848 
THE RTJRA.Lv NEW-YORKER 
July 25, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S FArER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban llomeH 
Established isao 
Published weekly by the Hural I’ublislilnfr Company, 3113 West 110i ll Street, New York 
Herbert W. COLLINGWOOD, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mits. E. T. Hoyle. Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.<11. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
8k, marks, or 10k. francs. Remit in money order, express 
order,' personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, 80 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 papier 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 be 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 subscriber's against rogues, but we will not be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to ns within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it. you should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
T HE big rascals and their spineless creatures who 
wrecked the magnificent property of tlie»N. Y., 
N, H. & H. Railroad have put their thieving 
fingers into thousands of homes where The R. N.-Y. 
is read. This railroad’s stock was a favorite invest¬ 
ment in New England, and was bought largely by 
people who desired a solid and sure income. Few 
railroad stocks in the country were bought so freely 
as family investments, because the public had the 
utmost confidence in the men who were supposed to 
control the road’s finances. It now appears that 
these respectable men sat like dummies and did just 
what .T. P. Morgan told them to do. Instead of “di¬ 
recting” they merely ratified schemes of robbery 
which—the Interstate Commerce Commission says— 
cost the railroad at least $90,000,000! The Commis¬ 
sion says of the present outlook: 
The splendid property of the New Haven Railroad 
itself will be called upon for many a year to make up 
the drain upon its resources resulting from the unpar¬ 
donable folly of the transactions outside the proper field 
in which its stockholders supposed their money was in¬ 
vested. But honesty and efficiency of management of 
this property of the railroad only will undoubtedly in 
time restore its former standing. 
We hope that our friends who have suffered be¬ 
cause of this rascality will finally save their prop¬ 
erty. But what of the men who have so shamelessly 
betrayed their trust? They ought to be compelled 
to replace what was stolen, and the ringleaders 
among them who are left alive should be put in jail 
and kept there. 
* 
O N page 890 you say that opportunities on Eastern 
farms are superior to those in the West. If this 
be true the natural questions are why are Eastern 
farms being abandoned? Why is the price of 
land less than half what it is here, and why are not your 
farmers taking advantage of some of these great oppor¬ 
tunities? w. M. 0. 
Iowa. 
To answer your last question first—they are; 
thousands of them. Some of the most productive 
and profitable farms in the country are within 100 
miles of the Atlantic Coast. The soil of these pro¬ 
ductive farms has been worked steadily for more 
than 200 years. Acre for acre they will produce 
moi’e corn, more wheat, more potatoes and more hay 
than Iowa soil, while these crops will sell for twice 
as much per bushel, or ton, as the Iowa products! 
No good farms at the East are being abandoned. 
There are some rocky and steep farms which never 
should have been cleared. They never would have 
been touched if the first settlers had known what 
lay beyond them. These naturally unprofitable farms 
are now going back to the forest, though many are 
still used for pasture. Some excellent farms are 
unoccupied hut not abandoned. These farms in the 
past supported large families and made money for 
their owners. They will do the same for other far¬ 
mers if they can he worked with spirit, and if the 
farmer can have fair capital. One difference be¬ 
tween Western and Eastern farming is not well un¬ 
derstood by the Western man. In the West farming 
is the main business and the chief dependence of 
the towns. Money is invested freely in farm land. 
This gives farming a solid character as the leading 
industry. The price of land goes up, loans are 
easily made, and farmers become the leading class. 
In the East through several generations manufac¬ 
turing or other city enterprises have become the 
leaders. They absorb money for investments and 
draw interest and humanity away from farming. 
Thus farm values have fallen, and hoys and girls 
have left the farm. When the old folks grow old or 
pass away the farm is unoccupied or in the hands 
of tenants. The tide has now turned, however, and 
Eastern farming is rapidly “coming hack” as a busi¬ 
ness enterprise. With better facilities for obtaining 
working capital the Eastern farmer will have better 
opportunities than ever before. 
Some weeks ago a reader wrote asking quite an 
important question. He did not sign his name, and 
the postmark on the letter was badly blurred. As 
a rule we pay no attention to unsigned letters. 
This question seemed to he a personal one, hut there 
was no way of answering it by mail. Now comes 
another letter in the same writing again unsigned 
and without postoffiee being named. This time the 
writer scolds because lie has not seen his former 
question answered in print The question carries no 
point that would interest the public, hut we will 
answer it promptly as soon as this man complies 
with our fair and simple rule of giving his name 
and address. This is a small matter, but we want to 
make it clear that no one need have the slightest 
fear that we will ever betray his confidence. 
* 
O F late years we have had more and more people 
say that there is no more spirit on Fourth of 
July celebrations. The holiday does not mean 
what it once did. One must have a new idea of the 
meaning of “Independence” iu order to celebrate the 
“Fourth.” Here is a new one, for example: 
Waupaca, Wis., voted out the saloons last Spring, 
and July 4 we had a great big community picnic for a 
“celebration”; city and country combine and have a 
social center programme. 
That celebration meant something because it stood 
for a new independence—freedom from the legalized 
curse which has held thousands of homes in slavery. 
Freedom from the legalized saloon meant happiness 
the best that life has to offer to thousands of women 
and children. That gives a new spirit to the “glor¬ 
ious Fourth,” and such a celebration reaches beyond 
its locality in its effect upon the temperance ques¬ 
tion. There must he a nation-wide sentiment in or¬ 
der to drive out the saloon. 
* 
I AM anxious to have you express your opinion of the 
average agricultural bulletin of the past, and to 
ofFer helpful criticism upon it. I would like to 
have you indicate what you regard as the ability 
of the average person for whom these bulletins are pre¬ 
pared. How technical and scientific may the. material 
be? Is it necessary that technical and scientific, infor¬ 
mation be expressed largely in technical and scientific 
terms or may such information be presented in common 
everyday language in these bulletins? F. w. n. 
These questions are seriously asked by a teacher 
at an agricultural college. We have heard much de¬ 
structive criticism concerning the station bulletin 
—its limitations and failures. The most common 
criticism of this sort is that the average bulletin 
“does not get anywhere.” It states a collection of 
facts without making any particular application— 
usually in a dry. rather uninteresting form, out of 
reach of the “average farmer.” Another criticism is 
that the bulletin is usually aimed at a scientist or a 
farmer of superior intelligence—not at the plain 
uneducated man who most needs such help as science 
can give him. This is the sort of criticism usually 
heard. Much of it is justified, hut the station people 
have had a good answer. Their work has thus far 
been along the line of research, and it has not been 
their business to popularize the work. Granting 
that this has been so in the past, it may he the part 
of constructive criticism to suggest that the future 
should bring a change. We would like to see two 
kinds of bulletins issued—much like the plan fol¬ 
lowed by the two stations in New York State. There 
should be a scientific bulletin in which the author 
states his facts in scientific language without at¬ 
tempting to interest farmers. This should he for 
distribution among scientific workers. There should 
also be a popular bulletin on the same subject when 
the facts warranted it. Instead of having this writ¬ 
ten by any scientific worker we would have it pre¬ 
pared by some intelligent farmer who had made a 
success of the line of farming discussed in the bulle¬ 
tin. The object of this would he to obtain the lan¬ 
guage and the point of view of an actual farmer. 
Such a man would he far more likely to know how 
to interest other farmers than the station worker. 
This would he especially true of the younger scien¬ 
tists who have graduated from high school to college 
and laboratory without any actual life upon the 
farm. The National Department has issued several 
good pamphlets of this sort. Why not have the sta¬ 
tion go further? Suppose they discover some new 
fact about incubation, or cattle feeding or the use of 
fertilizers. We would have a scientific bulletin for 
scientific men. Then we would let some successful 
farmer, who had the gift of language, make a popu¬ 
lar story out of these facts, for general distribu¬ 
tion. This suggestion is based upon the fact, which 
we have long observed, that the teacher or the scien¬ 
tist becomes absorbed in his work, and usually for¬ 
gets that “universal language” which oue must have 
in order to appeal to the plain people. 
A S to the 35-cent dollar, I believe the farmer will al¬ 
ways he willing to take it so long as he operates 
individually and not collectively, and until he 
learns what it costs him to produce each and 
every article he manufactures upon his farm and oper¬ 
ates only so much land as he is capable of making pro¬ 
duce to its fullest capacity. One-half production with 
lack of buying and selling efficiency keep down the real 
producers, and the possession of these fundamental es¬ 
sentials enrich the manufactures whose foundation is 
the farmer’s efforts at production. e. a. p. 
New Hampshire. 
The farmers are not willing to accept the 35-cent 
dollar, hut under present conditions most of them 
are obliged to do so. Our friend is right in saying 
that co-operation and organization are necessary if 
we ever are to enlarge that dollar. Some farmers 
say they have no need of co-operation since they are 
situated so that they can sell direct to the consumer 
and thus get the full dollar. They forget, however, 
that they may be paying a 175-cent dollar for many 
of the things they buy, and that this eats up much 
of the profit on what they sell. True co-operation 
means advantageous buying as well as selling. The 
trouble is that under our modern business methods 
everyone wants to sell by the 175-cent dollar and 
buy with the 35-center. Thorough organization is 
the only way to adjust things fairly. 
* 
T HE House of Representatives has passed what 
is known as the Clayton hill, and it is now be¬ 
fore the Senate. This bill, among other things, 
exempts, from the provisions of the anti-trust meas¬ 
ure : 
Consumers, agricultural or horticultural organiza¬ 
tions and authorized associations instituted for the pur¬ 
pose of mutual help, and not having capital stock or 
conducted for profit. 
This has been heralded as a great victory or ad¬ 
vantage for farmers, hut a brief study of it will show 
how little there is to it. What sort of a position 
will farmers he in if in their attempts at organiz¬ 
ing they are restricted to “mutual help” and denied 
the privilege of combining for business profit? There 
is no need of any such clause in the hill. If there 
is to he any exemption at all it should broaden the 
farmer’s opportunities rather than restrict them. 
The present high cost of living cannot he cut down 
until the cost of distributing food is reduced. This 
can only he done by bringing producer and con¬ 
sumer closer together—an impossible thing except 
through organization. In such a service men will 
not organize for “mutual help” alone. There must 
he the inducement of fair profit. Yet this proposed 
measure would not permit such organization if there 
is to he any business profit in it. The law should 
go further than mere permission—it should encour¬ 
age farmers to combine so as to purchase their farm 
supplies at a lower cost and sell their products at a 
fair price. In European countries farmer organiza¬ 
tions are authorized by law and encouraged. Gov¬ 
ernment aid and direction are given because all rec¬ 
ognize the absolute necessity of keeping the farmer 
prosperous rather than giving other classes the op¬ 
portunity to exploit or rob him. In this country 
practically every business is organized except the 
business of farming. There is combination every¬ 
where except among farmers. Instead of restricting 
the operation of farm organization—as this law on 
its face does—it ought to be considered a national 
duty to broaden the scope of such co-operative work 
in every fair way. 
BREVITIES. 
The “uplift” is one thing—true lifting up is quite 
another. 
All is not gold that glitters, and all is not plant food 
that smells. 
Trying to chain a boy to a farm is usually a good 
way to break the chain. 
If fresh air through the day is voted right—then why. 
my neighbor, shut it out at night? 
A merry heart goes many a mile and it is my belief 
that honest fun is the fungicide that kills the germs of 
grief. 
Even the island of Ceylon offers a market for Amer¬ 
ican apples. The trade is limited, but every corner of 
the earth should be reached to provide its share. 
On the whole it is wiser for most people to use their 
heads as a dictionary rather than an encyclopaedia. 
You cannot hope to carry all knowledge—but know 
where to go after it. 
Bubonic plague has been found in New Orleans. This 
disease is carried by rats which are transported in ves¬ 
sels or in cars from city to city. All along the Atlantic 
coast rat killing is being organized. 
It is time to consider the Hessian fly iu wheatfields 
this Fall. Burning over the stubble will help, but lab- 
seeding is the best remedy. Good judgment is required 
in this—to delay as long as is safe and still get the 
plants well started before Winter. 
The road mirror is the latest plan for preventing ac¬ 
cidents at bad road corners, or dangerous turns. Many 
English towns have these mirrors in use. but the largest 
one is reported from Bombay. This is 10x5 feet, so 
arranged that travellers going either way may see what 
is coming around the corner. 
