-488 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 28, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established > 8 so 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 388 West 80th Street, Now York 
Herbert W. Cor.uSGWooi), President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Uoyle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Onion. 02.04. equal to 8s. €d., or 
8}^ marks, or 10^ 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. 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 person. But to make doubly sure we will make good any loss to paid 
subscrihers sustained by 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 trilling differences 
between subscribers and honest, responsible advertisers. Neither will we bo 
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 tune of 
the transaction, and you must have mentioned Tiie Rural New-xorkkr 
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 week¬ 
ly. We must depend on our old friends for this in¬ 
crease. To make it easy for these friends to intro¬ 
duce the paper to other farmers who do not now 
take it we will send it 10 weeks for 10 cents for 
strictly introductory purposes. We will appreciate 
the interest of friends who help make up the needed 
increase of subscriptions. 
* 
“The best farm papers are the ones that are will¬ 
ing to ‘wise up' the farmers!" 
That comes from a man who makes farming pay 
because he has studied it out in detail. What he 
means by “wise up” is to make people think. The 
world may be roughly divided into parrots and 
thinkers, with many shades of difference. The 
parrot is content to have things explained or an¬ 
alyzed for him. He takes the word of another, 
adapts it to his own meaning, without thought, and 
goes on. The thinker accepts no man’s word until 
he has tested it by reason and common sense. To 
“wise up” a man is not to do his thinking for him, 
but to lead him on to think for himself. The noblest 
service you can render any man is to lead him to 
think sanely for himself. 
* 
I am planning to take the U. S. Civil Service exam¬ 
ination for field forecast agent. Part of the paper is 
“Questions on Crop-reporting Methods.” Any informa¬ 
tion you can give me on the subject will be greatly ap¬ 
preciated. Did you not have an article on this subject 
in 1913? E- f. w. 
Somehow we do not feel quite as civil toward 
this civil service examination business as we are 
told we ought to. We have received a number of 
letters from people who are evidently “cramming” 
for an examination. Most of them do not seem to 
be practically fitted for the work, but by reading a 
few books or articles they hope to get by on a writ¬ 
ten examination. At a real test of the human 
nature and common sense required to fill such a 
position many of these candidates would surely fail, 
though their paper qualifications might carry them 
through. There are many positions in scientific 
agriculture where plain sense or instinct is worth 
five times as much as study or book knowledge. 
The weakness of this civil service seems to be a 
failure to consider these essential things. 
* 
As stated, the work of the institute so far has wholly 
been along the line of instructing us how to increase the 
production. Most of us knew these things and some 
more, but what we never knew and no one of our teach¬ 
ers ventured to inform us, how to cooperate and change 
the conditions so. we could receive a fair remuneration 
for our labor. There is where the rub is. We receive, 
as a whole, less for our products than any other section 
of this, or any other, country, while we pay higher 
wages, higher taxes and higher rate of interest on money 
than they do anywhere else, and also pay the very high¬ 
est price for implements and machinery. 
We add that to our weekly collection of studies 
of the 35-cent dollar. This time it comes from 
Montana. While the above statement will not be 
used by the railroads as an immigration document, 
we have not seen it controverted. It voices the dis¬ 
content which has been growing regarding the one¬ 
sided education which many of these farmers feel 
they have been receiving. It may be and is argued 
that it is not the function of the colleges or sta¬ 
tions or institutes to teach cooperation or business 
methods. The need of such education is recognized 
by the farmers themselves, and if the agencies we 
have mentioned cannot or will not give it they can¬ 
not blame the farmers if they go elsewhere for it, 
and have a kindly feeling for those who provide it 
for them. A large share of the work that must be 
done is not education at all, but the development of 
confidence in human nature, so that farmers may 
trust one another and learn to work together. 
“It does me good to sit on the 'bleachers' and see 
you knock the frauds." I. c. 
Massachusetts. 
We have been accused of “playing to the galleries” 
before now. When we see who sits up there we real¬ 
ize that good acting is required. Those who sit on 
the “bleachers” take a hand in the game. They are 
far more human and nearer right than those who 
cover the soft reserved seats. We try to play a 
straight, fair game for all, with protection but no 
favors. And here is the philosophy laid down to 
us by a great agricultural paper: 
“Wc do not take any stock in the so-called plain 
or common farmer. He is the most ungrateful citi¬ 
zen in the country, and tcill go back on you when 
you need him." 
We have not found him so, but rather the most 
loyal friend that one can have. The R. N.-Y. has 
been made what it is by this same “plain, common 
farmer.” We have found him staunch and true. 
He has never failed as yet, and he never will. 
* 
“Enough food wasted on my farm this season to 
feed three average families for a year,” said a 
prominent Hudson River farmer. 
“My team and truck frequently stand in line at 
the dock for a chance to load produce from four 
o’clock in the afternoon to 10 o’clock the next 
morning; some one has to pay the expense,” said 
a large wholesale produce dealer in New York. 
“The cost of fresh farm food products is so high 
I am forced to buy cheaper substitutes,” said a 
prominent city housewife. 
All three of these statements were recently made 
to the writer. Is it possible that we shall forever 
shut our eyes and permit this state of affairs to 
continue indefinitely? Food rotting on the farms 
within 65 miles of New York because the producer 
cannot get enough out of it to pay the cost of 
packing and shipping. Families in the city growing 
anaemic on cheap and adulterated food substitutes 
because these same farm products are too expensive 
for consumption. Dealers admitting the most ex¬ 
travagant form of distribution that could he ad¬ 
vised ; and speculating in food products, and con¬ 
trolling distribution in ways which they refuse to 
admit. 
These are the conditions that exist. They are the 
conditions that the cooperative committees of the 
New York State Agricultural Society have been 
studying and working to eliminate. They are the 
conditions that Governor Glynn referred to in his 
vigorous message to the Legislature in support of 
the Food and Market bill which he proposed. Rut 
there is intimation that some one is afraid that 
some one else will get credit for it, and that conse¬ 
quently the bill cannot pass. This is a pretty situa¬ 
tion, indeed. We can hardly believe that grown 
men will take such a position. But we shall see 
who are the friends of the farm, and who are its 
enemies; and if the farmers of New York State 
do not punish the latter and reward die former, 
we mistake their temper at this time. Must food 
rot and children starve within 65 miles of each 
other on a navigable river that a few middlemen 
may grow rich on the traffic in food? 
* 
The United States Express Company, after 60 
years of prosperity, has given up the fight for 
business and will be liquidated. The competition 
from parcel post and the lower i*ates forced by the 
Interstate Commerce Commission, have made it im¬ 
possible for the express company to continue busi¬ 
ness at a profit. At least 10 years ago The R. 
N.-Y. stated that the express companies had it in 
their power to stave oil' parcel post and keep their 
monopoly for 25 years longer. The way to do this 
was to make fair concessions and satisfy the public, 
give cheaper and better service, as they could 
easily do. The express companies hooted at such 
advice. They had the public by the throat, and 
Congress by the pocket. What more did they 
want? In their strength and power these express 
companies never dreamed that the people would 
kick themselves free and transfer the relation be¬ 
tween hand and throat to the other side. These 
companies misjudged the power of public opinion 
and told the people to go to a place which they 
are now steering for. As it has turned out, they 
could not have done a more patriotic thing for their 
country, for they have taught the common people 
how to organize and use their power. Parcel post 
is more than a just public convenience. It is the 
beginning of an evolution in public service. As 
the express companies slide oil into the waters of 
liquidation they may realize that their own selfish 
arrogance is responsible for their fate. “IV/io is 
there to mourn for Logan?" 
Every year at this time we have many questions 
about planting the so-called “superior quality” ap¬ 
ples. As a rule such varieties are not the heaviest 
bearers, and they require great care. In choice mar¬ 
kets they sell at high prices. Will it pay to plant 
them in preference to the standard, hardy sorts 
which are known as wholesale fruit? In theory it 
might pay, but we have gone to practical men for 
the answer, and this one is typical: 
Those who want to make money for sure and do it 
easiest, better in New York and New England stick to 
Baldwin, R. I. Greening and Spy; New Jersey and 
south to Virginia, Winesap; Ohio Valley, Rome Beauty. 
These are sure and safe. J. H. hale. 
Connecticut. 
In our own orchard Baldwin and McIntosh Red 
are most profitable. There may be finer apples, but 
where the old sorts are well grown they will prove 
most profitable for the majority of growers. 
The boll weevil has caused a loss to the cotton 
crop of $500,000,000 during the past 20 years. Yet 
it has probably done the Gulf States more good 
than any man or group of men since the Civil War. 
A nasty, crawling insect a greater benefactor than 
a man? Yes, because the insect has compelled the 
South to break away from a one-crop system of 
growing cotton. Before the weevil came the South 
was buying hay, meat, butter, bread, beans and 
other food from the North, and at the same time 
exhausting her soil by sending away a crop high 
in fertilizing material. Wise men grew white- 
haired and died preaching a diversified farming, 
but their words were but little heeded. Then came 
the weevil, not preaching or arguing, but gnawing 
the heart out of the cotton business and bringing 
men face to face with ruin. That was a compelling 
force which drove farmers to corn and meat pro¬ 
duction. They would not have gone otherwise. As 
it is, the future will see the Gulf States one of the 
greatest meat-producing sections of the country. 
Man gave the theory: the weevil came along with 
the practical application and rubbed it in. Calam¬ 
ity is the companion which leads most of us to 
opportunity. 
* 
We know a man who spends much of his time 
discussing what lie calls “large questions.” He does 
it somewhat to the detriment of his own farming. 
He can tell you all about the Mexican question and 
half a dozen others, and can also tell you just what 
the Administration ought to do. You would think 
he ought to go to Congress at least, but he talks 
just a little too much, and has cut out so large a 
job that his farm shows the effect of it. Now this 
man goes home and is hurt because liis wife is not 
interested in these “large questions.” Her mind 
deals with smaller things. She keeps an eye on the 
school teacher and encourages him; she has inter¬ 
ested the people in a school garden and a children’s 
corn contest and is helping to make a model country 
school. Her work is felt in the Grange, in the 
church, in all local activities, quietly but always for 
the little things which mean progress. She has tried 
to get her husband interested in those small things 
too, but he has no time for these trifles when Villa 
might become president of Mexico or Murphy be 
thrown out of Tammany Hall or a new tariff bill 
passed. This man could not influence one of these 
“large” things to save his life, while he might in¬ 
fluence the little events right around him, and by so 
doing indirectly influence the larger ones. You can¬ 
not make him see it. lie has hitched his wagon— 
not to a star, but to the reflection of one in the 
water. Let him work to make his own school dis¬ 
trict the best and happiest place to live in, and he 
would gain the power to influence these “large” 
matters. He cannot do it in any other way. So 
the man goes reaching after public rainbows, while 
the woman quietly directs the little things at her 
hand. Which do you call the better citizen? 
BREVITIES. 
You can hardly have too much “bread on the waters.” 
It will not dissolve, but grow. 
We begin early to say that arsenate of lead paste as 
well as tar will make the crows say “sour grapes” to 
the seed corn. 
As for patching up a poor lawn by raking it over and 
sowing seed on top, the chances are against success with 
the plan. It should be worked up and fitted all over. 
Take it from us—there will be no let lip in the cam¬ 
paign for a more comfortable kitchen. The women have 
equal rights with the cows for running water in the 
house. 
Cooperation under government control lias struck 
Northern Africa. In Tripoli, Italian capital is to be 
used in forming Arabs into agricultural groups directed 
by skilled Italian farmers. 
So far as we know, lime is the only substance thus 
far used to color the lime-sulplmr mixture as a marker. 
Some of the fruit growers believe that this extra lime 
weakens the fungicidal effect of the mixture. 
