744 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July 23, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S 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. Colljngwood. President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. P. Djllon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Hoyle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign conntries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8 s. 6d., or 8 hi marks, or 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 our columns, and any such swindler will be publicly ex¬ 
posed. We protect subcribers against rogues, but wedo 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 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, c We depend on our old friends to make this 
known to neighbors and friends. 
* 
Do not forget those homemade devices for chicken 
men. We wish to get pictures and descriptions of 
the fixtures which help in the chicken yard. Many 
ingenious people have studied out such things to save 
steps or make the hens step for them, or save time 
or money in other ways. We want to show these 
homemade contrivances. They are the children of 
necessity and that means good children. Can you 
help us? 
* 
The first of a series of “Little Alfalfa Sermons” is 
printed this week. We shall give brief statements 
from farmers who have made Alfalfa grow. They 
will tell how they did it. You will see that the first 
sermon is preached by a woman. She thought of stop¬ 
ping The R. N.-Y. because we talked Alfalfa so much. 
At last she concluded that the preparation for the crop 
would not hurt the ground anyway, so she followed 
directions and put it in. Now she wants the paper 
filled with Alfalfa stories. When we start after a 
thing we try to make sure to begin with that it is 
right, and then we try to hang to it like a bulldog. 
If a thing is right the more it is gripped and shaken 
the better it becomes. 
* 
Farmers in parts of the South are hardening their 
muscles for one J. T. Kerr, who claimed to represent 
the American Grocery Co. Kerr is known as the 
“box-car fraud.” He goes into a neighborhood and 
sells groceries by sample. These sample goods are 
fine, and prices are remarkably low. The “box-car 
fraud” usually gets most of his cash in advance. He 
comes to deliver the goods in a freight car. The 
groceries are neatly packed in strong boxes and Kerr 
is very much in a hurry to get away and deliver an¬ 
other order. The goods usually turn out to be trash, 
much of it unfit for use, but the fellow is cunning 
enough to get his money and clear out before he is 
caught. Watch for the “box-car fraud” and box him. 
* 
We are to give during the Summer the essential 
features of the now famous Boston milk war, between 
the farmers and milk contractors. The farmers won 
at least part of what they demanded, but it was a hard 
battle. Boston is a good place for such a fight. Some 
150 years ago they had the “Boston Tea Party” there. 
The people were fond of tea-drinking, but so loyal were 
they that only one case was on record where a real 
American broke the pledge and publicly used tea. This 
old spirit is still alive among the New England farm¬ 
ers, and that was why they hung out and won. Milk 
farmers who supply New York and other large cities 
are preparing to demand fairer prices. Before they 
start it will pay to send reliable men to Boston and 
study the milk situation there. 
* 
Yes, sir, it is true that the Connecticut Pomological 
Society has started in to show the advantages of the 
State’s unoccupied farms. That is good business for 
such an organization to get into. There are many of 
these farms with fair buildings, cleared fields and 
strong soil. Some one must have got money out of 
them in years gone by, or these improvements never 
could have been made. There are still chances for 
homes and fair competence among these Connecticut 
hills. That State has wider contrasts than any other. 
Stand in the square at Hartford and you will be in 
touch with about the richest 20 acres in America. 
Travel a few miles in any direction and you can lose 
yourself in a wilderness. It is because of these great 
contrasts that Connecticut offers chances to settlers. 
There is no doubt that cultivation in a very dry 
time may be overdone. After a loose mulch of soil 
has been made at the surface and the drought con¬ 
tinues, a mass of feeding roots will be formed at the 
bottom of this loose soil or just beneath it. Deep 
cultivation under such conditions is about the worst 
thing that can be done, because the cultivator teeth 
rip and tear out these roots, and they will not be 
easily replaced in that dry dust. The plan of using a 
plank or drag merely to break the crust, suggested 
by Mr. Bollinger on page 740, is a good one under 
such circumstances. At the Haigh school farm near 
Muskegon, Mich., it was found that corn gave the 
best yield when the weeds were pulled, but no culti¬ 
vation was done. The theory of this is that on that 
very light land the water rising through the soil 
evaporates and leaves its fertilizing salts near the sur¬ 
face, and there the feeding roots are formed. Deep 
cultivation would destroy these roots without helping 
the crop to a better water supply. 
* 
Who is the human skylark who goes soaring on the 
following winged words up into the heights of song 
and sentiment? 
I look on it as more than that; as a guarantee that will 
keep red blood in my veins and avoid the ashes of an empty, 
lonely ambition for power and honor, holding to the last 
in its place the love of those I love and the confidence of 
all associated with me. And now it is mo ning. Through 
the night so quickly passed, I have felt your presence, the 
strong support of your womanhood, the greatest force and 
influence in the world. But one thing is missing, a mes¬ 
sage from one far away. Ferliaps to-day will bring that 
too, and the enp will be filled. 
You might not think it after reading the letter 
from Mr. Reed Verguson on page 729, but this sweet 
songster is our old friend E. G. Lewis. What is the 
occasion for this burst of feeling? Mr. Lewis claims 
that 110,000. membership pledges and reservations for 
membership in the American Women’s League have 
been received. At $52 each a school boy can figure 
that this means $5,720,000. Mr. Lewis says that $2,- 
000,000 are still due on “uncompleted pledges,” but 
even with that we figure over $3,500,000 mingled or 
dissolved in this cup of joy. With this he could pay 
those claims and have a little money left. The letter 
which he wishes to complete his happiness may pos¬ 
sibly be from the 90-year-old lady mentioned last 
week whose money was so neatly turned into an 
“interim receipt.” 
No man on earth could hope to fulfil the ideals you 
have woven about me, for they are not personal to any 
rr.an nor do I for one moment take to myself as per¬ 
sonal, the love, the sentiment, the loyalty and the esteem 
which your own beautiful hearts and minds have created 
in your leader. I can only benefit by them in mind, heart 
and soul, drink of them with a hungry heart and use them 
as best I may. ***** 
Whew! 
“Metkinks his honor doth protest too much.” 
It may be the privilege of great men to proclaim 
themselves in this modest and retiring manner, but 
we should have greater faith in a man who quietly 
paid his honorable debts and kept his mouth shut. 
But seriously, is it possible that there are 110,000 
grown-up women in this country who really believe 
in such blatherskite bathos as the above? It seems 
incredible, yet this is a large country. At least such 
women must have level-headed husbands or fathers 
or brothers and they must be greatly edified by the 
picture which such words call up. 
It seemed that the burden lifted. I walked again on 
air and dreamed again the beautiful dreams which we 
are so fast making accomplished things. I hope I may 
never wake, but go on dreaming. 
Life is no dream to Mr. Reed Verguson these days. 
He, too, walked on air, but it was “hot air” provided 
by Lewis, and it burned the old soldier’s feet. We are 
sorry to disturb Mr. Lewis’s beautiful dream, but 
when is he going to pay the 40 odd claims of $20,000 
which we hold? We quote for his benefit the follow¬ 
ing definition of a transcendentalist: 
"One who soars into the infinite and dives into the 
unfathomable but never pays cash.” 
* 
One of the first railroad problems under the new 
law is the proposed increase of commutation passen¬ 
ger rates on the railroads reaching New York. The 
increases demanded will prove a great hardship for 
thousands of workers. New York City is peculiar 
in shape and situation. Three States contribute a large 
share of its working population, and they are obliged 
to travel on the railroads. An increase in rates is 
now demanded that will force many of these com¬ 
muters into pinching economy. There is not great 
hope that the Inter-State Commerce Commission could 
do much in this case. The railroads will show figures 
to prove their great need of money, based chiefly on 
the fact that what they call a fair dividend on stock 
must be paid. It is well understood that with most of 
these roads, like the Erie, this stock is largely water 
which never cost the present owners one cent. If 
our millionaire friends need the money what are we 
supposed to do but come up with it? The money goes 
to the men who “own” the railroads—not to those who 
build them. Those who build automobiles or yachts 
seldom ride in them. Some day the American people 
will wake up permanently. They have had periods of 
wakefulness before, but have usually gone to sleep 
again. 
* 
Alfalfa is making Argentina one of the richest 
agricultural countries in the world. In a smaller way 
Alfalfa is adding great wealth to the section of country 
around Syracuse, N. Y. Wherever this plant thrives 
prosperity follows in large measure. The United 
States Department of Agriculture is testing hardy 
varieties of Alfalfa in South Dakota. Some of them 
are successful, and as they spread they will greatly help 
the live stock industry of that section. Fed in con¬ 
nection with the wild prairie hay, these hardy Alfalfas 
will make that northern country pre-eminent for live 
stock and dairying. 
* 
Under the new railroad bill- the Interstate Com¬ 
merce Commission has power to settle rates, for 
freight and passengers. Formerly the railroads made 
their own rates and these were examined by the com¬ 
mission after complaint. Now no complaint is needed. 
When the new law seemed sure of passing the rail¬ 
roads rushed in with increase of rates on practically 
everything. These rates were to go into effect August 
1, but the commission could not possibly examine all 
before that time, so it has suspended all until a fair 
examination can be made. This will retain the old 
rates for 10 months at least. Among other increases 
demanded was one by the Boston & Maine Railroad 
for carrying milk to Boston. This great increase 
would nearly wipe out the increased price for milk 
gained by farmers in the recent Boston milk war. 
Milk producers have gone to Washington and the old 
rate will probably be retained for the present at least. 
The railroads have begun a campaign for higher rates 
which, if granted, will add 15 per cent or more to the 
cost of living. 
* 
The long fight over the short barrel package in the 
New York market has come to a head at least. The 
New York law states that a barrel of potatoes must 
equal 100 quarts of grain, with a head diameter of 
17^2 inches, with 28*4 inch staves, and a bulge not 
less than 64 inches outside measure. By weight a 
barrel of potatoes must weigh 174 pounds. There was 
a hearing recently before C. J. Driscoll, Commissioner 
of Weights and Measures. A number of commission 
men spoke of the inconvenience and trouble a strict 
enforcement of the law would mean to them. They 
hinted at a “potato famine” for New York in case 
the “short” barrels are thrown out. Mr. Driscoll did 
not take kindly to this talk. 
“The only question here is the standard barrel of New 
York city, and if the Norfolk barrel or any other barrel 
that does not come up to this city’s legal standard is sent 
here and any of you dealers sell it as a barrel of potatoes 
I have the right to ta'ke you by the arm and lead you to 
the nearest police station and charge you with a misde¬ 
meanor. I’m paid to uphold the law, and when I start in 
to enforce it I am answered with threats of a potato 
famine and that I am interfering in the busiest time of 
the year Nevertheless I can’t sit here and close my eyes 
to open violation of the law. I have a letter here from a 
merchant which shows that recently he bought a barrel 
of potatoes that weighed only 132 pounds. So loose is 
the practice that of 100 bags of potatoes which we 
weighed—and you say the bag is the nearest to the 
legal standard—no two bags weighed the same. They 
ranged from 153 pounds down to 120 pounds, instead of 
averaging 174 pounds.” 
We have bought sacks of potatoes which varied 
about as much as the weights here mentioned. Yet 
they were all sold at a fixed price per “sack.” No 
date is yet made for strict enforcement of this law, 
but it is evident that when such date is really set 
there will be no weakening. As a rule. New York 
dealers are not cheated by the short barrel, for they 
know it when they see it and make the price accord¬ 
ing to size. The cheating is done with the scales 
and measures used in the retail trade, and the poor 
are robbed in this way unmercifully. 
BREVITIES. 
Barley and peas for a Fall cover crop. 
An ice cream freezer is a good farm tool. 
About the last call for corn fodder and millet. 
The Ohio Experiment Station will make an exhibit at 
26 Ohio fairs this year. This exhibit does not compete 
with others, but simply shows what the station is doing. 
It is time to think seriously of that “cover crop.” We 
would not seed it if the soil is too dry. In that case it 
will rob the regular crop and make but a poor growth 
itself. 
Potato blight has appeared in Australia, and is giving 
great trouble in many sections. Its arrival in Australia 
creates a new and large business in spraying materials 
and fixtures. 
We did not realize how grain cradling has gone out of 
fashion until we tried to hire a cradler. There are still 
some situations where if you raise grain a cradle or scythe 
must be used. 
