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The Rural New-Yorker 
T1IE BUSINESS FARMER’S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country uml Suburban Homes 
Established IS50 
I'ulilUhed irroklj- Iit the Rurul I’nhllsidnc Company. S8S Writ 30th Street, Non York 
Herbert W. Coltjngwood, President and Editor. 
John IHU.ON, Treasurer a..d General Manatrer. 
\Ym. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Koylk, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
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“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. Rut to make doubly sure we will make good any loss to jiaid 
subscribers sustained l).v trusting any deliberate swindler advertising in our 
columns, and any such swindler will be publicly exposed. We protect sub¬ 
scribers against rogues, but we do not guarantee to adjust trifling differences 
between subscribers and honest, responsible advertisers. Neither will we bo 
res|)onsib]e 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 maintain the improvement and enlarge¬ 
ments that we are now planning for The It. 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. 
* 
During the past season we have had a dozen let¬ 
ters from farmers who have been led to believe that 
manure from cows which are fed on silage is too 
sour to use on ordinary land. As it is known that 
silage is sour these farmers argue that the manure 
must he. Some of this theory is due to agents of 
lime companies who are trying to sell lime. It is 
theory to think that manure ought to be sour be¬ 
cause we know silage is. It is fact to examipe the 
manure find find out. Such facts show there is no 
ground for the belief. The organic acids in silage 
are absorbed in the body of the animal. Such ma¬ 
nure is not sour. At the same time the soil where 
this manure goes may need lime. 
* 
1 >id you ever teach a district school with very posi- 
tive ideas about some proposition which you consid¬ 
ered impossible or not practical? You advance these 
ideas with considerable force until some farmer* 
came forward with the thing actually in operation. 
If you have been in this position you know how that 
article on skunk farming (page 158) hits us. We 
have seen many a skunk farm go hack to failure. 
Yet here comes the great Conservation Commission 
of New York with five licensed skunk farms and a 
fragrant hill of health for the business. So they 
have “good skunks” de-scented with a pair of shears! 
A “good skunk” seems somewhat like a “good trust,” 
denatured by force! However, we give the news 
and the facts—those gentlemen who wish to breed 
skunks may do so. Not any for us! 
* 
Wisconsin seems to he carrying the idea of co¬ 
operative buying and selling nearer home than most 
other States. Now the scheme is to handle eggs 
through the cheese factory. The University Bulletin 
tells us: 
In one community near Milwaukee a group of farm¬ 
ers deliver their eggs at the same time that they deliver 
milk to the cheese factory. The eggs are then graded 
and packed, the operator being paid one cent per dozen 
for his service. The eggs are shipped twice a week from 
a nearby crossing on the interurban line and consigned 
to a Milwaukee grocer. 
The grocer sells the eggs direct to his customers. 
Under this plan the farmers receive more for their 
eggs and have a steady market. Now this cheese 
factory was giving farmers a chance to bring their 
milk together and thus secure the benefits of manu¬ 
facturing. Why not the same with another farm 
product—eggs? The cheese factory will make good 
headquarters for t he sale of a dozen farm products. 
* 
Y'ou will admit that we have talked cover crops 
in school and out. When we had no better crop to 
sow we put in rye. We have kept up this talk be¬ 
cause we know what these cover crops and lime are 
doing to our own soil. Some of the experts regard 
rye as a sort of despised crop by the side of clover 
and vetch. Give our old friend rye a chance and it 
will prove itself. Now we notice that the cover crop 
idea is spreading. A news note from the Ohio Col¬ 
lege states: 
In a locality where onions and celery are grown ex¬ 
tensively, some of the truckers, late in December, were 
plowing their ground for next year’s crop. They were 
turning under a good stand of rye that had been sown 
after the harvesting of the onion crop. This rye was 
of about three months standing and made a heavy 
growth which covered the ground with a thick mat of 
green vegetation. The roots had gone down deeper 
than the plow was running, and the entire furrow that 
was turned up was filled everywhere with a thick fi¬ 
brous mass of roots. Two of the best results that 
follow such a treatment of soil are these: The decayed 
rye plant will go far toward keeping up the humus con¬ 
tent of the soil and the great number of roots that 
everywhere permeate the soil will, after their decay, 
have left that ground porous and easy to work. 
In this case, as we see, the rye followed onions 
and held the soil until Winter plowing. This rye 
during the 100 days of its growth had saved ni¬ 
trates which would otherwise have been lost by drain¬ 
age and filled the soil with its roots. It had not 
interfered with the usual culture, but had paid back 
three times the cost of seed and labor. 
* 
We find much interest taken in those Oregon 
lions which laid 303 and 201 eggs inside of a year. 
In order to he sure about their breeding we wrote 
Prof. James Dryden, who had charge of their de¬ 
velopment. He says: 
The hen in question was bred from an original cross 
of Barred Plymouth Rock and White Leghorn. There 
was no White Plymouth Rock blood used. In the first 
cross the chickens were practically all white, and in 
breeding them back to Leghorns there is no trace of 
black or barring in them now. The lieu which laid 303 
eggs is not inbred or linebred, but the one which laid 
291 eggs is the product of breeding a son to the mother. 
Though we got. this one phenomenal layer the average 
results of our inbreeding are not good. j. dryden. 
It would lie a mistake to encourage such close in¬ 
breeding. There might he a few great individual 
performers as the result of it, hut the final result 
would be loss of vitality and disappointment. 
* 
^ Massachusetts and New Jersey have nothing over 
New York State in misguided justice. Here is the New 
York case. The owner of a farm was annoyed by a 
prowler living in the vicinity who took advantage of 
every occasion when the owner and his wife were away 
and tried to get into the stable or the house. On the 
last, occasion the owner came home and ordered this 
nuisance oil the premises. lie refused to go, and dis¬ 
played a weapon, whereupon the owner relieved him of 
his weapon and then marched him off the premises by 
the coat collar. This man then procured a warrant for 
the arrest of the owner on a charge of assault and bat¬ 
tery iind obtained some village loafers, relatives of his, 
to perjure themselves in court, with the result that the 
owner was fined $10 by the justice for putting a man 
off his own premises. N. D. It. 
We have no full record of this case, hut in the 
facts here given the victim ought, as a public duty, 
to refuse to pay this fine and carry the case higher 
up. We have no doubt such things can he duplicated 
in every State where rascals take advantage of local 
courts and conditions. Personally, in such a case we 
should refuse to submit to such fool law, and thus 
compel the local “justice” to carry it up where the 
public could understand it. 
* 
It is a pleasure for us to give Prof. Hedrick’s 
admirable report on the “Hitchings” method of caring 
for an apple orchard. During the past 10 years 
there have been some hot arguments over this mat¬ 
ter. When we get down past the fog and the preju¬ 
dice we find that it is a matter of the man thinking 
out the plan best adapted to his own soil and loca¬ 
tion. We wrote Mr. Hitchings, asking him to dis¬ 
cuss Prof. Hedrick’s report if he cared to do so. We 
have received this letter: 
I did not hear Prof. Hedrick at Rochester. Ray¬ 
mond, my oldest boy, was there, and says he was fair 
in his report, admitting that at our place the mulch 
method was all right, and was a success in every way. 
That is just what we have claimed for the method. I 
also believe that at many points in the State the same 
success could be duplicated. After reading the report 
I may make a few comments, especially on condition of 
soil after 30 years of cultivation. The 25.000 trees 
under my care, all under mulch method, are the answer 
I give to those who want to know what I think of culti¬ 
vation. GRANT G. HITCHINGS. 
One of the best points Prof. Hedrick makes is that 
“a man may break away from common practice 
* * * and yet attain a high degree of success.” 
Hitchings is a pioneer who thought out his plan and 
then went at it regardless of laughter or abuse. We 
rejoice in his success for that reason. 
* 
The .Supreme Court of Washington has decided an 
important nursery tree case which will interest all 
who buy misfit trees. A nurseryman (A) sold 500 
or more peach trees to a dealer (B), who in turn, 
sold them to a farmer (C). The trees proved to he 
misfits and C brought suit against B, winning a 
judgment. Then Ii sued A for the amount of this 
judgment with all costs and lawyer’s fees added—■ 
all amounting to $2,300.45. On trial the lower court 
threw the case out on the plea that it was not 
brought within three years of the time of sale. The 
ease was carried to the Supreme Court, which 
orders the case hack for trial. 
It is stated that the real intent of a guaranty in the 
case of fruit trees, though if. may not lie so stated, is 
that the tree will produce a certain variety of fruit, 
and this cannot lie determined until the tree comes in 
bearing. 
This is common sense and good law, for how can 
a buyer know that his trees are misfits until they 
actually hear fruit? He would he laughed out of 
court if he tried to prove his ease from the leaves 
and type of a young tree. Some men wait too long 
January SI, 
after the trees hear fruit and prove to he “rogues.” 
The safe rule is to get busy at once when the fruit 
gives the evidence. Send fair samples taken before 
competent witnesses to the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture at Washington, and he sure that you can prove 
beyond question that the trees which hear this misfit 
fruit are the identical ones you ordered and re¬ 
ceived. Unless you can do this you will have trouble 
to prove your claim. 
* 
The secretary, E. C. .Gillett, and the executive com¬ 
mittee of the New York State Fruit Growers’ Associa¬ 
tion were voted thanks in a formal resolution, but I 
doubt if they really ever knew of the real appreciation 
so often expressed and felt out in the audience among 
•the members of the good work they had done, and of 
the general feeling of uplift. 
This is taken from a private letter written by a 
farmer who attended the recent meeting at Roches¬ 
ter. There can be no doubt about the high regard 
which fruit growers have for Secretary Gillett and 
the other officers of the Association. These men 
have worked overtime to make the society a power. 
It has been a clean, honorable record, without graft 
or favoritism. We want these men to realize that 
fruit growers appreciate their work. 
* 
There has never been anything quite like the ex¬ 
tensive use of muck as a fertilizer which will be 
started this Winter. On thousands of farms the 
muck is now being hauled out and mixed with lime 
or wood ashes. It will sweeten and ferment during 
the Winter, and in Spring give a fair supply of avail¬ 
able nitrogen. Do not expect too much from this 
muck. You will he disappointed if you do. Hauling 
it out will provide a profitable job for a Winter day, 
but there is no great bonanza in it. The dried muck 
i.- good for absorbing the stable liquids or for mixing 
through the manure. When sweetened with lime it 
makes a good foundation for applying chemicals. By 
mixing bone or acid phosphate and potash with the 
muck you make a good substitute for manure. Here 
are the things to remember about muck. It is sour 
and must be sweetened with lime. It contains some 
nitrogen, a little phosphoric acid and less potash. It 
is not uniform; some samples have three times as 
much nitrogen as others. 
* 
The Maryland newspapers report a legal case 
which should interest fruit growers. The facts as 
stated show that Walter E. Mueller worked under 
contract in a “unit orchard” controlled by J. II. 
Mertens. In 1910 Mueller began planting apple 
trees. He suggested that the pruning clippings he 
saved for use as scions. Mertens told Mueller to 
take the clippings, as he (Mertens) did not care for 
them. So Mueller packed a few bundles of these 
clippings and stored them in a basement. He later 
started an orchard company of his own and secured 
option on land, as these companies usually do. Trou¬ 
ble seems to have started and Mertens tried to secure 
these options. Finally lie seems to have located tin* 
box of clippings which Mueller had stored. These 
boxes were seized and Mueller was arrested and 
jailed for theft. On trial he was acquitted, and then 
brought suit for malicious persecution. This case 
was decided for Mueller, hut later the upper court 
reversed Ibis verdict and ordered another trial. 
This second trial resulted in a verdict of $5,750 for 
Mueller, and this has been affirmed by the Court of 
Appeals. It looks as if this ease represented a battle 
between “unit” or company orchards. We do not 
hear so much about these enterprises now, probably 
because there is little to say. and not much more 
money to be dug out of the public. 
BREVITIES. 
There is a genuine demand for a machine that will 
grate or scrape up beets or mangels for poultry food. 
Here is a sincere compliment to this genial season. 
In Quebec Province on November 27 farmers were still 
plowing and laying tile. 
In speaking of fine stock remember that thoroughbred 
refers to a race or breed of horses. Other animals are 
purebred if they are eligible to registry. 
A new Wisconsin idea is a country cattle exchange 
where good cows and bulls may be listed for sale or 
exchange. Many good bulls are sacrificed because the 
men who really need them do not know the animals 
are for sale. 
A good open fire is one of the best fixtures for a 
farmhouse. It gives comfort and good cheer, and is also 
one of the best ways <>f ensuring plenty of fresh air. 
The draft tip the chimney sucks away the foul air, and 
does it so there is no danger from colds. 
An actress recently crossed the ocean to this coun¬ 
try carrying a Leghorn hen. Her object was to obtain 
a fresh egg every day. But the hen refused to lay! 
Someone says she did not have her sea legs on. A Ply¬ 
mouth Rock should have made a better working im¬ 
migrant. 
Who can rightly find fault with Mr. I’hclps for what 
ho says on page 139. Some men are naturally fitted for 
work in managing a large farm. As a rule they are 
farmers by nature, and were trained by a good farmer. 
Most of our advice about small places is given to back- 
to-the-landers who never had much experience. 
