798 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country ami Suburban Homes 
Established 1850 
Published weekly by tbe Rural Publishing: Company, 383 West 80th Street, New York 
Herbert W. Collingwood, President and Editor. 
John - J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wit. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Royi.k, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. S2.01. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
&yj 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 CO 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 
subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler advertising in onr 
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 be 
responsible for the debts of honest itankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of tile complaint must i»e 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. 
N 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 introductory purposes. We will appreciate 
the interest of friends who help make up the needed 
increase of subscriptions. 
♦ 
T HE Department, of Agriculture states that the 
cost of producing a bushel of wheat in Sas¬ 
katchewan, Canada, is 55 cents, or 02 cents to 
put that wheat on board the cars at country points. 
This cost has increased, while the selling price of 
wheat has fallen from Sl.2 cents to 66.125 cents per 
bushel. This leaves a wheat farmer a margin of 
4.125 cents a bushel. How much of the consumer’s 
dollar does this Canadian wheat grower receive, and 
how much of the product made by that consumer 
can he buy with his 4.125 cents? 
* 
I N the last Woman and Home magazine, page 770, 
was the story of Mr. and Mrs. Canfield,, who do 
custom canning for the neighbors. They put 
vegetables, fruits and meat into cans. Now this meat 
canning may open a way for a direct trade between 
farmers and consumers. At present the farmer 
with one or two beef animals to sell has no satis¬ 
factory market. The local butcher will not pay a 
fair price, and it will not pay to ship unless a 
reasonable number of animals can be sent. There¬ 
fore the single beef animal is usually sold at a loss 
or at no profit. If this meat can be put into good- 
sized cans in a cleanly way it can be handled to 
better advantage. There would be a demand for it 
in the city, and after some experimenting farmers 
would know just how to prepare it for the trade. 
Here is a chance to use the cans to obtain more of 
the consumer’s dollar. 
* 
A READER at Hastings. Nebraska, sends us the 
local prices paid farmers for farm produce. 
Ilogs bring $7.75. steers $6, cows $5 per cwt., 
and hens. 12 cents per pound. Yet our friend says: 
I will say that if any< j has enough money to spare 
to buy beefsteak or pork, either will cost 25 cents per 
pound, with only one profit added to the purchase price 
of seven and 7% cents for the raw material after it is 
cut up. As for me and my house, we go without meat 
except on company days, and find that we are better 
off. not only financially but physically. 
This we figure to be 2S cents of the consumer’s 
dollar to the farmer—with only one handler be¬ 
tween. If we are wrong in this will some “two 
blades of grass” mathematician set us right? By 
the time that beef got to the Atlantic coast it would 
be worth 53 cents or more. This man should extend 
his meatless meals to the “company.” They would 
be better off also. When we stated two weeks ago 
that the policy of the beef trust is driving the peo¬ 
ple to vegetarianism we did not suppose i* would 
start out West—in the beef country. 
* 
N O doubt some one will come criticising the re¬ 
marks about city and student labor on page 
792. It is their privilege to do so, but so far 
as we can learn these notes express the opinion of 
most practical farmers on this subject. During our 
short Northern Summers time is precious—or ought 
to be—and every farmer knows that unskilled or 
playful “helpers” are only in his way. There are 
among these students and city men some who give 
good service and earn good wages. As a rule such 
men have little trouble in finding a job. On the 
other hand there are ball players and sports who 
imagine they can bluff some of these farmers and 
TUTIU RURAL NEW-YORKER 
draw good wages while having a pleasant little out¬ 
ing. They make a big mistake in this, and our 
advice to the patronizing and conceited young man 
is to keep away from a successful fruit farm, for we 
can promise him that his conceit will be quickly 
dissolved in sweat. On the other hand, it might be 
possible for many of those young fellows, if they 
wanted to, to “brace up” and learn how to be 
mighty helpful. 
* 
THE SHEEP AND THE WATCHDOGS. 
“The stockholders in times of prosperity are like 
sheep—they go on and browse. When there's trou¬ 
ble they all make for the same hole in the fence and 
injure themselves." 
HAT remark is credited to Charles II. Mellen, 
formerly president of New York. New Haven 
and Hartford Railroad. Mr. Mellen was testi¬ 
fying before an investigating committee at Washing¬ 
ton about the mismanagement of his railroad. What¬ 
ever we may say about Mr. Mellen as a railroad 
wrecker we must all admit that he exposed one great 
truth and one great weakness of human nature in 
the above statement. Not a man who reads this 
can, if he he honest, deny that this applies more or 
less directly to some of his own behavior. 
All men are in a way stockholders. They may 
buy stock in some business enterprise—either co¬ 
operative or some form of a trust or monopoly. 
That of course is what Mr. Mellen meant, hut in a 
larger way we are all stockholders in the great 
business of society. That is tbe very foundation 
theory of a republic—the fact that every man lias 
some little voice in government and some definite 
interest in the way that government is administered. 
All are shareholders in the Nation, or else we no 
longer live in a republic. Some men may have a 
larger share than others—due to property rights, 
intelligence or responsibility, hut all are sharehold¬ 
ers in some degree. Now as the simplest illustra¬ 
tion take a cooperative society, a building and loan 
association, or a small manufacturing company. 
Aslc yourself if Mr. Mellen is right. We know doz¬ 
ens of such organizations where most of the mem¬ 
bers “go on and browse.” A few men conduct the 
organization, hut the average stockholder pays lit¬ 
tle attention and asks no questions so long as his 
dividends come regularly. When for some reason 
the business goes wrong these stockholders fall into 
a panic, and not knowing rue real cause or history 
of it probably do just the wrong thing, and ruin the 
enterprise. There was a fire in a girls’ school. There 
had been no fire drills—no discussion of what to do 
in an emergency. All that had been left to the 
teachers. The result was a wild rush for the stairs 
and a dozen were trampled to death. Fire broke out 
in a girls' college at midnight. There had been 
weekly fire drills and each girl had studied the 
situation. As a result 500 students gathered and 
marched out of the building singing their college 
songs. In one case the students had been left to 
browse—in the other they mastered the situation. 
If the smaller shareholders of the New Haven road 
could have received a drill corresponding to that 
of the college girls. .7. P. Morgan would not have 
dared to play checkers with a great corporation, 
and Mil Mellen would not now be telling about it. 
Or, take the larger view of a shareholder’s duty. 
From the election of school trustee up to the selec¬ 
tion of a President, you and’all the rest of us, have 
been acting more or less like sheep, rather than 
watchdogs. We may work hard to elect a man or a 
set of men—then we “go on and browse,” leaving 
these men unwatched to do almost as .they please. 
If a man is of our own party we justify most that 
lie does for political reason. If be belongs to the 
other party we criticise him and try to tear him 
down, even though he honestly tries to do what we 
know in our heart to be right. Now and then good 
men of all parties unite to put some strong and true 
man in office. He faces public evils which are 
rooted in politics because they have been growing 
for 20 years. No man, however strong and honest, 
can reform these things in his short term of a few 
years, yet because he does not do the impossible at 
once we listen to the politicians and tear this man 
out of office as soon as we have a chance. 
Tell us now if this is an honest indictment. Have 
we not stated in this the weakness of human na¬ 
ture as applied to public matters? We might go 
further, and say that many men like to be watch¬ 
dogs provided they can watch some one else and 
not themselves. Such men will tell you how to 
conduct the Mexican war, yet permit the school in 
their own district to become a failure through lack 
of supervision. The great problem in American pub¬ 
lic life today is how to turn the sheep into faith¬ 
ful and fighting watchdogs. The people understand 
.Tune 6, 
this, as is shown by the demand for primary nomin¬ 
ations and the recall of unfaithful officials. All the 
laws on earth, however, will never give us what we 
need until plain, common men like ourselves stop 
being sheep and play the higher intelligent part of 
watchdogs—ready to give up something of our own 
comfort if need be for public service. There is too 
much truth in Mellen’s remark. It is for us to 
change it. The great reformer is made possible 
by the thousands of honest men who back him at 
every turn. His strength comes from their watch¬ 
fulness. The great rascal is made possible by the 
thousands of good men who let him alone to do as 
he pleases. His strength comes from their in¬ 
difference. 
* 
W E like the tone of that letter from Tom Bar¬ 
ron which is printed on the next page. There 
is a bluff, hearty courage and conviction in 
the following: 
Personally, I do not care a hang if I do not sell a 
bird to an American breeder, for I do not wish to undo 
anything that the American may have done as regards 
putting up a standard type. My point is that type is 
but a small consideration, seeing that I absolutely 
breed with the idea of getting the highest layer. 
Thus far the people who claim that these birds 
are cross-bred or not pure Wyandottes have abso¬ 
lutely failed to produce evidence that would carry 
conviction. They have the chance to do so, for 
our columns are open to them. All we want to do 
is «to learn for the benefit of our readers how to 
find the most economical hen. By that we mean the 
hen which will give us most eggs for a dollar. We 
will he one of five, 10. 20 or any number to raise 
a fund for the purpose of having every bird in the 
egg-laying contests accurately scored by the “stand¬ 
ard.” Then let us compare •their “scores” with 
their records. Or. we will contribute to a fund to 
buy a pen of the highest scoring White Wyandottes 
that can be found and enter them in the next 
contest! 
* 
A REPRESENTATIVE of the Jewish Agricul¬ 
tural Society has just sent us the following 
letter: 
The first Farmers’ Savings and Loan Association was 
organized and over $60,000 worth of Shares were sub¬ 
scribed at Centreville, N. 1\, last week. Arrangements 
were made to apply for a charter. I shall endeavor 
within a few days to send you -a more complete state¬ 
ment of the proceedings. I take this opportunity to 
express to you on behalf of the farmers •present at 
the meeting a unanimous vote of thanks for your co¬ 
operation in arranging this meeting, and in general for 
the interest you have shown in the Land Bank. 
New York. j. w. p. 
This is the first exclusively farm savings and 
loan association to be formed to utilize the benefits 
of the Land Bank. The Jewish farmer and the al¬ 
truistic friends of the Jewish farmer know a good 
thing when they see it. They have traditions of 
trade and finance behind them of many centuries. 
They are the first farmers of the State to organize 
to lie ready to profit by the Land Bank the day it is 
opened for business. Other sections, however, are 
getting ready and some others may have advanced 
thus far; but this is the first one to report. We 
ought to have a fair representation of farm asso¬ 
ciations as charter members of the bank. How 
about your section? 
BREVITIES. 
If you would catch a farmer off his guard—go un¬ 
awares and visit his backyard. 
Wiiat’s the use of a college education unless it can 
give a boy or girl moral and business advantage? 
Now we have a corn cob-rot discovered in Kansas. 
This disease spreads in storage. 
Tiie “Bang” system of handling tuberculous cows 
does uot mean banging them with the milking stool or 
the boot, but separating them from the rest of the herd. 
In Saskatoon, Western Canada, any citizen can. by 
paying one dollar, obtain a vacant lot to be used as a 
garden. The city plows and disks the ground for him. 
The fur business has got down to the point where 
the skins of molts have value. More than 3,000,006 
moleskins were sold in England during the past three 
j ea rs. 
In the old days, when corn required at least 130 
days to develop, we had to plant by May 20. Now with 
real 90-day corn we can let the cover crops grow large 
and wait until June 15 if we have it. 
Those kind-hearted friends who told us that thou¬ 
sands of song birds are annually killed by spraying or¬ 
chards. Where is their evidence? We have given them 
every chance to prove their statement, but proof is uot 
forthcoming. 
The so-called tobacco wireworm does great damage 
to the tobacco crop and also injures corn. One sug¬ 
gested remedy is growing cow peas or Crimson clover 
one year before tobacco or corn are planted. That’s 
good advice whether there are worms or not . 
We have a number of questions about prices to charge 
for custom spraying. In our own case we charge one dol¬ 
lar per hour for the work of a power sprayer, two 
horses and two men. When we furnish spraying ma¬ 
terials we figure a profit of 20 per cent, on materials. 
