©74 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal lor Country and Suburban Homes 
Established ISSO 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 338 West 80th Street,New Pork 
Herbert W. Colt.tnowood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dii.lon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary’. I 11 * * 8 - E. T. Hoyle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 8s. 6d., or 
8V?> marks, or lOVs francs. Remit in money order, express 
order^ personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, 75 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 hacked 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. Wo 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 subscril>ers 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 us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
H ATS off for those American Leghorns in the 
Storrs egg-laying contest ! After a long, up¬ 
hill race they are within striking distance of 
the English Wyandottes, and with next week’s rec¬ 
ord we expect to see them ahead. This may be 
called a double victory for American breeding and 
American sour milk, for this pen of birds has re¬ 
ceived sour milk as food almost from the shell. 
Polo games and yacht races may provide sport for 
millionaires, or rich idlers may strike at golf or 
tennis balls, but they should all take a back seat 
when the American hen lays her way up to the 
front. Hurrah for Mrs. A. Leghorn—a nest fre¬ 
quenter in white! 
* 
B USINESS men in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Ter¬ 
ritory, realized that their future depended 
upon the prosperity of farmers who traded in 
that town. Most of these farmers were growing 
wheat. This meant a one-crop income, dependent 
upon blight and frost, with half the year idle. The 
town was using butter brought all the way from 
New Zealand, while all around were rich pasture 
and hay lands. So a group of business men organ¬ 
ized a creamery and began to encourage dairying. 
For a time it was slow work, but now, after two 
years, there is no more New Zealand butter sold in 
town, and the first carload has been shipped away. 
The farmers are receiving something like $ Hi, 000 
per month for their milk. Neither the farmers nor 
the business men alone could have carried out this 
plan. By working together there has been a mutual 
advantage. 
* 
N EARLY every week we have letters from farm¬ 
ers who say they have a good supply of large, 
white eggs which they want to sell to some 
special customer. Readers have heard that certain 
hotels or high-class restaurants pay enormous prices. 
These men are sometimes disappointed in dealing 
with this high-class trade. They find such patrons 
very particular and very critical regarding size, 
color and quality. A farmer must, of course, under¬ 
stand that the buyer is the one to be satisfied, and 
that there is no use trying to make him take what 
does not suit him. Another reason why this kind 
of trade prefers to deal with middlemen is that very 
few producers can guarantee a definite number of 
eggs each week in the year. The supply will be in¬ 
termittent, and this is just what the hotel does not 
want. When they buy from a city dealer they can 
hold him personally responsible for quality. 
* 
W E have received several letters from insurance 
men who attempt to argue that the new com¬ 
pensation law in New York makes farmers 
liable for accidents to their employees. We feel con¬ 
fident that there is nothing to this. The law ex¬ 
pressly excludes farm labor and domestic servants 
from its operations, and also states that “employ¬ 
ment” includes employment only in a trade, business 
or occupation carried on by the employer for pecu¬ 
niary gain. Many good lawyers have been con¬ 
sulted regarding this, and they agree that farm 
laborers and domestic servants are not affected by 
this law. They stand in the same relation to their 
employer as they did before the law was passed. 
Under previous laws a farmer might, under some 
circumstances, be liable for an injury sustained by 
his hired man, but the chance for such liability 
would be remote. Of course all laws must be tested 
in the courts before a final decision is reached, but 
the best legal advice we can get is that farmers are 
not liable under this law. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
NOTE your reference to the field meeting of the 
New Jersey State Horticultural Society. Are 
strangers tolerated at such meetings? A friend 
and myself are much interested in apple-growing, 
and should like very much to see the Barclay orchard 
and hear the talks on the occasion of the meeting. A. c. 
Tolerated? Strangers are made welcome at every 
true farmers’ meeting. Go by all means. You will 
find a company of kindly hospitable farmers and 
fruit growers ready to tell you what they can. We 
grant that sometimes meetings are held in the name 
of agriculture by gentlemen who do not want prac¬ 
tical farmers around. Farmers will dominate this 
field meeting, and you will be made to feel at home. 
Remember the date—August 5 at the farm of John 
H. Barclay, Cranbury, N. J. 
* 
N O man ever “tampered with nature’s balance” 
without regretting it. You may try it with 
your own body or your farm, or with a na¬ 
tion. The result is the same. A curious instance 
of this comes from India, where the concerted cam¬ 
paign against tigers has resulted in an enormous in¬ 
crease of wild pigs—which do great damage to crops. 
“The native farmers are forced to watch their fields 
carefully at an increased expense. This damage and in¬ 
creased expense must be t ken into consideration in fix¬ 
ing the new land tax, and thus the strange situation 
exists that by the destruction of the tigers the farmers 
may be out of pocket.” 
Charles Darwin pointed out the economic relations 
between old maids, cats and field mice. A war of 
extermination against moles and skunks would rid 
us of some annoyance, but bring about a plague of 
white grubs. Even mosquitoes and rats have their 
places in nature’s economy. 
* 
R ECENTLY 10 tons of fish were thrown into the 
Delaware River and thousands of bunches of 
bananas were similarly disposed of to avert a 
break in the market. This wanton waste of food 
that people are clamoring for will have no excuse for its 
practice, for the express company’s order bureau will 
find a market in towns and villages remote from this 
market. This was accomplished in a recent glut when 
fish, sold in the Maryland peninsila at two cents a 
pound, was distributed among dealers up and down the 
State, who sold it at five cents. 
That is taken from an article in the daily papers 
on the system which the express companies are now 
developing. Parcel post has spurred the express 
companies on to find markets for farm produce. 
Why did they wait until the people pulled their fin¬ 
gers away from the throat of Congress? If they had 
started any such scheme 20 years ago, when there 
was great need of it, the fight for parcel post would 
have been held up, and none of the present powerful 
movements for control of government utilities would 
have become strong enough to attract general atten¬ 
tion. It was the hateful, dog-in-the-manger policy 
of the express companies which made parcel post 
possible. These companies are now trying to please 
and help the public. This growth in sentiment from 
Vanderbilt’s reported opinion of that same public is 
good evidence of what may happen when the people 
learn how to get what belongs to them. 
* 
Y OU talk about the use of cover crops. Why not 
let the weeds grow instead of sowing expensive 
seed? Some of these weeds will provide as much 
bulk to plow under as the crops you speak of. 
J. B. H. 
We keep talking “cover crops” because we know 
what such crops and lime have done for our own 
soil. When we know that nature will in this way 
make us a present of the equivalent of six tons or 
more of manure per acre and spread it for us we 
want to pass along a good thing. There are some 
cases where the weeds make a good cover crop. We 
have two fields where this has been tried for some 
years. The objections to letting the weeds grow are 
several. In most of our crops we must have clean 
culture. When weeds go to seed the labor of keep¬ 
ing crops clean is doubted. A cover crop of rye and 
vetch or rape smother out the weeds and thus helps 
clean culture. The broad-leaved weeds take more 
moisture from the soil than the narrow-leaved rye 
or vetch, and in ordinary seasons give the cultivated 
crops a better chance to mature. The weeds die at 
first, and thus provide no living crop to hold the soil 
through the Fall and Winter and give no live crop in 
the Spring. There is a heavy loss of nitrates from 
the soil in November at the North, and through the 
Winter at the South. The living cover crop saves 
this loss and also, in the Spring, gives a live crop to 
plow under which we believe is better for the soil. 
The cover crop also adds more organic matter. These 
and other reasons have convinced us that it is more 
profitable to sow a cover crop rather than to let the 
weeds grow. No one argues that it is better to let 
the soil lie bare through the Fall. In some orchards 
it may be better to let the weeds grow after cultiva¬ 
tion is done. This saves the cost of seed and seeding, 
supplies a fair amount of organic matter, and makes 
easier working or plowing in the following Spring, 
since the weeds die during Winter. 
August 1, 
OME of the farmers on the Pacific Coast are 
much excited over the imports of cheap eggs 
under the new tariff. Eggs are now free, and 
millions of them are being brought from China and 
other Asiatic countries. One of our Washington 
readers tells the following story: 
A prominent citizen of Portland, Ore., purchased a 
setting of the freshest of these eggs he could get, put 
them under a hen. Out of the entire setting only two 
of them hatched, and instead of being chickens they 
were sea gulls. w. it. v. 
Unless this man is careful our wonderful laws 
will go still further and he will be prosecuted for 
importing game or plumage birds! 
* 
I N New Jersey every railroad company organized 
under the laws of that State, must erect and 
maintain fences on the side of its road the 
height and strength of the division fences which are 
required by law. One of our readers has been for 
some time trying to get the Pennsylvania Railroad 
to build a fence where the railroad property adjoins 
his farm. The company claims that their deed does 
not specify that they shall build any fence, and 
neither does the deed of the owner. The company 
wants this farmer to make them a proposition. On 
application to the Public Utilities Commission of 
New Jersey, we are informed that this Commission 
would not pass upon the question until a definite 
case is brought before it. Under the circumstances 
our advice to such a farmer is to make a direct com¬ 
plain to the Public Utilities Commission at Trenton. 
Make this in the form of a letter, and send a copy 
of this letter to the railroad company. The Com¬ 
mission will then set a date for an informal hearing, 
at which both the farm and the railroad people can 
be represented, and the facts brought out to settle 
the matter definitely. 
* 
A FAVORITE and impressive text from the Scrip¬ 
tures is: 
“Take heed how ye hear!" 
Hardly a day passes without a practical illustra¬ 
tion of the danger in jumping at conclusions. In a 
recent case a farmer wanted to buy some purebred 
cattle. He bargained with a reputable breeder who 
stated in his circular that his farm was headquar¬ 
ters for stock bred on his neighbor’s place. At the 
head of this breeder’s stationery was a statement 
that the farm had been breeding stock 25 years or 
more, and that all animals were of this long-kept 
strain or family. In the bargain between farmer 
and breeder nothing was said about the cattle all 
being from this particular family. When the papers 
came it was found that the cattle were from the 
other farm—well bred, but not of this particular 
strain. Then the farmer claimed that he had been 
wronged because he said he had been prom¬ 
ised a certain breeding which he never received. 
It seems that he read the heading on that stationery 
and assumed that it meant a guarantee. It was 
nothing of the sort, and was never intended to be. 
There are many cases like this where a man assumes 
on his own responsibility that words have a certain 
meaning which they were never intended to carry. 
This assumption of meaning makes no end of trouble 
when a question of fact arises. “Take heed how ye 
hear!" 
BREVITIES. 
The apple rust disease cannot live in a locality where 
all the cedars are cut down. 
Even the ancient Kingdom of Libia has its experi¬ 
ment station and agricultural expert. 
Germany is to have a system of strike insurance, 
developed by employers’ protective associations. 
South America imports $1S,000,000 worth of canned 
goods, yet the United States contributes only about 
$2,500,000—mostly salmon. Why can’t we sell more 
cans? 
Some of our farmers complain that the scientific men 
may take a “vacation” just when they are most needed 
in the field. In business the time for vacation is when 
work is slack, or when there is least to do. 
An American farming colony has been started in the 
Philippines. It will start with about 100 colonists. The 
men are Americans mostly married to Filipino women. 
The government will help these colonists with small 
loans. 
A great many of the legal questions sent to us refer 
to differences over line fences. Recent reports from a 
locality in West Virginia tell of a feud arising from 
this cause, which resulted in the death of three men. It 
is Avise to fix fences before they can lead to long-dnuvn- 
out disputes. 
Here is another one from New Jersey. The State 
has one mile of railroad to every three square miles of 
territory. This is the largest proportion of railroad 
mileage of any State in the country. As a consequence 
of this. New Jersey has a great number of railroad fires. 
It used to be said that 00 per cent, of these fires started 
from red-hot cinders puffed out through the locomotive. 
It is now claimed that this is too rough on the locomo¬ 
tive, and that many of these fires really start from 
glowing cigarettes which are thrown out through the 
window from the smoking cars as the trains rush on. 
Here is another bill of damage agaiast the cigarette’ 
fiend. 
