Ju'.y 10, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 18&0. 
Published weekly by the Hural Publishing Company, 409 Pearl Street, New York, 
Herbert W. Oollinowood, President and Editor, 
John J. I>ILI/)N, Treasurer and General Manager. 
VVm. 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. Gd., or HH> marks, or 10‘s francs. Remit in money order, 
express order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at Now 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.” 
Wo 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 our columns, and any such swindler will be publicly ex¬ 
posed. We protect suberibers against rogues, but we do not guarantee 
to adjust trifling 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 advertisor. 
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. c We depend on our old friends to make this 
known to neighbors and friends. 
* 
We ask you to read every word of the article on the 
next page, headed ‘‘Other People’s Money.” We have 
the records of a case that is even worse than this. 
You will see that Mr. Verguson invested money be¬ 
longing to an old lady, 90 years of age. We might 
suggest that Mr. Lewis try to induce this lady to join 
the American Woman’s League. 
* 
% 
Wu,i< you go to the country merchant in your town 
and ask him directly how lie stands on parcels post? If 
he opposes it will you write out a fair statement of his 
arguments and sent it to us? If he favors it, tell us 
why. We would like to get the records from many of 
these country merchants. If their arguments against 
parcels post are sound we would like to present them 
for discussion. We believe that most of them would 
not oppose an extension of parcels post. 
* 
One of our readers ordered beardless barley from a 
seedsman. When it got to the age of showing its char¬ 
acter it raised a beard like Robinson Crusoe’s. The 
farmer took sample beads and sent them to the seeds¬ 
man from whom he bought the seed, with a statement. 
In reply he received this edifying note: 
Wo have your card regarding beardless barley. This 
we certainly purchased as beardless barley, and evidently 
it is bearded. We are sorry for this, and beg to ask if it 
makes any special difference to you. 
Did you ever see anything to beat that? This farmer 
had no use for bearded barley, and he relied upon the 
seedsman’s reputation. Now it seems the seedsman 
did not know what he was sending out. 
* 
Every year the public is called on to examine into 
various poultry “systems”—at so much per system. 
The poultry business seems to be a favorite resort for 
crooks and horn-blowers, and the trouble is that the 
worst crook can blow off the straightest song. All 
these so-called “systems” have enough of truth to 
form a foundation for exaggeration and the “secret” 
feature attracts the unwary. The American Poultry 
Association might well get into business with these 
systems. Let a strong committee be appointed to make 
a thorough investigation and then a public statement. 
That is what should be done if a man put a new fer¬ 
tilizer or a new food on the market. Why not the 
same with a poultry “system?” Who could be ex¬ 
pected to do this better than the A. P. A.? What is 
this organization for? 
* 
Just as we predicted, the Government is after the 
“butter blenders.” Various machines for “blending” 
milk and butter are on the market. You take a pound 
of butter and a pound of milk, put them together in 
the machine and turn the crank—and you have two 
pounds of butter. As milk is seven-eighths water, the 
foolishness of such a claim ought to be evident to any¬ 
one who can think, yet we have been bitterly denounced 
by people who claim that this “blend” is fully equal to 
butter. We have warned such people that they would 
be liable to arrest and fine if they tried to sell this mess, 
for standard “butter” must not contain over 1(5 per cent 
of water. Some of them thought they knew better and 
tried to sell the “blend.” They have been arrested, and 
are liable to fines aggregating nearly $500. There is no 
law to prevent anyone from using this milk and butter 
in his own family if he wants to. When it comes to 
selling it as butter, we warn our readers again that 
they will have trouble. The Government will go so 
far as to watch the papers which advertise these “blend¬ 
ers” and spot the buyers. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Three weeks ago we stated that manufacturers of 
grain harvesters did not consider the plan of using a 
light gasoline engine to run the working parts of the 
machinery practical. We now have letters from sev¬ 
eral farmers who are using such engines successfully. 
Last year many thousands of acres of grain were saved 
through the use of these engines. The season was wet 
and teams could not have hauled the harvester through 
the soft ground. The little engines drove the .working 
parts, leaving only the weight of the machinery for 
the horses to pull. The reports are not “dreams” or 
big stories, but plain statements of fact, and we are 
glad to correct the impression made by the former 
note. We are also told that these small engines are 
used in some places for operating hay stackers or 
unloaders. 
* 
The New York Legislature refused to pass even an 
apology for a primary election law. There was a gain 
over the vote given at the regular session, but not 
enough to win. Taking both Senate and Assembly 
together 75 Republicans and 11 Democrats voted for 
the primary bill, and 44 Republicans and 61 Demo¬ 
crats against it. The vote for the bill came largely 
from the rural counties. In only some half dozen 
cases did a man who represents a country district 
without a large city oppose the bill. Under all the 
circumstances it is surprising that primary legislation 
received the support it did. When Gov. Hughes 
started the reform two years ago the people of New 
York were prepared to back him to any extent. A 
great majority of them wanted then as they want now 
a chance to get rid of the politicians who have for 
years stood between them and the Legislature. They 
knew that the plain people in Western States by 
means of the primary were knocking down the barriers 
and gaining direct control of candidates. They wanted 
the same privilege here, and they were ready to fight 
for it. After weeks and months of apparent inde¬ 
cision, Gov. Hughes presented a bill which practical 
men must have known was inadequate. It was evi¬ 
dently prepared by a band of theorists who knew little 
or nothing of political conditions in the country. This 
bill aroused no enthusiasm, yet defective as it was, 
it could have been passed as a starter if Gov. Hughes 
and his friends had stood up boldly for it. Instead 
of doing so they began to compromise and give way 
in order to “save the party.” It is generally under¬ 
stood that Senator Root started this in his efforts to 
hold the political machine in line. At any rate, the 
Legislature finally acted on a mongrel bill patched 
and compromised to suit the politicians, New York 
City and other "interests.” Of course the politicians 
could beat such a bill. The great wonder is that the 
desire for primary reform is so strong that so many 
members supported this hybrid compromise for the 
sake of the feeble start which it would give for purer 
politics. We believe to-day that if Gov. Hughes had 
stood out boldly for the real principle of primary 
nominations and refused to compromise in any way, 
he would have won. The people were ready to sup¬ 
port him, but when they found him compromising and 
giving way to the politicians they lost heart. There 
was no chance for any moral issue in the Cobb bill 
which finally came before the Legislature. The politi¬ 
cians knew this, and they were able to stand up in 
brazen-faced effrontery simply because the best argu¬ 
ment made for this Cobb bill was that it would "save 
the party.” Gov. Hughes has done his part in calling 
attention to political abuses, lie failed because he 
permitted the issue to be shifted from one of public 
morals to political expediency. Some new man must 
be found to lead the army. The friends of primary 
reform may be disappointed, but they are not discour¬ 
aged. There will be a hotter fight than ever this Fall. 
* 
It is quite possible that Mrs. Dan McCarty, of 
Texas, will some day have a monument erected to her 
memory. She is the first person to make and sell food 
articles made of cotton-seed flour. She offers cotton¬ 
seed bread, gingerbread, doughnuts and a suggestive 
compound known as Jeff Davis plum pudding. This 
cotton-seed flour is the ground seed or meal so treated 
as to remove the hulls and give a finely ground pro¬ 
duct. In composition it resembles dried meat. It 
contains on the average twice as much protein as or¬ 
dinary fresh meat. In making bread and the other 
foods the cotton-seed flour is mixed in different pro¬ 
portions with wheat flour. Thus cotton-seed bread 
contains over 14 per cent of protein and nearly five 
per cent of fat, while ordinary white bread has about 
nine per cent of protein and a little over one of fat. 
The difference in composition of the gingerbread is 
even greater. Thus the cotton-seed flour goods will 
partly take the place of meat or cheese. It is not yet 
known how much cotton-seed may safely be eaten, but, 
beyond question, this use of the flour for human food 
is of great economic importance. It is quite likely 
that Mrs. McCarty, in demonstrating the practical 
value of her bread, cake and puddings, will do as 
much for the South as the scientists who show the 
theoretical value of food. We believe that during the 
next 20 years the diet of the great majority of Ameri¬ 
cans must be changed and made over as has been done 
in Europe. The average human will require as much 
food as ever, but the great change will come in the 
character of the protein or flesh-forming food. There 
will be less meat to furnish this supply. More cheese 
or food like- this cotton-seed flour will be used. In 
fact, we feel confident- that 20- years from now Alfalfa 
meal will be used successfully for human food. 
* 
On a memorable July day three years ago Frank E. 
Dawley came with his attorney to The R. N.-Y. office 
and demanded that we retract and deny statements 
which we had made about him. They gave us the 
choice of retracting or being served with summons 
for three libel suits aggregating $150,000. As we 
knew the statements we had made were true, we told 
these gentlemen to go right ahead and start their suits. 
They did so, and Mr. Dawlcy’s last remark was “ That 
will bring you to time.” Somehow such men always 
seem to think a paper will not dare face a libel suit 
openly. We have no doubt he believed that these suits 
would frighten us into silence, for he went back to 
Syracuse and had an announcement printed in the 
papers. Within 48 hours after this publication letters 
began to pour in upon us with information and offers 
of help. We received in this way just the evidence 
needed to make our case absolutely complete. Those 
who volunteered this information did not consider it 
wise to come into the battle until they saw that we 
were under fire. Then they acted at once. History 
is repeating itself in the case of E. G. Lewis. Stung 
by the truth as we have put it before him, he made the 
bluff of serving papers in suits for $560,000 damages 
upon an advertising agency in St. Louis. He thought 
that bluff would work with the women who are sup¬ 
porting his league. At once the Western newspapers 
seized the opportunity to print the charges in these 
suits. In this way they are able for the first time to 
print the things which Lewis has tried so hard to keep 
from the public. As in the cattle case, no sooner did 
these papers appear than letters began to pour in upon 
us from people who had previously remained silent. 
There are offers to raise a fund to help fight the case. 
Others come forward with just the facts needed to 
show every crook and turn of Lewis’s twisted career. 
Much of this might have escaped us had not the pub¬ 
lished bluff of those suits convinced our friends that 
the time had come for them to take a hand. And in 
addition to all this is the moral support of countless 
friends—some of whom we have never seen. The fol¬ 
lowing letter from A. 1. Root is a sample of what is 
coming: 
We have seen the Woman’s National Daily, anil the 
statement that they had sued you lor over half a million 
dollars, etc. Our hoys were feeling worried about the 
matter, hut I told them that I was sure you hud good 
counsel to advise you in all this work, and another thing, 
i felt sure all along that Lewis bubble would burst with 
a big collapse. 1 have been watching for it almost ever 
since he started, and have been surprised that lie kept on 
so long. 8o may God be with you and advise you and 
direct you in your grand work for protecting those who 
urgently need just such protection. You may be sure 
that I shall remember you in my prayers if nothing fur¬ 
ther. Your old friend and a reader of Tixe R. N.-Y. for 
more than fifty years. a. i. root. 
Ohio. 
Now what do we care for Lewis and his cheap bluff 
of half a million libel suits when men like A. I. Root 
volunteer such encouragement as this? We appreciate 
the offers of financial help and the legal evidence 
which comes every day, but the most satisfying thing 
of all is the fact that people whose opinion we respect 
understand our motives in this conflict. In publishing 
his libel suits Mr. Lewis has made trie fatal error of 
all bluffers, for his victims and enemies are many. As 
one of them writes us, “I am glad to know that some 
one is ready to stand up to them!” 
BREVITIES. 
The early-cut hay makes the milk. 
Earliest reports indicate a large hay crop. 
It's the wind rather than the sun that “cures” the hay. 
About August 10 is the latest date for sowing millet in 
our latitude. 
Never attempt to sow Alfalfa on unsubdued sod or soil 
that has not been well tilled. 
We try to cut the oats and peas for hay just when 
the little peas are forming in the pods. 
About every time we hear a plain statement of mule 
raising in the East we have a story of a successful en¬ 
terprise. 
Here is one from an Australian subscriber: “The sur¬ 
vival of tiie fittest is borne out once more when literature 
of your choice and production has reached to such a re¬ 
mote corner of the globe as the southern part of Tas¬ 
mania.” 
We understand that the so-called “molasses feeds” are 
going out of business. An honest mixture of molasses 
and grain ought to be profitable, but too much chaff and 
weed seed were used. We see what conies came from one 
such feed at Fig. 306. 
