1186 
THE RURAE NEW-YORKER 
December 24, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER’S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established, 1850. 
Published wcrhly by the Rural Publishing Company, 409 Pearl Street, Hew York. 
Hkrbkrt W. Collingwood, President and Editor, 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. 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 
8s. 6a., or 8 hi marks, or 10*2 francs. Remit in money order, 
express order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Glass 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 hacked 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 ourcolumns, and any such swindler will be publicly ex¬ 
posed. We protect stibcribers against rogues, but we do not guarantee 
to adjust trifling differences betweon subscribers and honest, respon¬ 
sible advertisers. Neither will wo 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. 
* 
The best record for an acre of corn at the New 
England corn show was made by Harry S. Chapin, 
of Massachusetts. Mr. Chapin produced 123 bushels 
of crib-dry shelled com on a measured acre of new 
meadow, part of which had not been plowed for 35 
years. He used 25 tons of stable manure and 250 
pounds of fertilizer, and planted a flint variety. Mr. 
Jerome Smith, of Iowa, is the first Western farmer 
to offer to enter the proposed contest between the 
West and New England. We hope there will be 
many others. 
* 
Woodrow Wilson, the next Governor of New Jer¬ 
sey, is out openly favoring the position on the pri¬ 
mary election for Senator which we stated last week. 
The Democratic party of New Jersey came into 
power through its promise to defend the rights of 
the plain people and to keep its pledges. That pri¬ 
mary election at which Mr. Martine was elected as 
a candidate for Senator puts the party squarely on 
record. It must now come up to the rack or dodge. 
It is a square test of political sincerity, and Mr. 
Wilson recognizes that by taking a position which 
all fair-minded men will endorse. 
* 
What is known as the “Bellows Milk Case” will 
come up on appeal before the New York Supreme 
Court next month. The facts are that S. K. Bellows 
brought suit for damages against the chief of the 
Sanitary Inspection Bureau of the New York City 
Board of Health. This was because the Board, by 
an order, refused Mr. Bellows’ milk at the local 
creamery. The Board inspectors claimed that the 
barn on Mr. Bellows’ farm did not meet the sanitary 
requirements, while dairymen claimed that it did, and 
that the Board requirements were unreasonable. The 
case was thrown out of court on the ground that the 
New York Board of Health has absolute and arbi¬ 
trary control of milk sent to the city, and can reject 
or prohibit its sale at will. The present appeal is 
made to test this question and legally determine, if 
possible, just what powers this Board may exercise. 
=K 
In his last annual report Secretary of Agriculture 
Wilson devotes considerable space to the farmer’s 
share of the consumer’s dollar. He investigated con¬ 
ditions in 78 cities, and compared prices paid by con¬ 
sumers with those which farmers received. He con¬ 
cludes .that dairymen on the average get half the 
milk price, or half the consumer’s dollar. Let any 
man who ships milk to New York City compare 
the net price for his milk with the price which his 
relatives and friends pay here. He will find that 
instead of 50 cents it is between 35 and 40 of the 
consumer’s dollar. That is the trouble with most 
of these public statistics. Let a man actually trace 
his own goods to the consumer’s mouth and he will 
find, if they pass through the hands of middlemen, 
that the farmer’s share as given by the Department 
is too large. Our own method is to take the actual 
returns as made by commission men. From these 
we know exactly wharf; the farmer was paid. While 
these exact goods cannot be traced '.o the consumer, 
we can easily find the general retail price. Sec¬ 
retary Wilson says that where blackberries are sold 
by the crate the farmer receives 83.3 cents of this 
consumer’s dollar, and when hay is sold by the ton 
over 70 cents. What do Southern berry growers 
and Northern hay farmers think of that? The Secre¬ 
tary is right in saying that the smaller the quantity 
sold at retail the smaller the producer's share. He 
says that when oranges are sold by the dozen the 
producer gets about 20 cents, while when sold by 
the box he gets about 60 cents of what the consumer 
pays. In cities like New York it is hard to keep 
large quantities of perishable-goods, and so most peo¬ 
ple live on the grocery and provision store. As a 
remedy, the Secretary suggests organizations of farm¬ 
ers for selling and of consumers for buying, but under 
our present express system this would not settle the 
trouble. A parcels post, such as they have in Eng¬ 
land and in Europe, would make such a difference 
in a few years that consumers looking back to the 
present time would think they had escaped a bar¬ 
barous age. We are glad “the consumer’s dollar” is 
getting into politics! 
* 
During the next meeting of the New York State 
Fruit Growers’ Association efforts will be made to 
organize all Eastern fruit organizations into one 
strong central body. The name “National League of 
Fruit Growers” has been suggested, and a meeting 
has been called for Thursday, January 5, at the 
Rochester Chamber of Commerce. The object is 
to consider plans for helping the fruit business in 
all honorable ways, such as uniform State legisla¬ 
tion, better facilities for distribution, no deception in 
package or bulk shipments, and giving the consumer 
more for his money. It is very desirable that fruit 
growers should get together in this way. There are 
many things which can be accomplished to far bet¬ 
ter advantage by a compact organization, and we 
hope this meeting will be fully attended. 
J! merry €bri$tma$! 
our 
T HAT is our wish to all 
Rural family. You have 
best wishes for all good things and 
worthy enterprises. You have our 
sympathy in sorrow and we rejoice 
in all your blessings. We thank you 
for the way you have stood by us 
during the past year. 
J\ merry Christmas! M 
CREAM.—Delicious Devonshire Clotted Cream from Jer¬ 
sey, % lb., Is. 2d.; 1 lb., 2s ; post free.—R. Wbeadon, 
Ilmlnster. 
FISII FRESH FROM THE SEA.—Our quality rarely 
equalled, never surpassed; 6 lbs., 2s.; 9 lbs., 2s. Gd ; 
11 lbs., 3s.; 14 lbs., 3s. Gd. Carriage paid. Dressed 
for cooking No delay. Full particulars free.—North 
Sea Fisheries Co., Dept. 5, Grimsby. 
SAVE HALF YOUR BUTCHER’S BILLS and buy direct 
from the farmers. —Best English Meat; Mutton—Loins, 
■Saddles, Shoulders, 8d.; Logs, 9d.; Necks, 7%d.; 
Beef—Silverside, 7%d.; Top Side, 8%d.; Sirloin and 
Ribs, 8%d.; Rump Steak, Is. The Direct Supply 
Stores, Ltd., 6, Holborn Circus. 
These advertisements are taken from a London 
paper and will give a faint idea of the way parcels 
post is operated in England. All those things and 
many others are sent by mail. They are promptly 
delivered in good condition, and the rates of postage 
are such that farmers can afford to pay postage 
and deal direct with town consumers. All sorts of 
produce is mailed in this way. Not a line of argu¬ 
ment is needed to show an intelligent farmer, or 
anyone who buys food, what would happen if such 
things were possible in this country. And why should 
they not be possible in a Republic even more than in 
the “old monarchies of Europe”? 
* 
Farmers and fruit growers are working the “inside 
ballot” with great results. This ballot is a note put in 
the inside of the barrel or box. It reads about as 
follows: 
I put up this package and I was paid 
-for it. Will you please write and 
tell me what you paid for it? 
Jenksville. henry brown. 
John Smith who lives hundreds of miles away 
may buy these goods and find the note. Let him 
consider it his duty to write Henry Brown and tell 
him the retail price. This is a good way for Smith 
and Brown to get together and compare notes. When 
this is done, as it will be by thousands of people, 
that consumer’s dollar will be cut up so that both 
Brown and Smith will have more of the white meat. 
One of our people bought a barrel of apples for $5.50 
and found by the inside ballot that the grower re¬ 
ceived 75 cents. A reader in a Nebraska town found 
New York grapes selling at 35 to 40 cents per basket. 
We traced up the inside ballot and found that the 
grape association paid the growers an average of a 
little over 18 cents with two cents out for the basket. 
Keep up the inside ballot. It will do for the 
producer what primary nominations will do for the 
common people. 
* 
President Taft, in his message to Congress, sug¬ 
gested a trial of parcels post on rural routes. Now 
comes the Postmaster General with the same sug¬ 
gestion. He also suggests increasing tlu rates on 
second-class matter and making the magazines pay 
an extra rate for the part of their publications con¬ 
taining advertising matter. The little "joker” in 
these sleek propositions is explained in the follow¬ 
ing: 
What they wish to do is raise the second-class rate first, 
and with the extra income give one-cent letter postage, 
and establish a limited parcels post. This would pla.-.e 
things on about an even basis, that is, the department 
would be self-sustaining, but- Here is where the rub 
comes in. The department stores want parcels post so 
that they can send their customers’ purchases by mail 
instead of maintaining a delivery system themselves. A 
limited parcels post would satisfy them; good on routes 
going out of city and within the city, but not on the 
railroads. They propose to give country people a limited 
parcels post, good on rural routes only, and that is sup¬ 
posed to satisfy them. Then you can send 11 pounds, but 
on your route only, the end is the railroad and the 
express office; If it goes beyond that you will have to 
send by express the same as you do now, as you can 
only send four pounds an unlimited distance. Then your 
mail service serves as a collector for every express com¬ 
pany. In this way you pay postage which would carry 
it to any part of the country by unlimited parcels post, 
but it can only go as far as your rural delivery goes if 
it is over four pounds, at the end of which it must go 
by express at their rate, together with what you have 
already paid as postage. In other words you send your 
package by mail to the express office for them to deliver 
if it is beyond your rural route, and you pay more than 
you ever did because you pay two rates, is this the 
parcels post you are looking for? Unless Congress pro¬ 
vides especially against this, you pay the price, while 
the express companies are better off than they ever have 
been. If parcels post must be limited, it cannot be con¬ 
fined closer than the State; that is between all routes 
and railroads within the State, but not interstate traffic, 
unless we want it to be for the benefit of the express 
companies. 
Thus the situation is becoming more complicated. 
The offer to give parcels post on rural routes looks 
plausible, and we believe the authorities were driven 
to the announcement by public sentiment. If it is 
to be an • honest experiment with the clear under¬ 
standing that the privilege will be extended in case 
country people will make it pay, we should favor 
the plan. It seems fair, on the face of it, to say that 
a great change of this sort should be made gradu¬ 
ally. If, on the other hand, it is proposed to spring 
any “joker” on the people, we favor fighting the 
proposition tooth and nail. If they give us parcels 
post on rural routes without the definite and positive 
promise to extend it when we prove its value, the 
department stores and the gentlemen who stand for 
“vested interests” will turn on us and join the 
express companies. It will be another case where 
the farmer does the work and in return gets—left. 
The country people should stand for their rights. 
We have the power to make this the beginning of 
the end, rather than the end of the beginning. 
BREVITIES. 
One sure thing about the cost of living—it’s high- 
bread. 
Are your hens free boarders this Winter? If they go 
free, you arc the slave. 
To a dozen or more who ask about it, we will say that 
refuse from an acetylene plant is lime and will act about 
the same as other forms of lime. It has no other plant 
food. 
Railroads in Sweden tried the experiment of sub¬ 
stituting peat for coal in railroad locomotives. After 
full trial this fuel has been given up, even though 
Sweden has but little coal. The peat did not pay. 
A Massachusetts man writes to ask if he will be wel¬ 
come, though not a member, at the great meeting of New 
York fruit growers in Rochester. He will be. He will 
feel so much at home that he will join the organization 
before he leaves. 
The plan of offering a “loving cup” for a prize in an 
agricultural contest ought to be given up. Some of these 
cups are useless to the winners, and not very valuable 
at that. A cash prize, the winner to use it as he sees fit, 
is the proper thing. 
With the European system of parcels post the farm 
housewife may send a Christmas cake or choice farm 
dainty to friends in town at the holiday season and the 
farmer himself may ship choice products direct to the 
consumer without presenting 65 per cent of the proceeds 
to the intervening handlers. 
This is what a Western professor claims for good soil: 
“Corn required 908 pounds of water to produce one 
pound dry matter; when the same field was manured it 
required but G12 pounds—in other words, the field when 
manured could produce a third more.” From our own 
experience wo do not doubt it. 
