46 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER’S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country ami Suburban Homes 
Established tsso 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company. 333 West 30th Street, Hew York 
HERBERT W. Collikgwood, President and Editor. 
John .1. I >ii.lok, Treasurer arid General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Royus, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. equal to Ss. 6d., or 
8 Vj marks, or 10i£ francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New Tork Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates BO cents per agate line—7 words. 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 respon¬ 
sible prison. Hutto 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 exposed. Y'e I’T'uect sub. 
sc libers against rogues, but we do not guarantee to adjust trilling i-iuei cnees 
between subscribers and honest, responsible advertisers. Neither will we be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the coints. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month ot the tirneof 
the transaction, and you must have mentioned The Rural Nlw -iokxlr 
when writing the advertiser. 
TEN WEEKS FOR 10 CENTS. 
In order to maintain the improvement and enlarge¬ 
ments that we are now planning for The R. N.-Y., we 
should have a circulation of 200.000 copies weekly. 
We must depend on our old friends for this increase. 
To make it easy for these friends to introduce the 
paper to other farmers who do not now take it we 
will send it 10 weeks for 10 cents for strictly intro¬ 
ductory purposes. We will appreciate the interest 
of friends who help make up the needed increase of 
subscriptions. 
* 
New York farmers are still writing about com¬ 
pensation for cattle or horses killed by agents of the 
Agricultural Department some years ago. The cows 
were afflicted with tuberculosis, while the horses 
■were glandered. These animals were killed before 
the general law providing compensation was passed, 
and therefore no appropriation was made to cover 
such cases. The only way to recover is for the 
Legislature to pass special bills covering each case. 
This has been done in a number of cases within the 
past few years. A farmer who has suffered loss in 
this way should get his proof into shape and ask his 
Senator or Representative to make up a bill and in¬ 
troduce it early in the session. 
* 
Efficiency! That is the new word which farm 
writers are now playing football with. The efficient 
man is evidently the one who makes most of his 
powers and learns to do his work with least waste 
of mental and physical force. To be efficient is to be 
economical of power. On page 35 you find the pic¬ 
ture of a so-called farm gate which is a badge of 
wasted energy. This collection of scraps and refuse 
has been taken down and put up again twice a day 
for months to let the stock pass through. A few 
blows with a hammer, a few boards and hinges 
would save all these hours of labor. Smile at it. and 
then see if your gate to efficient work is like it 
* 
J. H. Hale tells ns of a case where'a wealthy man 
had been in the habit of making Christmas presents 
of boxes of oranges. This year, after investigation, 
he decided that good apples would prove a more 
acceptable gift So he gave an order for 21 boxes 
of high-class Baldwin apples, which were turned over 
to Santa Claus to distribute. Of course we may be 
prejudiced in favor of the apple, but we think this 
was a good substitution, not only for the consumer 
but in the interests of the good old American fruit 
And by the way, new varieties may come and go 
\y ith more or less of “boom,” but the good old Bald¬ 
win, properly grown on suitable soil, is what we 
come back to. 
* 
For many years the “experts” taught us that Long 
Island is out of the “apple belt” Years ago there 
were some good orchards on the island, hut many of 
them were ruined by the scale and others passed out. 
Somehow most people seemed to get the idea that, 
the soil and climate of Long Island are not suited 
to apple culture. Mr. Peter Elbert Nostrand has 
taken this idea out and buried it in his orchards. 
Down at the east end of the island Mr. Nostrand has 
planted 110 acres of trees. They are coming into 
bearing and producing fruit of unmatched quality 
and beauty. In 1912 Mr. Nostrand won $09 in prizes 
at the New York State Fair, including nine firsts. 
In 1913 he won $1*8.25 in prizes, including IT firsts, 
wth the $50 prize for best collection. Add to this 
100 other local prizes and you may understand how 
Long Island rose up out of the sea, shook herself 
and beat the State at apple production. We like this 
because it shows how men may take what the ex¬ 
perts call unpromising conditions and through the 
application of business judgment and scientific treat¬ 
ment beat these same experts at their own game. 
We are glad to be able to announce that Mr. Nos¬ 
trand will tell us how he did it. 
T H.EC RURAL NEW-YORKER 
I understand that you have reported several crim¬ 
inal cases where men were punished for shooting at 
chicken thieves. What were the facts about these 
cases? J. M. g. 
We have reported two cases. One was in Massa¬ 
chusetts. A crippled man was aroused at night by 
noise in his chicken house. Going out, he saw two 
men, who ran away. The owner fired his gun at 
random to frighten the thieves. In the morning the 
dead body of one of these men was found near the 
road. The cripple was tried, found guilty of man¬ 
slaughter and sent to jail. Public sentiment was 
aroused and the prisoner was pardoned by the Gov¬ 
ernor. 
The other case was in New Jersey. Two boys, liv¬ 
ing with their mother in a lonely place, were aroused 
at night by the dog. One of these boys fired a gun 
into the air. Two men ran, one climbing the fence 
and the other apparently dodging behind an out¬ 
house. After calling, and hearing no response, the 
boy fired again in the direction of the house. Search 
revealed a man shot dead. The boys were put on 
trial and the prosecution tried to show that they 
fired directly at the man, who was not engaged in 
any unlawful act at the time. The judge ordered 
the jury to acquit these boys, saying: 
It was their duty as sons to protect their mother’s 
home from an invasion by trespassers. Instead of being 
condemned for that act they should be commended. To 
find these young men guilty under such facts as haY r e 
been presented is to take away from the citizen the right 
to protect his home. These young men committed no 
crime. 
In this case public sentiment was with the boys, 
and the prosecution seems to have been quite per¬ 
functory. From this it would seem that the bed of 
the chicken thief will contain very few feathers if 
he is caught in New Jersey. 
* 
The Secretary of Agriculture has decided that no 
potatoes shall be brought in from foreign countries. 
This was done to prevent the importation of potato 
diseases. Now it is found that germs of these dis¬ 
eases are carried not only on the tubers, but on the 
sacks or bags in which these potatoes are carried. 
For example, a good share of our seed-potatoes seems 
to have been shipped in these foreign second-hand 
sacks. The scientists have found these disease germs 
on such sacks. \Ye might about as well use the cloth¬ 
ing of typhoid or smallpox patients without fumiga¬ 
tion. Thus the Department advises: 
Farmers should require dealers to guarantee that the 
sacks have been sterilized. Purchasers of seed potatoes 
should specify that the seed came in new sacks or ster¬ 
ilized second-hand sacks. Dealers can sterilize these 
sack§ before offering them for sale by placing the empty 
sacks in tight containers in which live steam should be 
injected for about an hour. Purchasers of second-hand 
sacks can protect themselves by following the same pro¬ 
cedure or by boiling them for two or three hours in any 
available vessel. Unless these precautions are taken 
the use of neYV sacks exclusively is recommended. 
It is such an easy matter for the dealers to boil or 
steam these sacks that they cannot make reasonable 
objection to the plan. 
* 
We see from the articles on acid soils why forest 
leaves often prove disappointing as a fertilizer. 
They evidently contain plant food and considerable 
lime, but they are too sour. After a time the acids 
disappear and the lime is left. Then the decayed 
leaves or humus become good fertilizer or rich soil. 
At every turn we find fresh evidence of the need of 
lime on our Eastern soils if we are to grow the lime- 
loving plants like clover, Alfalfa or wheat. M here 
lime is reasonably cheap it is good farming to buy it 
and grow these crops, even if we are obliged to 
change the entire nature of the soil in order to do it. 
We believe, however, that there are cases where lime 
is too expensive to use it in large quantities. In 
these cases it will often prove more profitable to give 
up Alfalfa, Red clover and wheat and grow those 
crops which are naturally suited to the acid soils. 
Cow peas, Soy beans, Crimson and Alsilce clovers 
will grow fairly well in acid soils to gather nitrogen. 
Red-top may he used in place of Timothy, and rye 
and buckwheat in place of wheat and oats. This is 
one of the new problems which sciertific knowledge 
has brought up. As usual the scientL: men work out 
the principles involved, while the fanner must work 
out the practice. 
* 
Fob the past few years New York farmers have 
been advised to plant the Rome Beauty apple. Many 
thousands of the trees were planted. This variety is 
very satisfactory where the conditions are suitable—- 
for example, along the river in Southeastern Ohio. 
Could it he grown as well in New York it would 
prove a valuable addition to our list of market fruits. 
It seems to have failed at the test, having been badly 
injured by freezing. Many of the young trees have 
died, and the variety would better be cut out of the 
New York list. You might say that Jack Frost has 
sent the beauty of Rome Beauty roaming. This in¬ 
cident illustrates the trouble which results from sub¬ 
Januaiy 10, 
stituting advice for experience. Many a farmer has 
bought trees or machinery or other goods upon advice 
alone, only to find that these things were untested, and 
he must pay for the needed experience. This should 
he remembered now when the season of “novelties” 
has come. We print names of these novelties and 
permit the introducers to make reasonable state¬ 
ments about them. People always come asking if 
we advise “plunging” or buying heavily while the 
price is high. We answer No !—unless you are pre¬ 
pared to gamble or take a chance, and will make no 
complaint if the “novelty” proves unsuited to the 
conditions in your locality. It pays to try these new 
things in a moderate way, but planting a large acre¬ 
age to a high-priced novelty is simply taking a specu¬ 
lator’s chance—and nothing more. 
* 
I notice that The R. N.-Y. has not changed its 
course, even if the wind has. Having done so much 
toward giving to the country the parcel post, it would 
be in fashion to take a well-earned vacation ; but, in¬ 
stead. you seem to press right on to other useful things. 
In a way, such must be uphill work, and generally 
avoided by lovers of ease. All are not finding the in¬ 
trinsic pleasure that comes from doing an honest day’s 
work, and yet the uphill onward march gives a Yvider 
view of things, and a clarified air in which to live. And 
in those higher altitudes of striving to help the race are 
those who first sec the dawn of a better political, social 
and religious day. Labor being a blessing, the fearless, 
honest newspaper man has his full share of both. 
Of all the unhappy, useless people we know of we 
would hand the prize to the man who stops growing, 
satisfied with some little achievement, and sits down 
to spend his years bragging about it. There is your 
true “conservative”—narrow, bigoted and selfish. 
Sometimes our friends come here, saying: “You are 
doing a grand work.” How well we know that if we 
once began to think so our work would be worth but 
little. 
When a man can feel that his labor and thought 
have changed history for the better a little, he may 
do one of two things. One is to imagine he is IT, 
and proceed to pat himself upon the hack. The other 
is to realize that he is nearer “nit” in the world’s 
great economy, and that the more he keeps in the 
limelight the shabbier his poor little record will ap¬ 
pear. 
“Screenings” from a mill often if not usually con¬ 
tain weed seeds, dirt, splinters and other trasli. 
Some of this stuff has feeding value—perhaps half 
as much as good bran or middlings. Flour mills 
have taken up tlie practice of running this stuff in 
'with the bran. In other cases this trash is mixed 
with molasses and sold as a “molasses feed.” The 
Department of Agriculture has ruled that this mix¬ 
ture is adulterated when branded as “bran” or “mid¬ 
dlings.” We understand that .some of the mills will 
try to surround this by branding as follows: 
BRAN 
With Screenings 
Not exceeding Mill Run. 
What is meant by mill run? Probably anything 
that could run out of a mill-spout into a hag. Under 
the law any mixture not harmful to stock health 
may be- sold, provided the tag shows what it is. On 
the same principle, how would these millers like to 
buy food branded in this way? 
MILK CHICKEN 
With Water With Sand 
Not exceeding Rainfall. Not exceeding Beach Run 
We should hear from these millers at once; yet 
their plan evidently is to work off their weeds and 
trash, legally, through the failure of farmers to read 
these tags! Farmers who want the pure bran should 
read every tag and refuse to buy any tagged as 
screenings. If you find “pure bran” containing the 
screenings keep the tag and the mixture and notify 
the Department of Agriculture at once. 
BREVITIES. 
German pencil manufacturers are after California 
cedar. They will probably start a factory there. 
The latest is a Society for the Advancement of For¬ 
est Entomology in America. It is open to anyone who 
is interested in preserving our forests. 
No question about the great value of skunks and 
snakes in destroying insects, but can you convince the 
average farm boy that lie should not kill them on sight? 
If the wife helps her husband milk when he has a 
sore arm, he should help with the kitchen work when 
she has a headache. 
A good New Year’s resolution: “I will spend as much 
time working to put running water and similar fixtures 
into my house as I spent last year in talking about the 
Mexican question and other great problems which I 
could not influence.” 
The papers report that a gang of outlaws iu Ken¬ 
tucky are besieged on a mountain. They have a dozen 
hens. and. as the report runs, “they can hold out indefi¬ 
nitely if the hens continue to lay.” The Hope Farm 
man is having an experience with some Kentucky scrub 
hens in the laying contest. If those outlaws cannot 
make their birds do better they will soon be starved out. 
However, these scrubs may not lay an egg all through 
the year, and yet in the end teach the poultry world a 
more practical lessou than Barron’s best hen. 
