103 2 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
November 5 , 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1800. 
I'ublUhed weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 409 Pearl Street, New Tork, 
Herbert W. Collingwood, President and Editor, 
John J. Diloon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. P. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. K. T. Koylk, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8s. 6d., or 8*9 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 60 cents per agate line— 7 words. Discount for timi 
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 wo will make good any 
loss to paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler 
advertising in ourcolumns, and any such swindlerwill be publicly ex¬ 
posed. We protect suberibers 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. We depend on our old friends to make this 
known to neighbors and friends. 
No! We will say right off that there is no corre¬ 
spondence school on earth that will lit a poor widow 
who knows nothing about hens so that she can go to 
a farm and make a living with poultry. Take it from 
us and make us responsible for the statement that any 
school which promises to do this is a fake. 
* 
Dr. Geo. M. Twitched and Z. A. Gilbert have re¬ 
cently ended their active connection with' the Maine 
Farmer, after more than 30 years of service. Both 
men are close to 80, and are still vigorous and keen. 
Dr. Twitched returns to work for another paper, while 
Mr. Gilbert goes to his farm. These two young fel¬ 
low's still have years of useful labor ahead of them, 
and are far more hopeful over the outlook than many 
of the tired individuals who become sour at 50. These 
two men had hardly begun to do their best work at 
I half a century. 
* 
The next New York Legislature must elect a United 
States Senator for a six-year term. The present Sena¬ 
tor, Depew, is a joke on the State, yet he seems to 
think he should be re-elected. With any chance for a 
fair expression of opinion on the part of the people, 
such men as Mr. Depew w r ould not even be mentioned. 
Under our present political system the politicians of 
the successful party will select a candidate to suit 
them. They will keep the people as far away from 
such selection as possible. Let us give them an opin¬ 
ion anyway. We can do this if readers of The R. 
N.-Y. in New' York will send us their choice for Sena¬ 
tor. Ask your neighbors, too, and let us have as many 
reports as possible. 
* 
Under the department “Milk” John B. Coleman 
makes an argument in favor of a State Milk Com¬ 
mission to regulate the price of milk. Briefly stated 
the argument is that milk is an absolute necessity, 
since many children and invalids would die if deprived 
of it. As business is done in New York there is no 
such thing as free working of the law of demand and 
supply. Milk is short-lived and cannot be kept as 
most other food can. The dealers have an absolute 
monopoly, and can maintain it in spite of law by 
making a “gentleman’s agreement,” or simply talking 
over prices. They are thus able to dictate the situa¬ 
tion at both ends—holding up the consumer and sitting 
down on the producer. A Milk Commission would 
hear both sides, determine the fair cost of milk, and 
make a fair price for it. Is there any better way out 
of the situation? 
* 
Since farmers have been advised to use “floats,” or 
phosphate rock ground fine without treating with acid, 
all sorts of schemes have been proposed to make the 
phosphoric acid soluble. The latest we have seen is 
the use of washings from a creamery. The advice is 
to put the “floats” in a pile with a dishing top. Then 
pour in the water used in cleaning up a creamery and 
put in a small quantity of yeast. This it is claimed 
will “cut” the phosphate rock. We have no doubt 
this “recipe” will be offered for sale at $5 or more on 
the plea that since sulphuric acid will dissolve the 
rock, the acid developed by the yeast will do the same! 
We mention this as an illustration of the fool stuff 
with which the fakers bait hooks for suckers. When 
any man comes along claiming that he can sell you a 
secret true process of making fertility which your ex¬ 
periment station will not give you for nothing, put him 
down as a fraud at once. 
Personal politics is out of our line. Many good 
friends are up for election this year, but we select two 
men for special mention. Dr. Theron Akin, of Akin, 
N. Y., is a candidate for Congress in the Twenty-fifth 
New York District, which includes the counties of 
Fulton, Hamilton, Montgomery, Warren and Saratoga. 
Dr. Akin stands openly for a parcels post. We do not 
know of any other Congressional nominee in New 
York who makes his canvass on this issue. If he could 
be elected it would be a tremendous boost for parcels 
post. The other man is John T. Roberts, of the Sec¬ 
ond Assembly District of Onondaga Co. This district 
comprises the towns of Fabius, Lafayette, Tully and 
Onondaga and the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 18th and 
19th wards of Syracuse City. Last year there was a 
combination of Independents and Democrats, and Mr. 
Roberts beat Fred. W. Hammond by 8,359 votes to 
O, 256. This year the politicians tried to split Mr. Rob¬ 
erts's support by putting up a straight ticket. The 
farmers and plain people have a chance which does not 
come once in 25 years to show their independence and 
knock these politicians a deadly blow. We have known 
John T. Roberts for years, and we earnestly ask all 
our friends in that district to make a mighty effort and 
send him back to Albany. 
* 
A few years ago, shortly before election, we printed 
an editorial advising our readers to use their brains, 
drop prejudice and vote for the man, regardless of 
party, who represented the fairest chance for the com¬ 
mon people. We said that the only way to vote a 
straight ticket was to cut out the crooks on both 
tickets. The ink was hardly dry on the paper before 
we were called to the ’phone by a well-known stock 
broker. He began at once to find fault with that ad¬ 
vice. “It might be all right to say that in April or 
May, but think of it—right here before election. You 
tell those people to use their brains and vote without 
prejudice—why, don’t you know that some fool may 
take you right at your word and do it?” We told him 
we hoped they would, and he “rang off” with great im¬ 
patience. Our angry friend did not mean exactly what 
he said, but it is not a bad expression of the opinion 
some people seem to have of the duty of a farm paper. 
When it comes to real vital things such critics want 
us to discuss them “in April or May”—that is, when 
our discussion could not possibly have any influence! 
We are privileged to talk all around a subject, but 
we must not touch it because then “some fool” might 
actually think we believed what we said! It is this 
very policy of evasion and cowardly dodging which 
has denied the farm press of this- country a great 
national influence and power. Since that old experi¬ 
ence over the ’phone The R. N.-Y. does not have so 
much trouble in convincing people that we mean what 
we say. We have found thousands of these “fools” 
who take us at our word. Their name is legion, and 
the legion is growing like a snowball. This year we 
shall take a party ballot and cut out three names on 
it. Two of the men we regard as crooks—the men on 
the other ticket are better. Another candidate is per¬ 
sonally honest, but the influences back of him are bad, 
and we shall substitute the name of his opponent. 
That is our idea of voting a “straight ticket.” Until 
we have fair primary elections that is the only way 
we can express our feelings and make the politicians 
realize what we think of them. 
* 
Early in the year we discussed a case of tree sub¬ 
stitution which came to trial. P. E. Sanford, a fruit 
grower of Orange Co., N. Y., in 1902 bought 3500 
peach trees from Brown Bros. Co. They were supposed 
to be of definite, standard varieties, and cost $297.50. 
These trees were carefully planted and cared for. In 
1905 when the trees began to bear, it was found that 
only 63 of them were true to name. The labels did not 
fit the trees. Most of the substituted varieties were 
inferior, if. not worthless, for that section and soil. 
Mr. Sanford brought suit for $13,685. This damage 
was figured on the increased value of the land, or 
what it would have been worth if the trees had been 
true to name. At the first trial Mr. Sanford proved 
the substitution and started to prove his claim for 
damages. The lawyers for the nurserymen then 
claimed exemption because the contract contained the 
following clause: 
“Any stock which does not prove to be true to name 
as labelled is to be replaced free or purchase price re¬ 
funded.” 
The trial judge upheld this claim and directed the 
jury to bring in a verdict for $236.36, or the original 
price for the substituted trees. Mr. Sanford appealed, 
and the higher court sustained him and ordered a 
new trial. This court held that in such a one-sided 
contract prepared entirely by the seller every uncer¬ 
tainty in it should be resolved in favor of the buyer. 
The higher court also held that the increase of value 
of the land, if any, was a material point for the jury 
to decide. The case was tried the second time in 
Goshen, N. Y., on October 18. Both sides introduced 
testimony to show the value of the land. The largest 
estimate made for Mr. Sanford was $16,000 and the 
lowest for Brown Bros. $250. The jury finally gave 
Mr. Sanford a verdict for $1500. This case is an im¬ 
portant one, for it establishes the principle that the 
measure of damage from substitution should include 
the value of orchard land, which is the labor and 
capital spent on the trees. 
* 
Q. Did he say anything to you with reference to your 
election or nomination during that Fall? A. He said: 
“If you are afraid of a re-election or any trouble at elec¬ 
tion time, I think I can fix it up for you so that you can 
name your own opponent at the coming election." 
That testimony was given by Otto G. Foelker, of 
Brooklyn. Mr. Foelker is the State Senator who left 
a sick bed to vote for the anti-gambling bill and thus 
insured its passage. Tt now comes out that a fund of 
$500,000 was raised by race track men to kill this bill. 
Mr. Foelker was offered $50,000 for his vote. Senator 
McCarren, now dead, offered, as above, to see that Mr. 
Foelker would be re-elected in spite of any outcry 
against him for killing this bill. You see that under 
the present system of nominations, McCarren knew he 
could nominate anyone he pleased. The people had 
nothing to do with it. This is the most convincing 
argument for primary nominations which has yet been 
brought out. Such a thing would be impossible in 
Kansas or Wisconsin. In New York the big poli¬ 
ticians have been able to go around with candidates 
in their vest pocket, and they always pick men small 
enough to fit into such a place. That is the way they 
have been able to “run things” at Albany. They can¬ 
not carry ’all the people in their pocket, and under a 
fair primary nominations law they would have to do 
that in order to hold their power. Will any human 
being ask for clearer evidence to show the evils of 
leaving nominations to the politicians? 
* 
This is the season when the politicians are on their 
good behavior. They are worthy citizens right now. 
To let them tell it they are, pure patriots caring noth¬ 
ing about office except that they may use it to benefit 
the people. They are able to make many voters be¬ 
lieve just what they sav, and that is why these poli¬ 
ticians come to believe that the people are a lot of 
stiff-necked partisans who talk independence but vote 
party slavery. These politicians make us think of the 
musical cat at our house. When this cat was let into 
the house she would run to the piano and walk up and 
down the open keys, growling and crying to the accom¬ 
paniment she played with her feet. The girls accepted 
this as a taste for music, and fed the cat to encourage 
her. When the piano tuner came he found that a 
mouse had made her nest inside the piano, and there 
was a family of young ones. The cat’s keen nose told 
her what was inside the piano, and she walked the 
keyboard not to make music, but because the old sav¬ 
age instinct led her on. Some of these old hard- 
shelled politicians are like that cat. Their talk and 
their protestations are far more musical than the cat 
on the piano, and the majority of their party voters 
are ready to feed them. But do not make the mistake 
of believing all these glib talkers are to be measured 
by their words. Many of them are making music 
with their lips while their desire is fixed upon the 
mouse inside the piano. If they are so anxious to 
serve the people they will give a positive promise to 
work for a parcels post. We would pin them down to 
it and refuse to vote for them unless they gave such 
direct and definite agreement. 
BREVITIES. 
A vote should be a veto. 
The equivalent for the consumer's dollar makes both 
consumer and producer holler. 
One thing which Alfalfa will not endure through the 
Winter is a sheet of ice. Such a thing will surely prove 
the winding sheet of Alfalfa. 
We believe that hens, turkeys and crows, also English 
sparrows, pick a good many green worms out of cabbage. 
We have not caught them exactly in the act—but close 
to it. 
Never run a hen down from the flock and kill it for 
dinner. Starve it at least 12 hours before killing —24 
would be better. You save food in this way and get 
better meat. 
Egg trains somewhat like our farmers’ institutes on 
wheels have been running over England. One result is 
an increased demand for incubators. Up to this time 
most English incubators have used hot water for heating. 
Counting one’s chickens before they are hatched is evi- 
d< ntly a commercial possibility, since one large poultry 
establishment says that up to October 15 orders were 
booked for one-half of the total number of chicks to be 
hatched next Spring. 
Will ferrets drive skunks? Here is another answer 
from W. .7. Wood. The business in breeding and selling 
ferrets has come to be a big one. “All ferrets will not 
drive skunks out of their holes. A large, savage male 
will drive them when the weather is mild, as skunks will 
seldom run in severe cold weather.” 
