June 5, 1915. 
784 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Snl>tirl>an Homes 
Established, iseo 
t*nbll«fatd weekly by the Rnral Pnblishlne Company. 333 West SOtli Street. Sew Torft 
Herbert W. Colling wood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Rotlk, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.01. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
8k, marks, or 10Vi 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 backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising' ot 
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 wc 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. 
I T is now claimed that cactus juice is a cure for 
lockjaw. In several reported cases the injection 
of this juice under the skin has given i*elief. 
Very likely this new remedy will now be tried on the 
Luther Burbank Society. At one time they let off 
a torrent of eloquent word pictures about spineless 
cactus. Recently a great silence has fallen upon 
them—probably a case of lockjaw. Of course, cut¬ 
tings of the spineless cactus are very valuable but 
there ought to be enough to provide juice for this 
treatment. Are we now to expect another flood of 
circulars and “literature” from the Luther Burbank 
Society? 
* 
T HE indications are that English farmers will 
plant the largest acreage of potatoes ever 
known in the kingdom. Every foot of avail¬ 
able land is said to be in preparation. They figure 
that an acre will yield 10 tons or more of potatoes, 
while 2,500 pounds of wheat would be a very heavy 
yield. The potatoes can be used to feed both man 
and beast, or to produce alcohol for industrial pur¬ 
poses. Germany has set Europe an example in the 
use of potatoes, and for years after the war closes 
this crop will have far greater importance than ever 
before. This is but one of the great industrial 
changes which are coming. They will make a great¬ 
er difference in future history than the political 
changes worked out by the war. 
♦ 
T HOSE recent articles on the live poultry trade 
have stirred up great interest among our read¬ 
ers. Thousands of our people have sent live 
poultry to be sold in New York. Some of these very 
farmers have visited the city, and know what 
dressed poultry costs, and what must be paid for it 
at a public table. Now they realize how they were 
held up by conspirators and how difficult it has been 
to send these conspirators to jail. Let them learn 
another thing. These convicted men are now in 
prison, but they and their friends are working a 
scheme to let them free. The plan is to get ship¬ 
pers and farmers everywhere to sign petitions to 
Gov. Whitman to pardon these criminals. Read these 
articles once more and then think what this means. 
What possible argument could a man give you to 
prove that these conspirators should not be pun¬ 
ished? Yet it is an unfortunate fact that some 
farmers will sign a petition without understanding 
or even reading it. Make no such mistake in this 
case. The time has come to reorganize this live 
poultry business entirely—not to put it back in the 
hands of the same old gang. 
♦ 
D URING the past 30 years we have been through 
many campaigns for farmers and their rights. 
There have been pretty much the same features 
in all of them. At first the men or interests which 
have robbed or mislead farmers pay no attention. 
This they think will kill the thing off, and it often 
does, for unless a man have at least one quarter 
bulldog in him he will not work unless he can get 
into the limelight. If the campaign gets past this 
stage and really begins to attract attention the next 
weapon used against it is ridicule. There must be 
at least half bulldog in a man to face this, for no 
one likes to be laughed at or to have unthinking 
people class him as a fool. Those who carry the 
fight further, then find a greater terror confronting 
them. That is personal and public abuse. By this 
time the men and interests which oppose farmers 
see that their graft and privilege is in danger unless 
the men who are fighting them have so much of the 
bull dog that they can qualify for registry in the 
“Hang-On Society.” And these interests certainly 
give such men the acid test of abuse, lying insin¬ 
uations and also hypocritical “support.” We have 
seen so many of these battles pass through these 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
stages that whenever the period of abuse comes we 
know the end is in sight. It may still be far away, 
but the direct road to it is being cleared. It is 
just so with this fight to show up the 35-cent dollar. 
If the new Department of Foods and Markets did 
not mean reform and a shaking up of the State’s 
old methods, there would be no outcry against it. 
As it is all the crooked middlemen and all their 
organs are fighting this Department as they never 
united to fight anything before. It is the finest 
indication we have ever seen that things are com¬ 
ing to a head. No use paying attention to the rav¬ 
ing trade journals and to jealous and cowardly pa¬ 
pers, but keep right on striking at that 35-cent dol¬ 
lar. One of the most dangerous things in the whole 
system is circulation of “cooked” or prejudiced mar¬ 
ket reports and prices. Next week we will take this 
feature up. 
* 
I F you do not believe a horse can talk look at the 
picture on our first page. It is a hot day in a 
dusty field. The driver has stopped for a mo¬ 
ment to rest, and has lifted the collar to let. the air 
reach that hot and sweaty shoulder. See that horse 
reach his head over and say “Thank you!” The 
other two are waiting their turn, and when the rest 
is over they will all straighten into their collars and 
go on through the dust with better spirit. It pays 
to be fair to the team. No worker on the farm ap¬ 
preciates it more. We have seen a man stop his car 
on a cold day for a call and throw a blanket over 
the engine. That same man let his horse stand 
shivering in the cold! 
* 
U P and down the California coast there is a good 
demand for potatoes. The price is high, but 
people demand potatoes and will pay for them. 
In Mexico, Brazil and other Southern countries 
there is also a good demand—at present unsupplied. 
Here is an opportunity for Maine growers and ship¬ 
pers. Just as the Panama Canal gives California 
and Nevada a chance to ship Alfalfa hay to the up¬ 
per Atlantic coast, so it gives opportunity to Maine 
potato growers to make water shipment to Cali¬ 
fornia. Of course such a trade must be largely co¬ 
operative, as single growers could not handle it suc¬ 
cessfully. Yet potatoes cooperate by growing in a 
bunch close to the stem—the growers must imitate 
the habits of their own crop. Last year Nova Sco¬ 
tia growers got together and sold their early potato 
crop in Cuba to good advantage. The Atlantic 
coast absorbs much of the California orange crop 
but the fruit would rot before it. came to our mar¬ 
ket. if it were not for business cooperation. 
* 
O UR readers surely feel free to come for help on 
any subject that can be imagined. Not long ago 
a farmer wanted to know how to feed and care 
for elephants through the Winter. Another found a 
wounded carrier pigeon in his yard. This bird was 
banded and carried a message. We were able to 
trace the bii’d. Now comes a new one from Florida : s 
As I am a reader of your paper and a farmer at the 
same time. I thought it about the only place to ask. 
I would like to find out where I could sell a live alli¬ 
gator; he is at least 12 feet long, and I thought if I 
could get enough out of him I would go to the trouble 
and try to capture him. 
Finding a market for a live alligator that has not 
yet been caught is something of a job for our in¬ 
formation department, but we think we have the 
place when the alligator is ready. Sizing up an 
alligator before you catch him is something like es¬ 
timating the fish that got away, but somewhere may 
be found a reader of The R. N.-Y. who will try any¬ 
thing from alligators to zythum—if you offer them 
a bargain. 
* 
T HE daily record of prices of farm produce made 
in New York and other large cities have a 
great influence upon trade. All over the coun¬ 
try these prices set the standard, and millions of 
dollars worth of produce is figured on the market 
price in New York. If a set of men had the power 
to clip an inch off the yardstick or clip half an 
ounce off every pound their purchasing power 
would be increased, and in the course of a year 
they could rob the American people and obtain mil¬ 
lions of ill-gotten dollars. It would be no less a rob¬ 
bery and graft if a set of men could determine the 
price at which farm produce is to be bought, and 
thus dictate the price which the producer is to re¬ 
ceive. If those same men could then control ship¬ 
ments and decide how much produce is to reach the 
city they would have a chance at richer spoils than 
the old buccaneers who, three centuries ago. went 
sailing to the Spanish Main after plunder. We have 
shown in recent articles that this very thing was 
done here in New York City in handling the live 
poultry market. A set of men got together and set¬ 
tled upon an arbitrary price for poultry. This price 
was not based upon the law of supply and demand. 
It was all demand—supply had nothing to do with 
it The price made by these conspirators, for their 
own greed, was announced as the standard New 
York price and thus made the basis of payment all 
over the country. As you see this amounted to about 
the same thing as compelling producers to give 17 
or 18 ounces for a pound. The ringleaders in this 
graft have now been sent to jail, but what shall be 
said of the people who put these prices before the 
public and thus helped rob the producers? Before 
we are done with this we shall show how the prices 
for eggs, butter, grain and other produce are dic¬ 
tated and published—often for purposes of decep¬ 
tion. W T e shall see before we get through that this 
game of doctoring prices is one way of making the 
dollar so sick that it falls away to 35 cents. 
* 
L AST year the State of Indiana enacted a law 
which made a railroad company liable for dam¬ 
ages caused by a fire started by sparks from an 
engine. Until this law was enacted it was neces¬ 
sary for the sufferer from fire to prove that the com¬ 
pany or agent had been negligent The law wiped 
out the need of such proof, and made it clear that 
if the engine caused the fire the company was re¬ 
sponsible. The Indiana Supreme Court has de¬ 
clared this law constitutional. The railroads will 
he held liable on the theory of personal respon¬ 
sibility. We have known a number of cases in 
Eastern States where farm property was destroyed 
by fire. There could be no question that these fires 
were started from locomotive sparks. Engineers 
and “experts” went on the stand and swore that the 
locomotives were “screened” as required by law. 
that when thus screened, sparks or live cinders 
could not pass out. On such testimony the railroads 
have escaped payment of damages. Under the In¬ 
diana law if it can be proved that the engine start¬ 
ed the fire the company must pay. 
* 
T HERE is considerable disappointment among 
dairymen who supply the Bordens with milk 
over the result of the first month’s payment by 
the fat test. Many herds have fallen below what 
their owners confidently counted on. We imagine 
the Department of Agriculture will he asked to 
make many tests to satisfy these disappointed dairy¬ 
men. We have already secured a number of figures 
which show such a low test that the milk, under 
the new system of payment, brings less than under 
the old system, though it seems to be retailed as 
before. There is no denying the fact that milk must 
he sold hereafter more and more on the basis of its 
value as food. There is not much more sense in 
saying that all samples of milk are alike in value 
than there would be in claiming that all cuts of 
meat from a certain carcass should he sold at the 
same price. Is it true, however, that the fat in 
milk represents its real food value? Skim-milk has 
far greater food value than water, and the solids 
not fat should be considered. Only a small propor¬ 
tion of the people who buy milk drink it “whole.” 
They skim off the cream and use the skim-milk as 
a beverage or for cooking. It may be argued that 
the proportion of fat gives a fair idea of the pro¬ 
portion of other solids, but most of the experts 
seem to go on the principle that skim-milk has no 
value. At least we seldom hear such value men¬ 
tioned. The “solids not fat” have definite value as 
food—they contain all the nitrogen and minerals, 
and a fair basis for estimating their value ought to 
be worked out rather than to figure on the fat test 
alone. It is about time someone started a crusade 
for skim-milk values! 
Brevities. 
The latest thing reported from Europe is a new lu¬ 
bricant or “grease” made from molasses. 
New York florists are feeling the loss of steamer 
trade, which called for high-grade flowers at good 
prices. This outlet for flowers was especially welcome 
during the Summer, when trade is generally dull. 
Now is the time when sore shoulders on the horses 
will cut down their labor and make a nuisance gener¬ 
ally. Better take the collars off during the noon rest 
and bathe the shoulders in cold water and give the 
horse a show. 
All through the West the laws are coming more 
and more to personal responsibility in damage cases. 
This theory is that a person is liable for all the conse¬ 
quences which might have been foreseen and expected 
as a result of his conduct. 
The girl students at the Michigan Agricultural Col¬ 
lege celebrated “Mother’s Day” by sendiug home a 
bunch of violets. By the way, who ever celebrates 
“Father’s Day?” The old gentleman doesn’t usually 
have any. 
The Illinois State Entomologist, Dr. S. A. Forbes, 
says that corn root lice are much decreased by treating 
seed with oil of lemon and wood alcohol. The mixture 
is iu the proportion of one part of oil of lemon to 10 
parts of alcohol. Three ounces of the mixture is used 
to a bushel of corn. The cost of the treatment is about 
10 cents per acre planted. 
