1 i £54 
VrdiS RUKAL NEVV-VUKKUK 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER’S PAPER 
A. National Weekly Journal lor Conntry and Suburban Home* * 
Established isco 
ritMishod weekly by tbe Rural 1’iiblisliing Company, 333 West 30th Street, New Yorft 
Herbert W. COLLING woot>, President and Editor. 
John .1. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wa F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Boyle, Associate Editor, 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.(M. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
81$ marks, or 105$ francs. Item it 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 paj>er 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 subscribers against rogues, but we will not 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 time of 
the transaction, and to identify it. you should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
Y OUR story in editorial column of August 8 about 
the macaroni seed reminds me of an incident that 
occurred here last week. A traveling man, ignor¬ 
ant of farming, has through a mortgage acquired 
80 acres near here, and asked me to look it over with 
him. One field of beans was so weedy that I intimated 
he would hardly be able to use a bean puller. “Well, 
that’s all right,” he rejoined, “don’t they pay more for 
hand-picked beans anyway?” E. n. B. 
These back-to-the-landers have tlieir troubles and 
their illusions, but they are pretty good “sports" and 
many of them will finally make good. Forced "hand¬ 
picking” of weeds to make up for poor horse culture 
early in the season is a good way to impress the 
value of improved agriculture upon anyone. The 
back-to-the-landers will learn in time, or shall we 
say unlearn? 
* 
P ENNSYLVANIA, like New York, has gone into 
the real estate business. A list has been made 
of the abandoned or unoccupied farms in that 
State. There are only 106 of them, and localities 
and descriptions are given in a pamphlet just issued 
by the Agricultural Department at Harrisburg. 
There has been much talk about the thousands of 
abandoned farms at the East, hut when you actually 
hunt them up you find a handful of them. Only 
100 in the great State of Pennsylvania! There is. 
however, much cheap land in that State which might 
well provide homes for good farmers. In fact to¬ 
day Pennsylvania offers very superior advantages 
of soil, climate and markets to men with reasonable 
capital who know how to run a farm. 
* 
M ANY complaints come to us from New York 
State farmers regarding the way road building 
is carried on. It is claimed that again and 
again the contractors open long stretches of road, 
shutting farmers off from the entire distance, and 
then take tlieir time, and a good deal more, in mak¬ 
ing the repairs. In many cases it would lie just as 
easy for them to handle this road in short stretches 
at a time, and thus save the people great inconven¬ 
ience and trouble. Instead of this they tea:* up or 
shut off the entire distance, and often act in a most 
arbitrary and offensive way in driving people off the 
highway, and preventing its use for travel. In some 
parts of the State this has come to be a nuisance, 
and strong protests have been made to headquarters 
at Albany. Apparently no notice is taken of such 
protests, and the contractors seem to he left to do 
just about as they please in this matter. It is high 
time whoever is supposed to regulate this matter 
got busy and stopped this nuisance and outrage upon 
the public. 
* 
I N discussing the potash situation as it affects com¬ 
mercial fertilizers, we do not wish to discourage 
the use of that element or disparage its value. 
It is one of the three elements of plant food which 
are absolutely necessary, particularly on our lighter 
or muck soils and for certain crops, like "potatoes or 
fruit. If it were possible to obtain full supplies of 
the potash we should advocate the standard mix¬ 
tures of chemicals which have proved reliable and 
profitable. The truth is that the European War has 
shut off the needed potash supplies and in this 
emergency farmers must do the best they can. That 
is why we have obtained and printed the best ex¬ 
pert advice which this country affords. At this 
moment we can see little chance for an early ending 
of the war; nor can we see any American substi¬ 
tute for potash in sight. We advise the use of lime, 
cover crops and other means we have stated for 
utilizing the potash now in our soils until peace in 
Europe makes the potash supplies possible, or some 
process is discovered for making the American pot¬ 
ash available. As soon as we can get potash at a 
fair price we advise its free use once more. 
T HIS year, for the first time, we have had a 
good supply of bees at the farm. We have 
long desired to test the oft-repeated argument 
that the bees aid in fertilizing the apple bloom and 
thus increase the crop. After careful study this 
year we are convinced that this argument is sound. 
The bees have, without question, increased our crop 
and given a larger proportion of strong, well-shaped 
fruit. With the Baldwin apples in particular this 
effect is very noticeable. Even if there were no 
honey crop at all it would pay well to keep (he bees. 
We think also that they help fertilize the currant 
bloom. All through (lie Eastern States there is great 
complaint that (lie currants begin to form fruit and 
then shell it off. The trouble is largely due to poor 
pollenization of the flowers, and we believe that the 
bees would help as they have certainly helped with 
our apples. 
* 
WHO IS THE TRUE TEACHER ? 
HAT does it mean to he a good teacher? Very 
likely most of us in looking back over life can 
classify (lie various people who had to do with 
our education as good, had, or indifferent teachers. 
Some of the most highly educated of them would 
rank in the last class. The best teacher we ever 
knew was not highly educated in the ordinary sense 
of the term. One of the leading American scientists, 
a man whose name is known wherever farmers are 
interested in improving agriculture, has told us about 
the best teacher lie ever knew. During the Civil 
War lie was a hoy attending school in a country dis¬ 
trict in New England. The teacher was a young 
woman, new to the district and untried in the school 
room. No doubt there were people who felt that she 
was lacking in the education which would fit. her to 
teach properly. During the war political feeling ran 
high, and the boys and girls of that time were 
intense partisans. One day, just after the news of 
a great battle, during the noon hour, the boys saw a 
speckled hen coming out from behind the fence of 
the school-yard and walking across the road. They 
immediately conceived the idea that this was a spy. 
They chased her and caught her and then decided 
that there was only one just punishment for a spy. 
That was hanging, so they secured a rope and with¬ 
out trial or without hearing evidence, prepared to 
hang that hen. While they were gathered around 
her preparing for the execution, the teacher ap¬ 
peared. A few inquiries from her brought out the 
facts about the hanging. Instead of punishing them 
or taking them into the school room at once, this 
woman began to ask questions about that lien. Did 
they know she was a spy? Who could prove that 
she was there for any illegal purpose? If they were 
caught in a similar position, wliat would they think 
of passing judgment without any chance to lie heard 
or the right to give any evidence? By talking to 
them in that way this woman changed the entire 
attitude of those boys in relation to the lien. They 
saw the point of wliat she said and the result was a 
fair trial. The most active of those who had been 
seeking to hang her tried to prove that she was a 
spy. The result was that the hoys were finally con- 
vinced that there was no case against the hen and 
she was freed after a fair trial! The man who 
tells this story said that that woman was a great 
teacher, because she used that simple incident, jr*t 
at that time, to impress upon the minds of the •> 
hoys the great Anglo-Saxon principle of a fair tri i 
for all and a respect for civil rights. In the teach¬ 
ing of youth just such things as these are of far 
greater importance than anything that can ever be 
learned from the text-hook. The ordinary child 
can he best approached along the line of his under¬ 
standing. The things which appeal to his childish 
imagination or reason are the best to take as illus¬ 
trations for his education. Such training will stick 
in his mind for life, and the teacher who can do this 
is the best teacher of all, as those of us who look 
hack and search through life will testify. The year’s 
education for the farm child is now starting. He 
needs real teaching rather than text-book instruc¬ 
tion. 
* 
J ERSEY CITY, N. J., is working hard to make 
public markets succeed. The energetic city gov¬ 
ernment will do all it can to provide a place 
where farmers may deal direct with consumers. 
The city people arc ready to buy and will come with 
their money for the goods, hut it is a harder prob¬ 
lem to induce the farmers to drive in for a retail 
business. Most of the larger Jersey farmers have 
become accustomed to doing a wholesale business— 
driving directly to a commission man and selling a 
full load. Those who trade in this way are able to 
give personal attention to collecting and selling. 
Their wagons and their entire outfits are arranged 
September 
for this wholesale work. Naturally it will take some 
time to change properly to retailing. Then there 
is another consideration. On all the farms within 
50 miles of Jersey City hundreds of bushels of farm 
produce are lost through lack of transportation. 
Some of it is not first-class, but all would be bought 
by town consumers if it could he put before them. 
Horses and men are all busy at harvesting and haul¬ 
ing, and thus this produce is wasted. Now, if some 
one in Jersey City could organize an auto-truck sys¬ 
tem to run out among the farms picking up this sur¬ 
plus produce for sale in the public markets, a double 
purpose would he served. Thousands of tons of pro¬ 
duce would be saved from destruction and used for 
cheap food, and farmers would get into cooperation 
with the markets as never before. There is a chance 
to supply the markets and relieve the farmers. 
* 
N OT much rtul news gets through from Europe. 
When 75,000 men can he carried around the 
North of Europe through Great Britain and 
across the Channel without the world’s knowledge 
we can realize how little that is worth while leaks 
out into the newspapers. It does seem to be true, 
however, that the German harvest is short and that 
food will soon he scarce. The manufacture of al- 
roholic drinks is to be reduced and potato flour made 
in place of alcohol. All sorts of food substitutes will 
lie devised by the painstaking Germans. The neces¬ 
sities of the siege of Paris produced the original 
oleomargarine. For the past 25 years the chemists 
have been saying that under the spur of famine, 
sclent..* will find new ways of preparing food—at: 
least substitutes which will sustain human life. 
The awful waste of the present war will create a 
demand for the American surplus for years to come, 
but do not for an instant imagine that any careless 
or haphazard methods of farming will pay in the 
future. 
* 
T HE details of the new war taxes are still un¬ 
decided. It was proposed to tax freight receipts, 
hut President Wilson interfered and advised 
against it. The argument was that this tax would 
certainly he shifted entirely upon the buying public, 
with much more added. The railroads, too. are still 
crying for highher rates. If the freight tax is aban¬ 
doned most of the money will probably be raised by 
increased taxes on liquors. There has been consider¬ 
able criticism because the tax on whisky was not in¬ 
creased, as with wines and beer. The explanation 
is that if this were done the immense stores of 
whiskey now in bonded warehouses would he taken 
out, and the great sums of money needed to do this 
would cripple or embarrass the banks! Congress 
has no longer any great fear or respect for the 
liquor business. We are told on good authority that 
a majority of Congressmen favor the submission of 
an amendment to the constitution prohibiting the 
liquor traffic. It: lacks the necessary two-third vote, 
but has a majority! 
* 
I AM sending you under separate cover sample of John 
Lewis Childs’ tree cranberry. If Mr. Childs can eat 
fruit like that he can do better than we can. The 
tree looks like a snowball busli and the flowers look 
like elderberry. miss c. e. allen. 
Ohio. 
When it comes to the question of Mr. Childs and 
eating his own “novelties” we shall have to go hack 
to our favorite old test: 
“I/e is of age—ask him I” 
We do not care for this “tree cranberry” ourselves. 
Sour grapes seem to us of better quality. Mr. 
Childs may enjoy the cranberry sauce which grows 
on trees for all we know. During the controversy 
over the old “womlerberry” Mr. Childs stated that 
lie ate the berries freely and seemed to he very fond 
of them. After eating this wonderberry in pies and 
sauce and pudding we were forced to conclude, with 
all due respect for Mr. Childs, that he had a very 
abnormal taste or else felt much the same affection 
for his “novelty” that most of us do for our own off¬ 
spring. Therefore even if Mr. Childs, in reply to 
Miss Allen’s question, says that he will eat tree 
cranberries with his Thanksgiving turkey we shall 
still use the berry which grows closer to the ground! 
BREVITIES. 
Tiie cur is the curse of sheep raising. 
Scrub bulls are good runners—they run tbe herd 
down. 
“Table scraps” between father and mother make poor 
feed for tbe young stock. 
Tiie dairy business is surely going to tbe dogs when 
tbe curs drive the cows home. 
Canning fresh meat is becoming a great farm indus¬ 
try in many cases taking tbe place of salting and smok¬ 
ing tbe meat. A supply of this fresh meat is always 
appreciated. We are told how to do it on page 1161. 
