIMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 408 Pearl Street, New Park, 
Herbert W. (Iolunowooi), 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, $2.04, equal to 
8s. 6d., or 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 swmdlorwill be publicly ex¬ 
posed. We protect subcribers 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. r We depend on our old friends to make this 
known to neighbors and friends. 
* 
We believe that as a Summer spray lime-sulphur or 
some other sulphur compound is to take the place of 
Bordeaux Mixture. It will make a welcome substitute, 
but most fruit growers will, very properly, wait until 
practical men have given thorough experiment. We 
ask for reports of actual work with this fungicide. Let 
us not discard Bordeaux through faith alone, but only 
through good work in the orchard. 
* 
As some of the members of the Solanum family are 
poisonous, this fact has been seized upon by certain evil- 
minded persons to discredit the Wonderberry. 
That is taken from an article entitled “Seeing Bur¬ 
bank” in the Boston Transcript. We have already 
heard from several thousands of those “evil-minded 
persons.” They seem to be everywhere, and their 
evil minds will follow with great interest Mr. Bur¬ 
bank’s discussion of the three falsehoods and one 
half truth put before him on page 591. 
* 
That Whiting Nursery Co. is still hard at it in 
Orleans County, N. Y. In one case he threw a bundle 
of trees into a farmer's front yard and called it a “de¬ 
livery.” The farmer paid no attention to them, and 
during his absence* Mr. Whiting came, carried the trees 
to the back of the house, and heeled them in. This he 
claimed made them real estate—but it did nothing of 
the sort. There seems to be no doubt that Mr. Whiting 
can offer large samples of the smoothest verbal soft 
soap that ever came out of contact with lye, and he 
needs it right now as never before. 
* 
Just read that statement on page 582 about parcels 
post in Germany. Think what it might mean to you 
if we had, in this country the privilege which the Ger¬ 
mans enjoy. Those “careful consideration” gentlemen 
in Congress will give you all sorts of excuses. Senator 
Scott, for instance, says Germany is no larger than a 
single county in West Virginia. Mr. Scott will know 
better soon. He is likelyto be relieved of his Senatorial 
duties so he can go to school and study geography. 
Then there is Mr. Allen of Maine, who asks why 
Americans do not move to Europe. Thank you, we 
will stay right here and keep changing Congressmen 
until we get a set that are not frightened out of a 
year’s growth whenever they see a country storekeeper. 
* 
The internal revenue commissioner has testified 
that under the present law the oleo men are carrying 
on a constant and widespread system of evasion. The 
courts decided that the oleo law was separate and 
distinct from the general revenue laws. Consequently 
inspectors do not have the right to force entrance to 
examine and seize illegal goods, which they do have 
with whiskey, tobacco or other articles. As n result, a 
tremendous business in illicit coloring of oleo has 
been developed. Millions of pounds of white oleo 
are bought as such, paying the nominal tax of one- 
fourth cent per pound. It is colored in violation of 
the law, usually at night, when the revenue inspectors 
cannot enter the premises, and later sold as butter. 
A large part of this fraudulent work is done by 
grocers and dealers. There is no question about the 
facts. Minor court decisions favor such frauds. For 
example, one court decided (that a box containing pack¬ 
ages of oleo is not legally empty so long as any of 
the original packages remain in it. Under such a 
decision a grocer might buy a box of oleo properly 
stamped with revenue stamps. He could expose this 
box to show that the tax had been paid, but by leaving 
three cr fev.r pounds in the box he could ke p adding 
more and more of the stuff which he had artificially 
colored on his own premises. Thus that box of oleo 
would hold out like the widow’s cruse of oil. This 
has been done repeatedly, and it is only one of many 
tricks played by the oleo men. By thus evading the 
law they help keep up the high price of butter and 
permit the colored oleo to be sold at an enormous 
profit. While they can thus evade the lav/, they make 
more on their oleo than they would if the entire tax 
were removed. Their outcry against this tax is 
largely a bluff to call attention away from the game 
they are now working. What is needed now is an 
amendment changing the law in some respects, so that 
the commissioner can handle oleo violations as whiskey 
frauds are treated. Give him the power and he will 
stop the illegal sale of colored oleo. 
* 
Just imagine what those land boomers in Florida 
or on the Pacific coast would do if they had the facts 
stated in that article on Massachusetts farming! Com¬ 
paratively few people have given a thought to farm 
possibilities in the old Bay State—yet where can you 
go and find a more favorable set of farm conditions? 
The land is of fair quality, manure and fertilizer as 
cheap as anywhere, transportation good and markets 
unsurpassed. Think of a farmer leaving these con¬ 
ditions to be scorched and eaten by insects in Florida, 
or stung by pioneer hardships in the Northwest! For 
many years Eastern farming was in disrepute because 
other sections were pouring cheap food into our mar¬ 
kets. Now the stream is coming with decreasing vol¬ 
ume, while the markets are better than ever. We do 
rrot realize what a great country this is until we stop 
and analyze the possibilities of some of the oldest 
corners of it. You see the hope for farming is not 
all in the newest sections of country, but in those 
grown gray with age as well. Next week we shall 
give another illustration of this in the story of a 
Texas man who feeds cattle on cactus. 
* 
We have been asked what to do when some fake 
concern continues to send circulars and demands for 
business. There are many good ways of cutting off 
such leeches. We give the remedy applied by one of 
our Massachusetts readers. This man received cir¬ 
culars of a “home cleaner,” for which extravagant 
claims were made. His wife wrote for full informa¬ 
tion about it, only to receive more circulars. Then 
our friend took a hand with the following letter: 
My wife lias just handed me your letter and circulars 
for perusal and reply. She asked for information about 
the cleaner. She received a lot of statements largely 
about the labor and ineffectiveness of sweeping. As a 
housekeeper of 30 years or more that is largely lost on 
her. Also she is told much about the prospective prospects 
of agents. All the actual information about the cleaner 
is the cut of the implement in action. You fail to say, 
so far as 1 see, how to operate, but I infer by closing 
and opening the handles. That, I know, is an exceedingly 
fatiguing motion. The implement looks entirely inadequate 
to meet the conditions and your claims. A guarantee is a 
good thing, but it is not automatic in action, and often 
requires more force to make effective than to sweep a 
room. If you will show us your advertisement in The 
R. N.-Y. we shall then believe your guarantee to be easily 
operative. Until you can so show us we must decline to 
do business. E - i.. s. 
Naturally we have no sort of objection to the use 
of this form of letter by others. That would be 
cooperation. 
I do not think you are right in figuring cost of team 
40 cents per hour on cost of crops. What arc you figuring 
for, a profit on your finished product or on each operation 
that goes in to make up the product? Because a 
farmer can get $4 or $5 for a day’s work when there 
is a demand for such labor is no reason why he should 
figure at that rate on all his crops. I figured out carefully, 
investment, loss, etc., allowing about 200 days’ work per 
year, and concluded 10 cents per hour more than covers. 
I see that is the charge made at Wadsworth’s farms. 
F. E. R. 
Our friend does not quite understand what we are 
trying to get at. Can a farmer earn $2 a day for 
himself or $4 with hrs team? We a*re out to answer 
that question. Mechanics and other workmen at trades 
earn that and more. A farmer who owns or operates 
a farm ought to get wages for his labor and also an 
investment on his capital. Does he do it? No one 
seems able 'to tell, therefore we have started this 
investigation to find out. Several reporters frankly 
state that if they start in to pay themselves what they 
would have to pay for skilled labor in other lines the 
crops will cost more than they will sell for. Very 
well, let us demonstrate the facts, whatever they may 
be. We start with the proposition that man and 
team ought to be worth as much on the farm as on 
the road or anywhere else. There is no way to an¬ 
swer the question except by working it out. If crops 
will not pay us any such wages, we will next proceed 
to find out why. Perhaps it is because we raise the 
wrong crops, or do not handle them properly, or do not 
get a fair price for them. At any rate, the plan is 
to start with good wages for ourselves and see if we 
get them at farm labor. You will see that Mr. Allen 
of Ohio, now 5S P. /loes get f hem on his or.t crop. 
May 21, 
We have now read hundreds of letters which Con¬ 
gressmen have written to our readers in reply to 
those parcels post questions. The most interesting 
thing about them is the evident opinion these public 
men have of country people. Most of them write in 
a patronizing sort of way, as if they were addressing 
children or persons of very moderate intelligence. 
Somehow that seems to be the way a farmer appeals 
to these political gentlemen, and many of them are 
getting a rude shock in *the replies they receive to 
their childish letters. They learn, perhaps for the 
first time, that the men on the hills, beside the cow 
or behind the plow, have been going to school where 
the hard schoolmaster, experience, holds the rod. 
Taffy, free seeds and buncombe have lost their power 
as the great political trinity. This free-for-all fight 
on parcels post has been a great eye-opener for the 
average Congressman. He might far better have a 
bulldog hanging to his clothes than a dozen Knights 
of the Postage Stamp after him. 
* 
As a rule there is not much in British political cam¬ 
paigns that directly interests Americans. Just now, 
however, the English nation is wrestling with two 
problems which are of a world-wide interest. The 
last English election turned chiefly upon these ques¬ 
tions. First, how shall public revenues be raised? 
England is a “free trade” country—that is, only a 
comparatively small proportion of the revenue is 
raised by import duties. The greater part of the 
money needed for public service is raised by 
direct taxation. More and more money is needed, 
and the question of how to raise it must be 
faced. One proposition was to adopt'what was called 
“fair trade,” that is, a moderate tariff largely upon food 
and luxuries. It was argued that this would give 
“protection” to English farmers and produce a fair 
amount of revenue. Opposed to this was the policy of 
making imports free and raising needed revenue by 
direct taxes on property, on franchises, incomes, 
legacies, and, in fact, all forms of. accumulation. The 
English people decided for direct taxation as against 
any form of a tariff. The other great question con¬ 
cerned the Blouse of Lords. This hereditary chamber 
of legislation represents classes like the church and 
the nobility, and gives little if any expression to the 
wishes of the English people. Briefly stated, the 
question is whether the English people consider it 
worth while to support the House of Lords when they 
cannot reach its members with their votes. The an¬ 
swer is against the Lords. Now these questions in¬ 
terest Americans because in this country much the 
same things must be decided. The last tariff bill 
has brought the question of revenues squarely before 
the people. We are sure that a great majority of 
Americans believe that it would be a far better finan¬ 
cial policy for this country to develop away from the 
tariff to more direct forms of taxation. In a way 
the U. <5. Senate represents to many of us about what 
the House of Lords does to Englishmen. Our Sen¬ 
ate no longer represents the people, nor does it fairly 
represent the various States. It is divided into little 
groups representing the railroads, the bankers and 
various manufacturing interests, with little if any 
regard for the rights or needs of the general public. 
In this country the demand is not for the abolition of 
the Senate, but for a new set of Senators elected 
directly by the people or directly responsible to them. 
It is quite natural that two nations, bred from much 
the same stock, though with an ocean between them, 
should hold similar views regarding taxation and 
representation. _ 
BREVITIES. 
Be sure to plan a few dry jobs for wet days. 
Camphor growing in Texas is the latest bait on the 
land boomer’s hook. 
It seems that the oleo makers have been using mustard 
and peanut oil, the object being to add color to the stuff. 
Do not try Alfalfa alone for a permanent pasture. 
Better a combination of grasses, including Blue grass 
and fescue. 
The province of Saskatchewan is to offer $1,000 in 
prizes for the best 10 acres in Alfalfa. There are six 
prizes, running from .$000 to $75. 
Now is the time to make up your mind about a silo 
for next Winter. You can plant the corn now and build 
the silo while the crop is growing. 
In England a dog used for driving sheep or cattle is 
held to be exempt from a license. If fills same dog is 
caught chasing a rabbit the owner must pay the dog tax. 
We understand that in parts of the South there is 
genuine fear of the “comet.” Some people have not even 
plairted gardens, since they fear the end of all things is 
coming. 
After reporting that champion mean man on page 587, 
we are glad to report how 100 Dakota farmers took a 
day off and eaine with teams and tools and plowed and 
planted a sick neighbor’s farm ! 
A Pennsylvania reader tells us how The R. X.-Y. 
skipped one generation and now comes hack to the family : 
“My grandfather and his father both took The R. X.-Y., 
hut my father, being in business in the city, did not. I 
have come hack to the farm and am numbered among 
your n<‘V7 puh^crih—- ” 
