842 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established. I860. 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company. 409 Pearl Street, New Turk. 
Herbert W. Ooujnowood, President and Editor, 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. P. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Koylk, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8 s. 0d., or 8*2 marks, or 10*2 francs. Remit in money order, 
express order, personal check or bank draft. 
Enterod 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 backod 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 oureolumns, and any such swindlerwill be publicly ex¬ 
posed. We protect suberibers 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 Nkw-Yokkkr 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. We depend on our old friends to make this 
known to neighbors and friends. 
♦ 
A market gardener near New York made a great 
success on a small farm. The amount of produce he 
sent to market was astonishing. The commission mer¬ 
chant who handled this produce thought he saw the 
road to fortune by way of "back to the land.” So he 
leased this small farm and started in on scientific 
methods. He dropped $6,000 before he quit. It is the 
man back of the land. If we could only make some of 
these would-be farmers realize that we could save 
them the high price they pay for the knowledge. 
* 
Of all the Eastern States Maine is the most thor¬ 
oughly agricultural. Farming has always been the 
chief business, and will continue to be. While Eastern 
farmers are naturally more conservative than those of 
the West, they have much the same public problems. 
It is not surprising therefore that Maine is the first 
Eastern State to take up direct primaries in true 
Western fashion. The Grange in Maine is doing great 
work along these lines, and setting an example which 
the New York Grange might well follow. See the 
article on page 838. 
* 
Do those Albany legislators imagine that Mr. Roosevelt 
lias come home to help work out these great problems by 
supporting the sickening political parasites who have cursed 
New York so long? They know better.—It. N.-Y., July 2. 
That is what we said two months ago. Since then 
there have been lightning changes in politics. The old 
gang, sometimes called the “old guard,” have bluffed 
and twisted and lied in their efforts to discredit Presi¬ 
dent Taft and Mr. Roosevelt. They know that they 
are to be wiped off the map just as soon as the people 
can get at them. Get right behind Roosevelt and 
what he stands for, and drive these infernal pirates into 
the lake! 
* 
The annual contest between apple growers and buy¬ 
ers has already begun. “Supply and demand” cuts a 
good figure here. The buyers usually try to prove that 
the crop is heavy, and that they can easily get what 
they need. This year they claim a considerable gain 
over last year in New England, about the same in New 
York and a large increase in Virginia, Delaware and 
other Eastern States. It is generally agreed that the 
Middle West will be short, since both Illinois and 
Missouri report less than last year. All agree 
that the Far West has a heavy crop. Our 
reports show that the buyers have put New Eng¬ 
land and New York too high, while the demand for 
apples will be greater than last year. While Canada 
has a heavy crop, Europe is short. It is never safe to 
make final decision at this season, but the present out¬ 
look is in favor of growers, and they ought to obtain 
good prices for good fruit. We shquld not be in any 
hurry to make contracts. 
* 
Right now is the time for thinking about the nitrates 
in the land. There is more or less organic matter in 
your soil. This came from manure, roots and vines 
of farm crops or weeds. As it stands this organic 
matter will not feed crops, nor will it be lost out of 
the soil under ordinary conditions. With heat and 
moisture, however, this organic matter begins to de¬ 
cay, and as this takes place the nitrogen becomes more 
and more soluble. In warm, moist soil, during late 
Summer, this decay goes on until nitrates are formed. 
These nitrates are soluble in water, and one of two 
things will happen. They will be taken up by living 
plants to form more organic matter, or they will be 
washed out of the soil and lost. They are not retained 
as we see potash and phosphoric acid are (page 834), 
but are lost unless saved by living plants. Now these 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
nitrates are being rapidly formed in the soil of your 
farm. The drought has heated the soil, and when the 
rains come this organic matter will decay rapidly. So 
long as corn, potatoes and other crops are alive and 
growing they will take care of the nitrates, but frost 
or maturity will end these crops, and the land will be 
bare except for a few hardy weeds. Then your nitrates 
will be lost and it will be just like throwing good 
manure or fertilizer into the brook. Why not keep 
the soil covered with some living crop and save these 
nitrates? Rye and vetch or barley and peas will do 
this work and save you money. Do not let your fields 
remain bare. 
* 
STATE REGULATED MILK PRICES. 
East week we showed that milk is an absolute 
necessity to human society. When any set of men 
in4erfere with its fair distribution and sale, the State 
is justified in compelling them to give up their unfair 
monopoly. Such a monopoly has for years existed in 
New York. In 1882 the Milk Exchange Limited was 
organized. Its sole purpose was to fix by agreement 
the price which its members should pay producers for 
milk. In 1895 the Milk Exchange was dissolved and 
its charter vacated on the ground that it was a mono¬ 
poly. It at once incorporated in New Jersey under a 
new name, but continued to meet in New York and 
still fix the price. They organized a “committee on 
values,” which committee would pass a resolution like 
the following: 
A recess was then ordered, subject to the call of the 
chair, and on reassembling the chairman on values re¬ 
ported that in the judgment of his committee they found 
the value of milk to he $—— per can of 40 quarts, less 
freight charges from each respective shipping point, to¬ 
gether with an allowance of five cents per can for cart¬ 
age. The report was duly accepted. 
It was hoped that in this way, by substituting 
“values” for price, the illegal work of the Exchange 
could be covered up. Another childish method to 
cover their real purpose was the plan of having these 
new prices sent out on postal cards by the Milk Re¬ 
porter, the organ of the Exchange. Borden’s Con¬ 
densed Milk Company also sent out a schedule of 
prices which average during the year about the same 
as the Exchange price. A farmer must sell his milk 
by one of these prices. He has nothing to say about 
making the price, and must either take what they 
offer him or keep his milk at home. Thus it has come 
about that during the past two years or more the 
average cost of production has run one-half cent or 
more per quart less than the dealers have paid. Of 
course this is an old story to milk producers, but con¬ 
sumers do not yet understand it. If a similar case 
were found in transportation the Interstate Commerce 
Commission would at once give relief by compelling 
the corporation which held up shippers to give fairer 
service. A milk commission could compel the milk 
dealers to pay the farmers a fairer price. Under our 
present laws these dealers still combine to fix prices. 
If they cannot do it any other way they form a “gen¬ 
tleman’s agreement”—just meet at dinner and suggest 
to each other that the price must be so and so. And 
not only do the milk dealers combine to cut the price 
to farmers but also to put up the price to consumers. 
It was practically impossible to prove that the raise in 
price last Fall was the result of a combination. A 
number of competing milk dealers may sit down at 
dinner together and each one say he thinks the price 
should be raised. That may be just as effective for 
“restraint of trade” as a written agreement, yet no 
one could prove in court that any illegal agreement to 
raise prices had been made. The fact is, however, that 
the consumer of milk is at the mercy of these dealers 
through their “gentleman’s agreement,” while the 
farmer is also at their mercy, since he has nothing to 
do with making the price. They are both held up, 
and wc shall show next week that neither high price 
to consumers nor low price to farmers was justified 
by economy, since the dealers were and are making 
extravagant profits. Owing to its short ) ; fe milk can¬ 
not be held back when prices do not suit—like grain 
or potatoes or butter and cheese. That is where the 
dealers have an advantage, and through their "gentle¬ 
man’s agreement” they can evade the laws. The sug¬ 
gested remedy is a milk commission to regulate the 
price of milk to consumer and to producer, allowing 
the latter a fair price for his labor. 
* 
We did not expect to begin a thorough discussion 
of the workings of the American Woman’s League. 
Our business with Mr. Lewis is the collection of vari¬ 
ous claims which our readers have against him. Mrs. 
Tener and other capable women will take care of the 
League proposition. They started as ardent admirers 
and defenders of Mr. Lewis, but were capable of mak¬ 
ing a fair and discriminating judgment. They have 
simply reached conviction in advance of the others. 
And these women have been convinced by Mr. Lewis 
himself, through his failure to keep fair promises, and 
by his actions in rushing through this “Final Plan.” 
- September 3, 
While the noisier members of that convention were 
singing and shouting and voting without thought or 
reason, there were many business-like women who 
saw through the farce. They were forced, regretfully, 
to admit that the “managers” of the League had no 
use for women with brains or business capacity. The 
management wants the class of women who are taken 
by the “guff” and balderdash which Lewis pours out 
in such floods of words. In the meantime let us not 
forget that The R. N.-Y. holds about 50 just claims, 
aggregating nearly $20,000, against Mr. Lewis. We 
want them paid. 
* 
President J. G. Schurman, of Cornell, tells the 
farmers that direct primary nominations are good for 
small communities only. If we understand his argu¬ 
ment before the Grange picnic at Silver Lake, Mr. 
Schurman claims that true popular government or 
direct legislation “is the true way to despotism and 
destruction.” He cites Rome and Athens as examples 
of failure of pure democracy and says that we must 
have a representative form of government. We dis¬ 
claim any ability to discuss history with college presi¬ 
dents, but our reading is that Rome was destroyed 
by conquest and her standing army. Just so long as 
the Italian farmers and freeholders could make their 
influence felt Rome prospered. Athens never was any¬ 
thing except a commercial city, and her history af¬ 
fords no fair comparison with a great agricultural 
country like ours. After whipping the rest of Greece 
Athens destroyed herself in failing to conquer Syra¬ 
cuse. Both Athens and Rome depended upon mer¬ 
cenaries to fight their battles, just as under the present 
system we are turning our public affairs over to poli¬ 
ticians. There is nothing in the primary laws which 
the politicians have beaten in New York which de¬ 
stroys representative government. The president of 
Cornell ought to realize that the farmers and free¬ 
holders of New York are a very different class of peo¬ 
ple from the Greeks and Romans who let soldiers drive 
them into slavery. We do not find any such dismal 
view among the voters in States where direct nomina¬ 
tions have been tried. Here, for example, is a note 
from an Iowa farmer, a fair type of the men who have 
made the West what it is: 
I see you people are having a hard time getting a 
primary, and you will hear all kinds ol' hard stories 
against the primary laws of Iowa and Wisconsin and 
other Western States to discourage you. No matter 
what reports are made against the Iowa law it is a 
success, and gives the individual voter the right to ex 
pi ess his individual convictions, and he is not disfran¬ 
chised by a gang of hired grafters annually manipulating 
caucuses. More take interest in it now, as at my pri¬ 
mary, where but 25 to 30 used to go to caucus, now 
80 to 130 attend. w. i. 
That is the way 90 per cent of our western farmer 
correspondents talk. There is no chance for repealing 
those primary laws—they will, on the other hand, be 
made stronger. With all due respect for Dr. Scliur- 
man’s historical theories, we take far more stock in 
the testimony of western farmers who see that through 
direct nominations they are obtaining what they never 
could get under the old system. Our New York 
farmers for years listened to wise men and politicians, 
and yet observed that western farmers have steadily 
gone past them in political power and favor. Now 
they begin to see why this is. Those western farmers, 
through the direct nominations, have been able to 
grapple the politicians at close quarters. In New York 
the politicians hold them off with a 10-foot pole. 
BREVITIES. 
Piece of gold or peace of mind. Which are you work- 
lug for? 
Russia is using chemical fertilizers— 234,000 tons were 
imported in 1909. 
The interest on the mortgage may decrease the child’s 
interest in the farm. 
Well, gentlemen, we have done our part in this Alfalfa 
campaign. Have you done yours? 
In digging soil from an Alfalfa field to use for inocu¬ 
lation go wherever the small roots extend. The best is 
near the surface. 
Tell us which is the better form of fodder cutter the 
one with knives on the balance wheel or together on a 
shaft. Why is one better than another? 
The “Boston Milk War" came to a point where the 
milkmen asked Gov. Draper to call an extra session of 
the Legislature to regulate railroad rates for carrying 
milk. The governor refused, but has written tin- rail¬ 
roads calling for a reduction of rates. 
“Concerning article entitled ’Government Agricultural 
Bulletins,” page 802, advise readers to write to their 
Senators and Representatives instead of the Department 
of Agriculture. They will then get them free. I much 
dislike the method, but I get the Year Book all right that 
way," says E. C. M. 
Tin: British postoflice is using automobile trucks to 
convey the heavier class of mails from London to Bir¬ 
mingham, a distance of 113 miles. These automobile 
mail wagons connect with similar wagons along the 
route, which distribute to smaller towns. In this man¬ 
ner a wide territory receives better service and there i* 
a gain in cheapness. 
