868 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country ami Knhitrbnn Home* 
Established 1850 
Published weekly by Ihe llnral Publishing Company. 33.8 West 80lh Street, Sew York 
Hkrbkrt tv. Colt.ingwood, President and Editor. 
John .1. Dillon, Treasurer and General Managw. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mits. K. T. Boyle. Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal l’ostal Union, $ 2 .<H, equal to 83 . 6 d., or 
Xtj marks, or 10 i£ francs. Kemit 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. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable houses only. But to make doubly sure, we will make good any loss 
to paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible advertisers or misleading advertisements in our columns, and any 
such swindler will bo publicly exposed. We are also often called upon 
to adjust differences or mistakes between our subscribers and honest, 
responsible houses, whether advertisers or not. We willingly use our good 
offices to this end, but such cases should not be confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers against rogues, but we will not be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned bv the courts, 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention This Rural New- 
Yorkkr when writing the advertiser. 
H ERE is a new one from a poultry keeper—a 
woman at that: 
It is recognized that hen people can’t tell the exact 
truth about their fowls even if they try (and most of 
them don’t try). There is something demoralizing 
about the hen game when it is entered into for big 
profits. 
That may be one reason why the Hope Farm man 
keeps out of any “contest” where the flocks are 
kept on separate farms. He might have the utmost 
confidence in the other fellow too. But can anyone 
tell us why it is that sober and “esteemed” citizens 
become such blowhards whenever their hens do any¬ 
thing remarkable at egg-laying? 
* 
D URING the past few years the smaller types of 
gasoline engines have found a new use. They 
were once known as the metal hired man. 
Now we may also call them the tireless hired girl, 
for they have found their way into many a farm 
home to do much of the housework. Posted in some 
convenient place the tireless hired girl will run the 
washing machine and wringer, work the vacuum 
cleaner, play with the dishwasher and scrubber and 
do other hard jobs without complaining of head¬ 
ache or backache or demanding an “afternoon out.” 
In some farmhouses these little engines have been 
harnessed to the housework with great ingenuity, 
and the work they do is even more remarkable than 
the barn work they have mastered. Many of our 
women readers are using the tireless hired girl. We 
would like to arrange with some of them to tell us 
what this “hired girl” does. 
* 
I HAVE always given you credit for any success I 
had, because of your criticism, given so that it en¬ 
couraged instead of discouraged. c. E. 
This note came like a memory out of the past. 
A young man was trying to write articles and to 
learn how to express himself clearly. The work was 
crude, but we thought we saw in it some evidence 
of power. All we did was to try to show this man 
that power without some polish would never take 
firm and lasting hold on the public mind. There are 
two sorts of criticism. One is destructive. It sim¬ 
ply tears down by ridicule or denunciation, and 
makes no effort to build again on the ruin it has 
made. Another form of criticism is constructive, 
while it tears down what seems to be feeble or false 
it does not destroy the foundation, but suggests a 
better way to build the new edifice. We think all 
criticism should be constructive. If a man is not 
prepared to suggest a better plan than the one he 
seeks to destroy, he should wait until he can think 
out a substitute which can stand the test. The 
world would be far better off if the destructive 
critic were compelled to give a new and better way 
before opening his mouth to eat up the old one. 
* 
W E would call the attention of our women read¬ 
ers to the hen announcement on page 861. 
The egg-laying contests have already accom¬ 
plished great things for the poultry industry, and 
they are sure to do more by helping to establish 
strains or families of hens which show superior lay¬ 
ing power. Since our experience with the “scrubs” 
we have become convinced that there are to be 
found, on some of our farms, flocks of very superior 
poultry. Many of these have been developed by 
farmers’ wives and daughters, who, without claim¬ 
ing to he expert breeders, have produced very su¬ 
perior stock. Now the egg-laying contests offer a 
method of testing such flocks in a way which no 
one can criticize. A record made at such a contest 
will stand unchallenged. These farm women can¬ 
not be expected to go to the expense of entering a 
full pen of birds, and so we will try to do it for 
them. Our plan is to enter one or more pens—made 
THE RURA.lv NEW-YORKER 
up of single hens or pullets from a number of differ¬ 
ent flocks. A woman who wishes to compete will 
notify us, stating the breed she keeps and a brief 
history of her flock. We wish, if possible, to con¬ 
fine this contest to women who are not what one 
may call poultry “experts,” “authorities” or adver¬ 
tisers—but those who keep plain farm flocks of good 
quality. Such women will simply select their favor¬ 
ite hen, send her on at the proper time and we will 
do the rest. We shall have an article from Mrs. 
Tom Barron telling how to select the best hen and 
other articles from Mrs. Woodruff, Mrs. Haynes, 
Mrs. Cosgrove and others on training and fitting a 
hen for the contest. The R. N.-Y. would like to 
prove that some of these farm flocks are superior 
layers, and our women readers can help do it and 
also help themselves into a good business if their 
hens can make a record. We would like to hear at 
once from women who wish to test a favorite hen. 
* 
A COMPANY of rich “sports” came from England 
to play polo. They brought a herd of fast pon¬ 
ies and an expensive lay-out for knocking a 
hall about a field. A company of even richer Amer¬ 
ican sports mounted their ponies and the game was 
on. Some 50.000 people paid to see these rich play¬ 
things of nobility and bank accounts try to hit that 
ball, while the daily papers printed page after page 
—for it was a great “society” event. The English¬ 
men hit the ball harder and straighter, and so Eng¬ 
land won. Not one American in half a million will 
ever play polo, and not one of us in 100.000 know 
what the game is, but it was a “glorious victory” 
for England—because the papers say so. In truth 
it was a useless performance which adds nothing to 
the wealth or comfort of the world; a rich man's 
idle sport which adds nothing to useful knowledge. 
Strange how in all departments of life the “fancy” 
is applauded while utility is ignored. On July 4 
another Englishman will start for this country. He 
is a quiet, useful man who in his line is a master 
far more deserving of the nation’s applause than 
any nobleman who ever punched a polo pony. This 
man is Tom Barron, the poultry “wizard,” the man 
who has so gained the confidence of a hen that she 
has told him more of her secrets than other humans 
have learned. The man with the useless racehorse 
or polo pony comes across the Atlantic with bands 
playing and flags flying. Tom Barron comes un¬ 
announced and unrecognized. Yet what Barron has 
done for poultry will be worth to this nation 100 
times as much as all the racehorses and “sports” 
who ever left England. 
* 
A T this season we are interested in reading the 
“baccalaureate” sermons which are preached 
at the colleges and universities. These ser¬ 
mons are supposed to be the last word of advice to 
young men and women who, while trained for com¬ 
mand, have as yet no company of soldiers to lead. 
One of the best of these baccalaureate thoughts for 
this year we find in the sermon by President Had¬ 
ley of Yale from this text: 
“Covet earnestly the best gifts; and yet shew I 
unto you a more excellent way." 
President Hadley spoke on what he called a fair 
measure of success. 
Many a man of 50 whom the world counts successful 
is in his heart soured and disappointed—unnecessarily 
soured and disappointed—because at the age of 30 he 
shut his eyes to the other kinds of success which life 
had to offer besides professional distinction. 
No doubt you can, within the limits of your ac¬ 
quaintance, name a dozen men of whom this may be 
said. At an age when a man should be mellow and 
cheerful and wise these men are sour and disap¬ 
pointed because they have lived one-sided lives and 
cut out sentiment, poetry and the humor of genuine 
human nature in their rush for the material things 
of life. We think the world is coming now to view 
such men with a clearer understanding of what their 
lives really mean, and why they are sour and un¬ 
happy, and that knowledge is one of the most hope¬ 
ful indications of the future. For many years there 
ran all through books and lectures and sermons the 
thought or suggestion that the rich and “strong” 
man presented the ideal or model for college youth. 
No one can estimate the moral injury which this 
false idea has wrought in our public life. The re¬ 
action now seems to have set in when young men 
and women are directed to the sour and disap¬ 
pointed life of the “merchant prince” or the master 
of finance. As we write it occurs to us to name one 
man who has given us all a shining example of how 
to live a broad and consecrated life. That is Brother 
Barnabas, the head of the Lincoludale school. Here 
is a man strong and capable enough to have made 
his way into a high position in finance or business, 
who has chosen to employ his strength of character 
Juno 27, 
:ind great powers of organization in manufacturing 
manhood out of material which may have been 
thrown out and rejected by the social machinery 
which the captains of industry have built up. This 
is said to be a dull, prosaic age in which money is 
made a god. yet it is a hopeful age, with a world of 
good in it. when there are to be found men like 
Brother Barnabas and the thousands of men and 
women who in quiet and humble ways have 
“chosen that better part” of giving their lives that 
children may have a chance. 
* 
P RESIDENT WILSON is reported as saying that 
the present talk about hard times or fear of the 
business future is due to psychological influ¬ 
ences. We have heard one learned gentleman go a 
little further and claim that what the President 
really meant to say was epistemological idealism! 
Another unlearned friend said these wise men got 
him out over his head but he understood the Presi¬ 
dent to mean that the American people have been 
“seeing things at night”—thinking times ought to 
be “hard” and thus making them so. All the think¬ 
ers seem to agree that if our farmers would only 
feel contented and look for good times, prosperity 
would surely appear. For instance, President Wil¬ 
son claims that there is a plot to delay the passage 
through Congress of what are known as the “trust” 
bills to regulate big business. In proof he publishes 
two letters which show that manufacturers and 
railroad men are trying to induce citizens to write 
Congressmen urging them to adjourn and let the 
present laws rest. One of those letters is from a 
St. Louis manufacturer who gives three reasons for 
the “psychological” trouble. 
• first crop—Winter wheat—is unusually promis- 
mg. A bumper crop is almost assured beyond any ques¬ 
tion of doubt—the harvesting of which has already be¬ 
gun in Oklahoma, and will be in full sway in Kansas 
witlnu a week. The gathering of this crop, when fin¬ 
ished, will he an inspiration and encouragement to the 
whole country. We are very anxious to take full bene¬ 
fit of that inspiration and help to accelerate this for¬ 
ward movement of better conditions. 
You see these men all come back to the dear old 
farmer for their salvation. In time of war he must 
furnish food and soldiers and pay the largest share 
of war taxes. In time of peace he must keep up the 
vitality of the city, feed the nation and give pros¬ 
perity by selling at what he can get and buying at 
what the other fellow charges. When it comes to a 
national attack of epistemological idealism he is 
expected to produce a bumper crop and give “inspir¬ 
ation and encouragement.” The bankers and man¬ 
ufacturers and railroads with all their money and 
power confess their inability to induce the nation 
to “cheer up.” They all go to the man in boots and 
overalls whose bumper crop will make everyone bet¬ 
ter off except himself. We notice that with every 
new favorable report the price of wheat drops while 
bread and flour remain the same as before! Now 
if these monied gentlemen want to give the nation 
real prosperity why do they not work together to 
give the farmer a fairer share of what his wheat 
finally brings? President Wilson quotes from an¬ 
other letter written by a newspaper publisher: 
The grantiug of the petition of the Eastern railroads 
tor a bye per cent, freight increase will do more for the 
prosperity and development of the country than all 
legislation against unlawful restraint and monopolies. 
The railroads are to haul 15 per cent, more wheat 
than last year and be paid five per cent, more per 
bushel for doing it while the farmers are to be 
paid 15 per cent, less per bushel as a penalty for 
producing a bumper crop! Suppose the farmers in¬ 
stead of the railroads were to receive a five per 
cent, increase! Every dollar of such increase would 
be spent promptly for manufactured articles which 
would start the factories and give employment to 
workmen. There would be nothing “psychological” 
about that but the hardest kind of business sense. 
BREVITIES. 
You may be entertaining an angel unawares among 
your pullets. The Hope Farm man’s scrub which laid 
34 eggs in 36 days is a discard—sold at about seven 
cents a pound. 
The letter from Mexico on page S52, gives a little idea 
of the way The It. N.-Y. family is scattered over the 
world. No matter where they go or where they live 
our people are glad to see the paper and glad to help it 
when they can. 
The Kansas Agricultural College has gone to prison. 
This means that 95 prisoners in the Federal prison at 
Fort Leavenworth are taking correspondence courses in 
agriculture. Let’s hope these men will be educated into 
the true freedom of the farm. 
Now the mathematicians are after the housefiy. The 
latest figures from the Wisconsin Agricultural Col¬ 
lege: “Depending chiefly on the climate, there may be 
from eight to 14 broods a season, and the progeny of 
a single female lly, provided they all live, will be 14 - 
067,792,000,000,000.” Perhaps Tom Barron has been 
able to introduce the blood of a laying strain of flies 
into liis Wyandottes! 
