The rcureAii new-yorker 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A Nation*! Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Published weekly by tbe Kura] Publishing Company, 409 Pearl Street, New Pork. 
Herbert W. Collingwood. President and Editor, 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
WM. P. Dillon, Secretary. Mits. E. T. UorLts, Associate Editor. 
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poses. We depend on our old friends to make this 
known to neighbors and friends. 
♦ 
The first report of a crop sale of apples comes from 
Monroe County, N. Y. This states that Alexanders 
were sold at $4, Duchess at $3.60, and remainder of 
orchard, firsts and seconds, at $3 per barrel. This is 
from a famous orchard with a wide reputation for ex¬ 
cellent fruit. The figures merely show possibilities, 
and in no way represent what should be paid for 
ordinary apples. 
* 
The majority of the committee which has been inves¬ 
tigating the record of Secretary Ballinger evidently 
meant to hold up its report until after the elections. 
Last week the minority on this committee forced a 
vote and passed a resolution condemning Ballinger 
and calling for his removal. This does not give the 
views of the entire committee, and will probably be 
overruled. It will force the final report before the 
election—and without doubt expresses the opinion and 
desire of the great majority of the people. 
* 
What have you ever done for women? What have 
you ever done for anyone except yourself? 
These are a couple of burning questions shot at us 
by a warm admirer of E. G. Lewis. They seem to 
comprise the sum of her argument in reply to Mrs. 
Tener’s recent statement. We fear this good lady has 
us cornered, for of course any answer we could make 
will he compared with the long and swelling list of 
noble services rendered by Mr. Lewis. We realize that 
a list of the really helpful things we have done for 
others would seem so poor and mean by the side of 
Mr. Lewis’s “superb” record that a blank space or a 
vacuum would seem more impressive. But stay—here 
is something which may perhaps count! Lewis bor¬ 
rowed money from a number of poor women, and 
would not pay it back until The R. N.-Y. published 
the facts and turned the light on him. Then he paid— 
and these poor women are good enough to say that 
they would not have had the money if we had not 
helped them. We offer therefore this humble con¬ 
tribution to a list of possible good deeds, that we have 
made Mr, Lewis pay a few of his debts. 
* 
Silo filling has begun in the North and the whirl 
and roar of the cutter is heard in tbe land. For dairy 
stock at least the silo is the best place for the corn crop. 
Now and then there is complaint of sour silage. It 
may he the entire contents of the silo, or only part of 
it, will turn out so acid as to he quite objectionable. 
Air, sugar and water in excess are usually responsi¬ 
ble for this condition. Sweet corn stalks are more 
likely to turn sour than those of field corn. Wet, 
inmature stalks, especially where they are not well 
tramped down, will not make good silage. Of course 
a silo that leaks air will waste part of what it holds. 
The- immature com will make better silage if partly 
dried before cutting into the silo. Well-matured corn, 
fit to cut for husking, can he wetted as it goes into 
the silo and make good silage. We have been asked 
if it is safe to cut weeds into the silo. In some sea¬ 
sons the weeds get away from the farmer and get 
such a start that it will not pay to clean the com. 
At the Vermont Experiment Station it was found 
that practically all weed seeds are killed in the silo, 
while the corn flavors the entire mass of weeds. How 
long can silage be kept in the silo? We have reports 
of cases when the silage kept well for two years, and 
in many instances where the silage has not all been 
taken out the new lot is packed on top of the old 
without injury to either lot. With a silo and an 
Alfalfa field the dairy farmer has a great combination. 
In the Spring of 1909 we told the story of various 
contracts made by the Lyons Beet Sugar factory. The 
managers of this concern succeeded in tying up farm¬ 
ers in a one-sided contract for growing sugar beets. 
It was about as near a jug-handled hold-up as you 
can find in ordinary business. This company was 
drawing about $.10,000 from the State in bounties for 
the supposed purpose of “building up” the infant indus¬ 
try of beet sugar making. About all that was built 
up was the pocketbook of this company. It was a part 
of the contract which we overhauled that this State 
bounty was “to go to the sole benefit” of the company. 
The farmers had no right to it whatever. It now 
appears that a share of this bounty was going into the 
hands of politicians, who were thus hired to kill off 
any attempt to stop this useless appropriation. The 
president of the company says he gave $6,000 to Sena¬ 
tor John Raines, now dead, and smaller sums to others. 
This was not a “bribe.” Oh, no!—just a “retainer.” 
The company wanted to retain that bounty, so they 
divided it up where it would do the most good. The 
farmers who grew the live beets did not get it, hut 
the dead heats at Albany got it until Gov. Hughes cut 
off the supply of “sugar” by cutting off the bounty. 
* 
Mrs. R. W. Tener, of Wheeling, W. Va., has made 
certain definite statements about E. G. Lewis and the 
American Woman’s League. Her questions are perti¬ 
nent and fair. No reputable business man would lend 
money to a hank or industrial institution unless such 
questions as those asked on page 863 were answered! 
Mrs. Tener sent these questions to Mr. Lewis, who 
had already agreed to answ’er anything she sent in. 
She also demanded that the fact of her resignation 
be published. Lewis knew better than to answer these 
questions, for truthful answers would betray the en¬ 
tire scheme. He did not dare announce Mrs. Tener’s 
resignation, because he knows that hundreds of other 
strong, business-like women feel as she does. What 
then did he do? From his talk one would expect him 
to come out openly and bravely and dispose of those 
questions by answering them. He does just what we 
expected from his deeds. He makes a cowardly attack 
upon Mrs. Tener, not daring to name her, but giving 
her “a stab in the dark,” through insinuations and false 
statements. That is what anyone who dares to remon¬ 
strate or really investigate the affairs of the League 
will get. For the past few weeks Mr. Lewis has been 
a little shy on the “guff” and eloquence which flows 
so readily from him. This attack upon Mrs. Tener 
starts him up once more: 
To its members as the bodyguard of tbe League I have 
given whatever I possess that I may fight at its head. I 
would rather TRY and fail even at the price of life itself, 
than never to have tried at all. I want only such as 
have the soul and spirit of true womanhood, that woman¬ 
hood which in loyalty, self-sacrifice, independence and 
courage bears the brunt of every forward movement toward 
better, cleaner, finer things, to become enlisted in the 
Founder's Chapter, for its loyalty and courage must ever 
lead the fight. 
This states clearly what Mr. Lewis wants, and he 
will define “loyalty'.” With him it means simply doing 
what Lewis says—pick up money and send it along, 
never ask what becomes of it, ask no questions, hut 
sing the praises of E. G. Lewis. That may be an 
inviting programme for some women, but it will be¬ 
come stale after awhile when they realize the cowardly 
way this champion of superb womanhood stabs at a 
brave and able woman when he is squarely cornered! 
Mr. Lewis cannot get rid of these questions so easily. 
Here is one of them repeated: 
What guarantee have we that this plan will be carried 
cut, and that before, or at the end of 10 years, another 
will not be formulated to take its place? 
Come, Mr. Lewis, answer this question. We will 
see that you are pinned down to it 
* 
On page 842 we referred to an address by Dr. J. G. 
Schurman before a Grange meeting at Silver Lake. 
The daily papers stated that Dr. Schurman attacked 
the principle of direct nominations. As nothing alse 
was said the inference was that the farmers agreed 
with Dr. Schurman. That is about as near as the 
daily papers usually come to reporting any meeting 
which is supposed to express farm feeling. The fact 
is that before Dr. Schurman spoke a Grange speaker 
made the following statement: 
The Grange never asked for a reform or the enactment 
of a law helpful and beneficial to Grangers unless the re¬ 
form and the law was helpful and beneficial to all classes 
of society. In the discernment of needed reforms the 
Giange is in advance of the shrewdest political econo¬ 
mists. The Grange was in favor of the regulation of rail¬ 
way rates before Theodore Roosevelt was in favor of their 
regulation; the Grange was in favor of placing the sur¬ 
face corporations of this State under a commission before 
Gov. Hughes was i’> favor of such regulation. The Grange 
was in favor of a change in our nominating election laws 
whereby the enrolled party voters can vote direct for the 
candidate of their choice at an official primary election, 
before Gov. Hughes was in favor of such reform. 
The crowd cheered and applauded 'this, for it ex¬ 
pressed their sentiments. The Grange and intelligent 
September 17, 
farmers generally favor direct primary nominations and 
know that under our present political system politicians 
have them at a disadvantage. It was after this outburst 
of applause that Dr. Schurman came forward with his 
argument against direct nominations. He claimed that 
similar “pure democracy” killed Rome and Athens, 
and that New York and Buffalo would control the 
State. His argument fell like a wet blanket. There 
w'as not even a perfunctory cheer or hand clap. The 
men he talked to were in dead earnest, for they know 
they will never have a fair chance politically until 
they can get right at their candidates for public office 
and control them. Dr. Schurman has a right to his 
opinions on any public questions, but he does not 
represent the farmers of New York on this direct 
primary question. All the new movement needs in 
New York is organization and leadership. Is there no 
strong man to come forward and give expression to 
the real demand of the people? We need a man in 
New York like La Follette of Wisconsin, Cummins 
of Iowa, or Bristow of Kansas. What a glorious fu¬ 
ture there is for such a man! 
* 
The R. N.-Y. is the best agricultural paper I ever read 
in four languages. r. j. c. 
Possibly this is because we try to use the universal 
language of confidence and cheerful good nature. We 
do not pretend to be the master of even one language, 
but we try to say what we mean and mean what we 
say. One of the pleasantest things about our business 
is the fact that people in all parts of the country 
volunteer expressions of good will and appreciation. 
That is why we feel that we make some progress in 
the “universal language.” The following letter pleases 
us about as well as any we ever received, and the spirit 
of it is found in notes from every State in the Union: 
I am very busy and cannot write much at this time, 
but I wish to say that 1 take a very large number of 
farm papers and magazines, but if I had to choose I 
would take The R. N.-Y. in preference to all the rest to¬ 
gether. I do not see how you can improve it, but should 
you attempt to do so I hope you will not leave out any 
of the present departments. 1 don't believe anybody can 
road the Hope Farm Notes without feeling better after, 
and nobody wants a paper that is continually changing. 
The R. N.-Y. is like an old friend, always the same in ap¬ 
pearance and character. I can tell it at a glance when 
n ixed with a pile of papers. And it is so good to know 
that there is one paper that the trusts and moneyed peo¬ 
ple cannot buy. Fact is, gentlemen, I haven't the time 
nor can I find words to express all I think of the best 
.paper in the world. This is not “dope,” nor have you 
even asked my opinion, but it is my true feelings. 
Massachusetts. w. H. brooks. 
* 
We do not claim to he an expert in politics, and our 
opinion may’ not, therefore, carry great weight It 
seems to us, however, that of all the small men who 
have tried to entangle President Taft and Mr. Roose¬ 
velt in their dirty New’ York politics, Timothy L. 
Woodruff is the smallest That such a character 
should he State chairman of a great party and a can¬ 
didate for Senator is enough to make any honest man 
want to take an ax and smash down the entire “plat¬ 
form” upon which the “machine” stands. A few mem¬ 
bers of’this gang have a sort of courage which almost 
commands admiration. They will put up a light at 
least, hut Woodruff will plot in the dark, but when 
forced into the open tries to cover all sides. He seems to 
act like a man w’ho when he knows he is whipped will 
try to make a deal of some sort with those who whipped 
him. An English farmer caught some boys stealing 
fruit in his orchard. He cornered them in a fence and 
hooted them all the way to the gate. A husky farmer 
with his plowing boots on can kick like the piston rod 
of a steam engine, and these young men got the full 
benefit. The next Sunday the farmer saw these same 
young men in his yard, not yet able to wajk exactly 
on a straight line He asked what they wanted: 
“We have had enough fruit, but we would like to 
have you joint our football team.'” 
Wait until the farmers of New York get a chance 
at Mr. Woodruff. He will know what hit him, but 
within a few months he will, most likely, come back 
and ask them to help him kick the Senatorial football 
to Washington. 
BREVITIES. 
Baked apples will be costly food. 
You will need the corn fodder-—cut it before frost. 
Be not afraid to cut weeds into the silo with the corn. 
“Imported Scotch soot” is among the fertilizers offered 
for greenhouse use. It costs $2.50 per bag of 100 pounds. 
Don’t forget It hurts the crooked man to be straight¬ 
ened even more than the straight man to be made our 
crooked. 
Abe there many cows for sale in your section? Farmers 
who have an abundance of feed are after cattle. Where 
drought has prevailed cows are for sale. 
Yes, you can use potash and phosphoric acid this Fall 
if desired. Little, if any, of it will wash out of the soil. 
Better hold most of the nitrogen until Spring. 
One of our neighbors who lost much seed corn in his 
home garden last year from the depredations of field mice 
tried red pepper this year with satisfactory results. A 
good dusting of pepper was put in each hill, and the mice 
ignored the corn. 
